All through the month of January, Lionesses of Africa is raising awareness of Africa's truly inspiring women social entrepreneurs. We celebrate their significant impact and life-changing contributions to the African continent and their efforts to make it a better place for everyone, both socially and economically.
We salute all of these amazing changemakers who have created women-led social ventures that are having a profound impact on their communities, their countries and on our continent.
At Lionesses of Africa we love celebrating the incredible women social entrepreneurs who are making a real and lasting difference to the lives of others across the African continent. Each day, we share their start-up stories and their words of wisdom and encouragement to other women entrepreneurs. We are constantly and genuinely inspired by their passion and unwavering belief that through their innovative entrepreneurial approaches to addressing social challenges in Africa, they can make change happen for the better.
It has been so rewarding to focus our storytelling in January on women social entrepreneurs - they are truly Lionesses of Africa. They are each, in their own indomitable way, leading a new and vibrant charge in helping to find sustainable solutions to address so many of the continent’s socio-economic challenges. We love the fact that these women are able to see possibility and potential where others see only seemingly difficult problems. Instead, they find solutions and, along the way, inspire so many others through their efforts. If you missed all the inspirational Start-Up Stories the first time around, together with all the other great content that we have featured on these truly remarkable women social entrepreneurs of Africa, this is your opportunity to take a look again and be as inspired as we were.
We salute all of these amazing changemakers who have created women-led social ventures that are having a profound impact on their communities, their countries and on our continent. We look forward to continuing to share their stories and report on their future achievements.
Startup Story
Dentaa Amoateng MBE is the President and Founder of the Grow Unite, Build, Africa (GUBA) Enterprise, a social enterprise organisation dedicated to the advancement of diaspora Africans and Africans through various socio –economic programs and initiatives. She is a multi-hyphenate with years of experience in the acquisition of funding, deal brokering, lobbying and facilitating Diaspora development. Dentaa is the current Liaison Executive Officer for the Greenwich-Tema Meridian Link, working to secure trading and business networks between both cities. She started the business in 2009 and today it has 20 employees.
Startup Story
Vicky Chilli is a 31-year-old entrepreneur from Umlazi in South Africa and the founder of eKasi Bioscope (Pty) Ltd. She established a movie cinema in her township and uses film as a tool for social change. She started this project in 2016 at King Shaka High School where she discovered that learners were facing social issues and needed a platform to relate too, open-up and learn. The cinema screens African-inspired movies and the youth watch movies for free. Vicky has screened approximately 20 African-inspired movies indoors and had 1 drive-in cinema.
Startup Story
Rita Idehai is a geoscientist and social entrepreneur who works at the nexus of responsible consumption, social inclusion, and circular economy. She is the founder and CEO of Ecobarter, a social enterprise started in 2018 making it possible for Nigerian households to live waste-free. Through her organization, Rita is also helping poor women and informal last-mile waste pickers capture more value and build back their lives leveraging otherwise wastes.
Startup Story
Blandine Umuziranenge is the founder and ceo of Kosmotive, a social enterprise founded in 2014 to improve Reproductive, Maternal and Child Health in Rwanda and throughout Africa. Early in her career she worked at Rwanda Broadcasting Agency and Contact FM radio. She holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Social Innovation Management, a bachelor’s degree in business information and communication technology and an Advanced Diploma in Information Technology. Her twelve years of experience combine Information Technology, Social Entrepreneurship and Circular Business Modelling. Blandine is a multi-award-winner including the Youth Connekt Africa 2019 Girls in Innovation Award and the Invest2Impact Africa 2019 Women's Empowerment Award. Blandine's ambition is paving menstrual freedom for girls and women in Africa.
Startup Story
Stélia Dgedge is the founder of Khuwana Water Filters Lda, a Mozambican company dedicated to the production and sale of ceramic-based water purifying filters. She has a degree in Financial and Insurance Management from ISCTEM. Since very early on, she has always been interested in topics related to preservation, sustainability, and the environment. About five years ago Stélia was invited to be part of the Finance Department of a startup that operates in the Renewable Energy sector. It was a unique opportunity for her to demonstrate once again the knowledge obtained at the associated University and her professional experience, as she came from a company with over twenty years in the market and was well positioned in it. She discovered her purpose - a mixture of three words, “Entrepreneurship, Impact, and Sustainability”.
