The Margaret Hirsch 2018 Regional Women in Business Achiever of the Year Awards Evening took place at Emperor’s Palace in Gauteng, South Africa on 2 November. This prestigious event saw over 500 people, including top entrepreneurs and business women from around Gauteng attending the event to see who would be announced as the Regional and Branch winners. The event was co-sponsored by GRUNDIG, one of Hirsch's Homestore's most valued suppliers. Guest Speaker at the event was Melanie Hawken, the founder and CEO of Lionesses of Africa and a Champion of Africa’s Women Entrepreneurs.
Read more2018 Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards Africa finalists announced
L-R: Evelyn Namara, Audrey Cheng, Melissa Bime
The prestigious Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards, the international business plan competition created in 2006 to identify, support and encourage projects by women entrepreneurs, has just announced their finalists for Africa for 2018.
Read moreAfrican Entrepreneurship Award announces 15 women finalists
The African Entrepreneurship Award, a $1million prize sponsored by BMCE Bank of Africa for African entrepreneurs with for-profit business ideas that create jobs and improve lives, has just announced the finalists for the 2017 awards. At the start of 2017, 5,349 entrepreneurs from all 54 countries in Africa, and 45 in the diaspora, applied for the Award. Now, one month before the winners are announced, a panel of mentors has selected 41 finalists from 19 African countries, and 39% are women entrepreneurs (15 in total).
Read moreNominate the most inspiring women in tech in South Africa
The Kingdom of the Netherlands has launched Inspiring Fifty South Africa with an open call for nominations for inspiring women entrepreneurs in South Africa working in the different spheres of the technology and innovation sector. Inspiring Fifty is a Dutch based non-profit organisation that showcases inspiring female role models in the technology industry in the Netherlands, France, Europe and the Nordics.
Read more4 African Women Entrepreneurs Make the 2017 World Economic Forum 100 Young Global Leaders List
Clockwise from Top Left: Chido Govera, Jamila Abass, Rapelang Rabana, Marie Lora-Mungai
Each year the World Economic Forum undertakes an ambitious mission – to scour the world to select 100 young leaders, under the age of 40, who are tackling the world’s most complex challenges with innovative approaches. Not only are women in the majority in this year’s class, but half the intake come from emerging economies, reflecting a trend towards greater diversity in global leadership. Four game-changing women entrepreneurs and socialpreneurs from sub-Saharan Africa make this year’s list.
Read moreMeet the 5 women representing Africa as finalists in the 2017 Cartier Women's Initiative Award
Cartier has announced the 18 finalists for the 2017 Cartier Women's Initiative Award nominees, and once again it promises to be an inspirational group of game-changers who have made the list. For the past decade, the Cartier Awards has become synonymous with supporting creative excellence from around the world, with more than 160 entrepreneurs from 45 countries being showcased during that period.
Read moreVere Shaba wins the GE Africa Innovation Centre & Lionesses of Africa Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge
As part of sponsorship of this year’s Lionesses of Africa 2016 Annual Conference, GE Africa Innovation Centre, General Electric’s newly launched Innovation Centre, based in Houghton Estate, Johannesburg, and serving Sub-Saharan Africa, sponsored an Open Challenge for Women Entrepreneurs. Key qualification criteria for entrants included “a sustainable digital solution to a pressing challenge – or opportunity - ideally focusing on the sectors, and businesses, that GE SSA serves.”
Read moreCelebrating 4 Winning Women Entrepreneurs At The 2016 South African Small Business Award Winners
The accomplishments of the small business community in South Africa was in the spotlight as winners of the 2016 South African Small Business Awards were announced on 10 November at Montecasino in Fourways, Johannesburg. In its eighth year, the South African Small Business Awards acknowledge the country’s most outstanding businesses and the remarkable people behind them. The awards are hosted by the National Small Business Chamber (NSBC).
Read moreFinalists announced for the Appsafrica.com Innovation Awards 2016
On 20th October in Cape Town, South Africa, the finalists for the AppsAfrica.com Innovation Awards 2016 were announced, with a shortlist featuring leading mobile and tech companies from across Africa. The annual awards attracted over 200 submissions from 25 countries, chosen by an independent panel of leading industry experts.
Read moreCalling all social innovators in South Africa: Your chance to apply for the 2016/17 Impumelelo Awards
Impumelelo, the Stellenbosch Academy for Social Innovation, in partnership with the Distell Development Trust, is inviting applicants to apply for the 2016/17 Impumelelo Awards. The Impumelelo Social Innovations Centre’s award is an independent awards programme based on rigorous evaluations. It is one of the few mechanisms that uncovers what is good and what works in South Africa. The award’s end goal is to promote initiatives in civil society, the public and private sector, that improve the quality of the life of the poor in exceptional ways.
