On Wednesday 6th September, 300 of Africa’s leading and next generation high growth women entrepreneurs will gather in Johannesburg to take part in the 2nd Lionesses of Africa Annual Conference. On the agenda will be the opportunity for these ground-breaking women to share their experiences of building successful businesses in their own specialist fields, to connect with like-minded women, and to inspire one another to reach greater entrepreneurial heights. This important event is once again held in partnership with Standard Bank and Liberty as Lead Impact Partners, in the inspirational surroundings of the Inanda Club in Sandton, Johannesburg. The event is also supported by impact partners IDF Capital, the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, and Yves Rocher.
The 2017 Conference programme boasts an impressive speaker line-up featuring 31 speakers from 12 countries, representing the cream of the crop of Africa’s women entrepreneurs. Opening the conference will be Melanie Hawken, founder and ceo of Lionesses of Africa, followed by two leading women executives representing impact partners Standard Bank and Liberty: Angela Mhlanga, Head of Insurance-Wealth, Standard Bank (South Africa); and Lulu Rasebotsa, Managing Director, Liberty Life (Botswana).
The programme features 5 specialist sessions, each led by women who are pioneers in their own business sectors and real experts on each of the topics to be tackled. These include an opening session which focuses on the need to see more trailblazing women in manufacturing in Africa, and featuring manufacturing heavyweights Kofo Akinkugbe, Founder, Secure ID (Nigeria); Kate Quartey-Papafio, Founder, Reroy Cables (Ghana); Mayleen Kyster, Founder & Executive Chairman, Africa Steel Holdings (South Africa); Ally Angula, Group Managing Director & Co-founder, Leap Holdings (Pty) Ltd (Namibia); and Flora Mutahi, Founder & CEO, Melvin Marsh International & Chairperson, Kenya Association of Manufacturers (Kenya).
Other important topics to be addressed include a session featuring Africa’s leading women eco-preneurs who are building high impact companies to tackle the continent’s most challenging environmental issues; a critical session on finding more ways to fund Africa’s women entrepreneurs to help them to grow and fulfill their potential; an inspirational session that looks at what it takes for Africa’s women entrepreneurs to grow a successful global brand; and a great panel discussion on how a new generation of women techpreneurs is showing the world how to innovate and do good through their innovative businesses.
The programme also welcomes two of Africa’s truly inspirational women entrepreneurs to the podium as keynote speakers - Tara Fela-Durotoye, Founder & CEO, House of Tara International (Nigeria) is a lawyer turned Africa's leading beauty and makeup entrepreneur who is building her company into the leading beauty and make-up brand in Nigeria and West Africa. Award-winning and globally recognised microfinancing pioneer, Victoria Kisyombe, founder of Selfina in Tanzania, will also be sharing her very personal story of overcoming adversity to build what is today a life-changing, high impact financing model for women in Africa and one that is being used as a global model for others to follow.
The by-invitation-only audience gets the chance to hear from Africa’s women entrepreneurs at the top of their game, who are charting a path for the next generation of women entrepreneurs to follow and build upon. A speaker panel featuring many of the continent’s most successful women entrepreneurs aims to motivate and inspire a belief in all the women in the audience that they too can pursue their personal entrepreneurial dreams and make them a reality, often against the odds.
Lionesses of Africa Founder and CEO, Melanie Hawken, said: “Our conference is unique in that it’s for Africa’s women entrepreneurs by women entrepreneurs. Women do all the talking here! It’s about women entrepreneurs coming together to shape our own agenda. It’s about a frank assessment of where we’re at, what the key challenges are, and how we get them sorted. It’s about finding ways to accelerate the next generation of great women-led businesses that Africa so badly needs. Importantly, it’s also a great opportunity to come together to celebrate our many successes; and, obviously to connect to do more business with each other across the continent. It most definitely avoids the tired rhetoric and ‘conference speak’ that bores us all to tears. It’s surely anything but same old, same old!”
The conference will also feature a new addition to the programme, a Meet the Authors exhibition, where five leading women authors who are all specialist writers on the subject of women’s entrepreneurship and empowerment, will be networking with attendees and sharing their insights. They will also be signing copies of their latest books for interested readers. Authors featured include Lori Milner, Tumi Frazier, Shirley Anthony, Mulenga Kasoma, and Anna Shilina.
For more information on the Lionesses of Africa Annual Conference, go to http://www.lionessesofafrica.com/lionesses-of-africa-annual-conference-2017/