LIONESS WEEKENDER COVER STORY
Alldens Lane, a business advisory company supporting women entrepreneurs in Africa’s small and growing business sector.
Ruka Sanusi is a highly accomplished business management consultant with 26 years of international consulting experience in Europe and across sub-Saharan Africa. Her career to date has been built around her abilities to both provide advice on matters of business/organisational strategy, operations and transformation, and organizing resources and facilities to implement recommendations – she has strategic and operational ability. An astute professional, through her work at Alldens Lane and her consulting work, Ruka supports enterprise leaders in the small and growing business sector. She particularly works with female business leaders to support them with their business transformation needs. Ruka previously served in senior management at PwC Ghana and PwC Nigeria. She has advised governments, public sector organisations and private corporations on international projects and assignments in 16 sub-Saharan African countries.
Lioness Weekender spoke to the inspirational Ruka Sanusi to learn more about her long, impact-driven entrepreneurial journey and her vision for the future.
What does your company do?
We are business advisers with a unique focus on providing business advisory services as well as executive business coaching services to female entrepreneurs in Africa’s small and growing business sector. Through an iterative business consulting and coaching process, Alldens Lane provides female business owners with business direction, balanced support and thought provoking business performance and growth analysis to transform their business.
Our mission is to support Africa’s female entrepreneurs and CEOs in the small and growing business sector to think strategically about their business, supporting them with strategies and techniques to create business success and achieve business growth.
What inspired you to start your company?
The professional small and growing business sector stands to host some of the big businesses of tomorrow. However, the leadership of businesses in the small and growing business sector does not always have the requisite skills, experience and technical know-how in business strategy, management, and operations to scale their business as they desire to do so. I was inspired to use my life-long experience and know-how in management consulting to support some of the tremendous businesses I had engaged with or heard about in the small and growing business sector with business direction, balanced support and thought-provoking business performance and growth analytics, from which they can grow and transform their businesses – and their lives.
Why should anyone use your service or product?
We have a unique focus on supporting female business leaders and women entrepreneurs in the small and growing business sector with business advisory and executive coaching services. We provide instructive yet enjoyable means for women entrepreneurs and women CEOs in the small and growing business sector to meaningfully discover the path to extraordinary business success.
Tell us a little about your team
Alldens Lane works with a number of business support service firms - from PR firms to marketing consultants, etc.
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
I never imagined that I would be on the entrepreneurial path. Never wanted to in fact, preferring a more corporate related career and that is what I focused on. Alldens Lane came about simply because I saw a gap in the market to support potentially formidable small and growing businesses to fulfill their business potential.
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
The opportunity to provide business advisory support to help others do what they do better.
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
It can be a long and arduous journey. Be prepared.
To find out more about the work of Alldens Lane and its founder Ruka Sanusi, contact ruka@alldenslane.com or visit the Alldens Lane website: www.alldenslane.com