Read more5 African Women Entrepreneurs Shortlisted for UNCTAD 2016 Women in Business Awards
L-R: Berthe Bonou-Zanou, Fatou Saine Gaye, Aline Wong, Joyce Kyalema, Brenda Omba Kayumba Lacey
Tran Thi Viet, founder and managing director of Viet Trang Handicraft in Vietnam has been announced as winner of the 2016 Empretec Women in Business Awards by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) at a ceremony in Nairobi on 21 July. Five African women were included among the 12 finalists for the awards that celebrate exceptional micro and small businesswomen who have benefitted from Empretec, UNCTAD’s global entrepreneurship training network. Their businesses and their contribution to the socio-economic development in their countries is well worth celebrating.
Read moreEnter now! Entries open for inaugural West Africa Mobile Awards
The West Africa Mobile Awards (WAMAS), the first truly West African technology awards targeting the leading mobile and tech companies across the region, are now accepting entries. The deadline for entries is the 28th of February and the West Africa Mobile Award Winners 2016 will be revealed over cocktails and canapés at the awards ceremony on April 21st in Lagos, Nigeria.
Read moreSouth Africa's National Gazelles programme launches Small Business Acceleration Programme
South Africa's women entrepreneurs are invited to apply for a new accelerator grant, launched by the National Gazelle programme, an initiative of the Department of Small Business and SEDA (Small Enterprise Development Agency), and which provides both financial and business support.
Read moreCartier Women’s Initiative Awards Sub-Saharan Finalists head to Paris
L-R: Thato Kgatlhanye, Chinwe Ohajuruka and Suzana Moreira
The three Sub-Saharan Finalists of the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards will be joining 17 other inspirational women entrepreneurs selected from over 1700 applications from more than 100 countries in Paris this month to hear the announcement of this year’s Laureates. The Laureates will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on October 15, 2015, at the Annual Global Meeting of the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society, in Deauville, France.
Read moreSpark South Africa welcomes the first SHE by Spark Changemakers
Study after study has shown that when a woman is empowered, the whole of society benefits, and this is at the core of why Spark* has launched its SHE by Spark Changemakers. Spark* finds and supports these Changemakers, who are local women entrepreneurs that have launched a venture that is changing lives, and helps them turn their startup into a sustainable and scalable venture that improves the lives of women and girls in the country as a result. Spark believes that women are the best levers for change, and following its first female focused Accelerator in South Africa, held in Johannesburg during Women’s Month in August this year, is pleased to announce the first SHE by Spark Changemakers in the country.
Read moreOnly two days left to enter the Appsafrica.com Innovation Awards 2015
Mobile, tech ventures and leading women in Africa have just two days left to submit their entries for the Appsafrica.com Innovation Awards 2015 to be held in Cape Town on 16 November. Make sure you've applied!
Read morePODCAST: LoA speaks to Thato Kgatlhanye an inspiring young South African social entrepreneur and 2015 Cartier Women's Initiative Award nominee
Thato Kgatlhanye's social enterprise produces up-cyled school bags with an integrated solar light that is changing the lives of school kids in South Africa
LoA had the pleasure of meeting with Thato Kgatlhanye at the Cartier Womens Initiative Awards finalists press conference recently in South Africa and spoke to her about the challenges for women entrepreneurs on the continent.
Read more3 South African women selected to participate in the International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge in Turkey
L-R: Margaret Hirsch, Shona McDonald and Wendy Kemp
Three South African women entrepreneurs who used adversity to create successful businesses are off to the International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge which takes place in Turkey. They are Shona McDonald who manufactures wheelchairs for children with special needs, Margaret Hirsch who co-founded one of South Africa's leading appliance store chains, and Wendy Kemp who founded a leading a credit control company.
Read moreCartier Women’s Initiative Awards announce Sub-Saharan finalists
L-R: Thato Kgatlhanye, Chinwe Ohajuruka and Suzana Moreira
On 28 July at the Four Seasons Hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa, the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards announced the selection of the 2015 finalists for Sub-Saharan Africa. The three finalists for Sub-Saharan Africa are Chinwe Ohajuruka, the founder of Comprehensive Design Services, Nigeria; Suzana Moreira, the founder of moWoza, Mozambique; and Thato Kgatlhanye, the founder of Rethaka, the creator of Repurpose Schoolbags, South Africa.
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