Startup Story
Sylvia Wambui is the Founder of Mursly Digital Group LLC in Kenya. She is a mentor, virtual assistant, and business consultant to entrepreneurs. She has spent over 6 years in marketing, across local and international clients where she has been a marketing lead, managing multiple brands and large tech brands. After COVID struck, it called for a restructuring of the business. That’s when Mursly Digital Group Limited was launched and has just recently been incorporated in March 2023. Mursly Digital Group offers business consulting services that cover strategy across business structures specifically marketing, social media, personal, and leadership development to ease the load of idea generation. It also does consulting and virtual assistance work, both in Africa and internationally, having worked with community and tech-driven brands like Black Women In Clinical Research, Blaze Group LLC, and Bauce Magazine. As a mentor, Sylvia has worked to support entrepreneurs and professionals by providing knowledge on capacity building and upskilling for scale / professional growth.
Startup Story
Ann Pads is a social impact business, founded by Hermine Bertolini in Namibia, which addresses the combined challenge of period poverty and menstruation education in the country. Her business manufactures washable sanitary pads, combined with an educational programme approach to helping girls, families and local communities to better understand menstruation.
Startup Story
Lombuso Mthethwa, founder of Moms Club Eswatini, has built a social enterprise and specialist support group helping Eswatini’s pregnant women and new moms through their healthy new parenting journeys. It provides antenatal classes, pregnancy yoga and Lamaze classes, together with a specialist online shop that provides everything moms need in those early weeks and months.
Startup Story
Mara Zhanet is the founder and ceo of Jacaranda Hub, an organization that aims to develop young people through the provision of collective services, infrastructure and specialized tools and equipment for common use among the young and aspiring MSMEs with growth potential. She is a social entrepreneur, project management and business development expert, business coach, facilitator, and mentor with 15 years of professional experience.
Startup Story
Lily Katumba is the founder of Zuri Styles, an accessories design and manufacturing business in Uganda creating jobs and restoring hope to vulnerable people. Lily’s mission is to stop Human Trafficking and empower those most vulnerable by creating sustainable employment, providing coaching and mentorship, and empowering girl children.
Startup Story
Pendo Galukande is one of the original three co-founders of Dis N Dat (Uganda) Ltd and the current Managing Director. She has been featured several times on National Television and print media as a positive example of a social entrepreneur. Her social enterprise having started out creating hand crafted greeting cards, and now has expanded into providing the youth access to skills and employment through the provision of premium gift services. Dis N Dat was launched in 2007 and employs 2 full time people, 4 consultants, and provides about 25 placements for part-time positions for youth annually. Pendo has a track record in Health Management having been the first manager of the leading private hospital in Uganda. She also managed a pharmacy in a rural hospital and oversaw refugee programs in rural Uganda.
Startup Story
For victims of conflict and low income people who cannot access affordable healthcare in Cameroon, help is now at hand, thanks to social entrepreneur Bih Adelaide, co-founder of African Initiative For Health and Research Promotion (AIHRP). Her venture is now providing pro-bono health care services to those who need it most.
Startup Story
Most of the population of Madagascar lives in rural areas relying on farming to make a living, but the majority live in poverty. Marina Rakotondrasoa Ralaivaomisa, founder of Massöva, is on a mission to help change their situation through her entrepreneurial approach to agribusiness and extending the local value chain.
Startup Story
For many African artists, the challenge is ensuring their work is visible, getting their work and names known, and connecting with potential curators and buyers in their own countries and abroad. Estelle Dogbo, founder of the Yawoa Foundation in Nigeria, is looking to make these ambitions happen.
Startup Story
Rahel Mwitula Williams serves as lead designer of ILAVA, a socially responsible lifestyle brand that uses fashion to empower women and inspire change around the world. Her role within ILAVA has not only reinforced her passion for seeking global change, but it has also led to her ability to impact women and leaders across the globe through various opportunities. To name a few, ILAVA was invited to showcase its latest collection at LA Fashion Week in 2017, and in April 2018, she had an opportunity to represent ILAVA at Northwestern University through a TEDx Talk (Redefining Philanthropy: Faces of Change Makers).
Startup Story
Victoria Orr is the founder and CEO of Amandla Ubuntu Limited, a South African/UK social enterprise that works with South African artists, crafters and female owned businesses to provide a platform to showcase their talents to the world. The enterprise ethically sources beautiful arts and crafts, providing sustainable incomes and sells online in the UK, with plans to move into Europe and USA.
Startup Story
Khayelitsha Cookies is an impact driven, hand-made cookie manufacturing business making a difference to reducing employment in South Africa, and empowering women to look after their families.
Startup Story
Many companies are now actively thinking about sustainability in their businesses and in Mozambique, impact driven entrepreneur Mayra Pereira, founder of Gaia EES Consulting, is helping them to make the move towards more sustainable action.
