LIONESS WEEKENDER COVER STORY
Ecokaya, a one-stop-shop for building an entrepreneurship and leadership eco-system in Mozambique
Tania Tome is a serial entrepreneur, international speaker, elite coach and mentor, keynote speaker, and best-selling author in Mozambique. She is in demand as a catalyst for entrepreneurship and leadership in Africa and Lusophone countries. She brings with her more than 20 years of experience having co-founded Ecokaya and working with Ecokaya Corporate for the last 5 Years focusing on training, coaching, mentoring, and lectures in many countries. She also co-founded Womenice which focuses on women’s economic and leadership empowerment, and the fintech startup company focused on emerging markets. She is a published author, board member, and strategic advisor for several non-profit and social enterprise boards.
Tania’s successful track record of partnering with ABInbev and UNDP as a Global Ambassador and coaching executives and entrepreneurs has drawn invitations to share her knowledge and expertise through many presentations on four continents and in more than 40 countries with her company Ecokaya. Tania Tome has become recognised as a public speaker and networking guru, sharing the stage and networking with the likes of award-winning Brian Tracy, the Portuguese President, the Mozambican President, Kofi Annan, Richard Branson, and First Lady Graça Machel, among others. Tomé has achieved recognition through her work building and transforming thousands of entrepreneurs and people across Africa and the world with her platform. Her mission is to create a new generation of leaders in the world, particularly from Africa and Portuguese Speaking Countries. She Is a Forbes Council Coaches Member, Judge Member of the American Business Award, Listed as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People of Afro Descent by Mipad/UN- New York, and an Academic Award Winner by Former Portuguese President Mario Soares, among others.
Lioness Weekender spoke to Tania Tome about her entrepreneurial journey, her mission and vision, and her future plans for her business.
What does your company do?
Ecokaya has a one-stop solution for companies and investors that want to set up and succeed, starting from legal registration, board member advisory services, setting up meetings with the stakeholders in the market, and establishing partnerships, campaign activation, training, and media assessment. The Ecokaya integrated philosophy and leadership ecosystem combines Ecokaya Training Solutions, Ecokaya Corporate, Ecokaya Incubator & Ecokaya Capital. Our driven strategy is to combine knowledge, fundraising and our big network portfolio with the main stakeholders in Africa and the Portuguese-speaking countries market.
What inspired you to start your company?
My mission is to empower people, entrepreneurs, and leaders. My work is aimed at most directly impacting the Women and Youth leaders and entrepreneurs of Africa, who don’t have the opportunity to have effective leadership, training, mentoring skills, and the entrepreneurship ecosystem to develop a new generation of leaders in Africa. I also work with other Lusophone countries that don’t have the amazing ecosystem we have in Anglophone Countries, and I have to be part of creating that ecosystem.
Why should anyone use your service or product?
Our passion to work and contribute to the creation of our ecosystem while we constantly grow with our own purpose and goals of the company. Our motivation, resilience, and our willingness to be hard workers and doers. We are not poor, we have to change our mentalities and decolonize our minds to change our narrative.
Tell us a little about your team
Due to and after COVID, we need to change and adapt to facing the adversities of the pandemic, with fewer results and closing the doors for more than 7 months. So we have remote workers as well as a dynamic and innovative team very motivated to change the narrative. Our Business Development Managers work closely with advisers and strategic partners, looking for ways to provide you with effective solutions to help you to grow your business.
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
I was 12 when I did my first Portuguese voiceover for Unicef, and I was 13 when I started making necklaces and selling them at school, so my first savings came from this enterprise. I also used to teach Maths, Physics, and Music to students inside and outside of the school. At 15 I started working as an event assistant at different events. I was always a workaholic working to build my future. Maybe it was the extreme desire for independence, which came to fruition when I started living alone and working as a server in a restaurant at the age of seventeen. I did my entire University studies while I was a professional worker, starting as a server in restaurants, until I become an assistant in the field of media research. But entrepreneurship needs to be emphasized from my point of view, it is not only a business that generates a monetary return, but also one that is innovative and can generate social returns, institutional changes within an organization or mobilization, and influence a group of people. This is for me the true entrepreneur, the one who has strong leadership skills and impacts other people’s lives. Before I embarked on this entrepreneurial journey, I used to be a banker for more than 10 years, and many of those years spent supporting entrepreneurs and SMEs in my role as head of credit and risk mitigation, and head of new business development.
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
With more than 20 years of experience, I worked as a public speaker who advocates for entrepreneurship and a leadership ecosystem to be more dynamic and inclusive. And my crowning achievement is my leadership methodology Succenergy, which is an inspirational and motivational-based concept to empower people, entrepreneurs, and leaders. This leadership concept is used in various workshops, training programs, and lectures presented by my company Ecokaya in different countries such as Uganda, Sao Tome, Principe, Cape Verde, Brazil, Portugal, Angola, Rwanda, USA, Swaziland, Mozambique, and many others. I have served nearly 1 million people from 20 countries around the world with my global platform ( Media, Lectures, training, coaching, Talkshows, Social media, Books, etc)
I would love to continue to expand the Ecokaya Integrated Solution to other countries with systems that don't depend on my leadership and presence. I would love to transform Succenergy Tool into a Franchise Business to transform and empower many more people in the world. We did start slowly coaching the Succenergy Coachers and releasing the book.
We want to be a catalyst of change with Ecokaya Risk Fund, to finance SME projects through equity and quasi-equity, and provide alternative types of finance such as Fintech, crowdfunding, and other capital market solutions. We want to expand to relocate in US and work closely with Africa with more efficiency and dynamic.
I want to continue my work as Womenice President organizing our Global Leadership Conference, Awards & Competition to empower women and youth. Our past events hosted the Cape Verde First Lady, Brazilian Minister, Mozambican Gender Minister, Sao Tome & Principe Youth Minister, Google Director, UN Women Representative, UNDP Representative, artists, authors and other leaders worldwide with more than 40 speakers from 10 countries. We are the first platform in Mozambique due to COVID to host the first Online & Global Event with more than 40 speakers from more than 10 countries. In the next five years, I hope to impact more than 1000 leaders to build the ecosystem we need and become a brand in the market with real and effective impact. We need more partners and sponsors and mentors. We also review ourselves as the point of reference, supporting entrepreneurs to grow, establishing partnerships, and pushing the country, pushing Africa for development, for a bigger and better world for all.
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
To see how our work motivates people to achieve their best potential, creating more leaders and entrepreneurs, and step-by-step contributing to our entrepreneurship and leadership ecosystem. I received so many messages on my Instagram from mentees sharing that they are starting work at the United Nations and Africa Union, people sharing that they decided to start their businesses, that they decided to write a book or became a better professional because I inspired them or because they received our training. So yes, the work and the fight is worth it. My mission to empower entrepreneurs, leaders and people.
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
Women don't victimize yourselves, you are a force of nature. With energy, vision and resilience, you are in the best position to be part of the change we need in our societies. Continue to do your work and support other women. The bigger the challenges, the better the flights. I believe in you, continue to fight until you win. Succenergy, activate your energy, and discover your success within.
To find out more about Tania Tome’s work and her business, Ecokaya, send an email to: tania.teresa@ecokaya.com or visit the company website and social media platforms:
Website: http://www.taniatome.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/taniateresatome
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tania_tome
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/taniatomeofficial
YouTube or Vimeo Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB-DwlopQOQ&t
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeGWF3SZX58&t
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44f3heYyBzs