Startup Story
Stories have always had the power to enthrall, to engage, and often to change lives, and for Noreen Asenkenye, founder of Tell a Story Foundation Uganda, that is her motivation. She is passionate about looking out for the vulnerable, and through storytelling she is helping them deal with their distress. Noreen is an enthusiastic fundraiser, and through Tell a Story Foundation, she has successfully run fundraising campaigns for children with autism, two young girls raised by single mothers, and the current Together for Good campaign, a Covid-19 relief fundraiser benefiting vulnerable families with income relief. Noreen is a cohort 35 Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Fellow, Cohort 18 Reignite Africa Young Leaders Fellow, and a recent graduate of the 2020 Zimba Women Business Program.
Startup Story
Girl Spectrum is a non-profit organization movement founded by Nicole Natasha Magerman. Nicole founded Girl Spectrum at the age of 25 running it as a labour of love and devotion for gender equality. Girl Spectrum was founded in 2021 and has a world scale vision of creating awareness around not only women empowerment but also building confidence in our women of today. "Self-Care is Health Care", believes Nicole Magerman. As she says, “Feminists, women activists, let us gather here and conquer!”
Startup Story
The impact that STEM can make in the lives of young people, particularly women and girls, on the African continent cannot be underestimated. STEMi Makers Africa, founded by Amanda Obidike, addresses the existing leaky unemployment pipeline, the underrepresentation of young women and girls in STEM. and the fragmented education system by training teachers and students in STEM Education.
Startup Story
Everyone needs a mentor in life and in business, but often for young people in particular, mentors can be hard to find. One woman entrepreneur, Charzade Araujo, founder of Teen Mentors in Mozambique, has made it her goal to provide that solution.
Startup Story
Community tourism has long been recognised as a driver of local economic development, particularly for women. In East Africa, social entrepreneur Maria Baryamujura, founder of COBATI Uganda, knows just how to innovate and make tourism work for rural communities.
Startup Story
Girls in Mozambique have a number of challenges to overcome, and one of those is getting access to menstrual products, menstrual education and addressing social stigma around menstruation. But that is now changing, thanks to entrepreneurs like Diana Sierra, a Columbian designer and social entrepreneur who is the founder of Be Girl Inc. in Mozambique.
a around menstruation. But that is now changing, thanks to entrepreneurs like Diana Sierra, founder of Be Girl Inc.
Startup Story
In Nigeria’s rural communities, poverty and unemployment are major challenges, as is the issue of waste management. For entrepreneur Mariam Lawani, finding solutions to all of these challenges was the motivation for her business, Greenhill Recycling.
Startup Story
Many women in the Democratic Republic of Congo need to access key skills and resources in order to fulfil their potential, and that is where Cewon comes in. Founder Nana Lusevakweno Luyindadio is creating a platform which empowers women to make the change they need in their lives.
Startup Story
Africa is a young continent with millions of young people with vast potential ready to make their contributions to its future economic development and prosperity. But those young people need support, encouragement and the right environment to thrive. In Zimbabwe, social entrepreneur Tadziripa Madzima, founder of IGNITE Youth, has created an enterprise committed to empowering young people to fulfill that potential.
Startup Story
They say that to make a difference in the world you need to dream big, and for one truly inspirational woman social entrepreneur and aviator in Botswana, she is demonstrating that if your dreams are big enough you can make big change happen. Captain Kgomotso Phatsima, founder of Dare to Dream, is inspiring a new generation of young women to follow in her footsteps and carve out careers and businesses in the exciting world of aviation and aerospace.
Making jewellery and making a difference to women’s lives is the mission behind F.R.E.E (the Foundation for the Realization of Economic Empowerment). Created by entrepreneur Dawn Close in Zambia, the goal is to empower highly skilled craftswomen in the country to create high quality, handcrafted jewellery for sale around the world.
Nonceba Ndukula is the founder of Nabai Foundation in South Africa, a social impact organization with a vision to break the cycle of poverty and empower underserved communities through education. The foundation's Afternoon Enrichment Program, mentorship initiatives, and community projects reflect Nonceba’ s dedication to making a positive impact. She is a GBV-F Survivor, Coach, Business Administrator, Philanthropist and Mentor and an inspiring individual whose life journey has transformed adversity into a beacon of hope. As the founder of Nabai Foundation, Nonceba is a passionate advocate for education, community empowerment, and survivor support. Her personal experiences have fuelled her commitment to addressing the root causes of GBV-F and providing support to survivors. She is a Nominee of Sociopreneur of the Year 2023, Finalist in Women of Stature Awards, and a Nominee of Leading Women of Africa Awards.