The Opening Address by Melanie Hawken, founder and ceo of Lionesses of Africa delivered to the more than 300 women entrepreneurs who attended the Lionesses of Africa Annual Conference 2017, on 6 September in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Welcome to the 2017 Lionesses of Africa Annual Conference!
It is such a great pleasure to welcome you all today. And, it’s always such a personal thrill for me to be in a room filled with women entrepreneurs, just like you. To share in an event where women are doing it for other women is always so special. And, frankly to just have the time and space where all the talking is done by women is a great thing.
So, a big, warm Lioness welcome to you all!
What’s really exciting about this year’s event is that we have so many more women joining us from other countries, and I’m so grateful to the many women who’ve traveled long distances to be with us here today as both speakers and as delegates. I really believe there is so much we can learn from one another as women entrepreneurs from across the continent.
I need to start this morning by thanking our wonderful impact partners who have made today’s event possible. Staging an event like this would not be possible without their valuable support. Standard Bank and Liberty are our lead impact partners for this year’s event and both organisations have embarked on quite a journey with us since we first launched on the African continent. They have supported the roll-out of a number of our important activities, events and communication tools for our community. A big thank you goes to both lead partners - your support and encouragement has been invaluable in realising our vision to positively impact the lives of 1 million women entrepreneurs by 2018. Our thanks also go to our support partners, IDF Capital, the Cherie Blair Foundation, and Yves Rocher. It is wonderful to have you all on board and to see your support for Africa’s women entrepreneurs.
I know that most of you are familiar with the work and mission of Lionesses of Africa and by now you will know that we are obsessed by the power and strength of community. At the heart of everything we do at Lionesses of Africa is our Community. Today this community stands at over 400,000 users across 49 African countries and also tens of thousands across the Diaspora in Europe and North America. We’re on track to be a million strong by the end of 2018 and we are working very hard to achieve this.
In practical terms:
This year we will run 54 events across 15 African cities.
This year we will drop 1.5 Million opt-in newsletters into eMail boxes around the world allowing us to feature and promote Africa’s women entrepreneurs across the globe.
We have recently completed our first 2 accelerator programmes with Standard Bank and Liberty as our impact partners. And, I am so pleased our graduates are with us today.
And, we are just getting started! We will continue to grow our portfolio of digital channels to reach even more women and we will also be announcing some really exciting new initiatives in the final session this afternoon - so please stay until the end to hear all about those.
But let me say this — for me personally it is not only about achieving scale, creating measurable impact, or developing and delivering exciting new products. What gives me the biggest thrill is this — a room filled with women entrepreneurs. I truly feel blessed to be able to meet so many women entrepreneurs across this continent. As I said, across the 54 events I will do this year — I get to meet thousands of women who amaze me and inspire me continually.
And let me tell you this: whenever I have the privilege of standing up in front of a group of women entrepreneurs like yourselves — I don’t only see a group of women who are doing their level best to build great businesses and brands. What I see, and what motivates me most — is a room filled with incredibly powerful change agents. You see, I sometimes think we get so immersed in the hurly burly, tough, day-to-day struggles, and often lonely existence of being a woman entrepreneur trying to grow a business — that we forget the incredible power we have as a collective; as a community of women entrepreneurs — be it in our neighbourhood, in our city, country or even at a continent level.
I want to tell you ladies, that what I see in front of me today is not just 300 talented women entrepreneurs — more importantly, I see the most powerful force for social and economic change on the continent. I see a room filled with change agents that Africa so badly needs!
Now, before you think I’m exaggerating — consider these facts:
Firstly,
As women entrepreneurs we typically reinvest 90% of our revenues back into our communities — by investing in education, in nutrition, in household expenditure, and in caring for our children and the elderly. This is not us saying it about ourselves — this is what the World Bank tells us is happening.
Women entrepreneurs invest 90% back into their communities.
By way of contrast the figure for what men reinvest in their communities is in the order of 30 to 35%.
Secondly,
As entrepreneurs we are incredible engines for job creation. In fact, according to South Africa’s own National Development Plan, 90% of the approximately 11 million jobs that need to be created by 2020 will be created through small businesses. Let’s think about this for a minute. Our own government and the country’s economic brains-trust is stating that we entrepreneurs and small business owners will create not 10% of the jobs that are needed in this country; not 40% of the jobs; not 75% of the jobs; but in fact 90% of the jobs that are needed!
Now it’s often easy to allow these stats to wash over you. But, let me practically illustrate it to you this way. Shortly, when you’re stood outside on the terrace having a cup of tea and you look across the polo field to all those spectacular buildings that make up the Sandton skyline, know this — all of those companies combined (and their likes across the country) according to our own National Development Plan will create only 10 % of the jobs this country needs. In fact, if truth be told, all of those big companies over the past decade have presided over nett job losses.
This stark reality has landed us entrepreneurs with an enormous challenge and responsibility. Now, let me practically illustrate to you the power we hold as women entrepreneurs when it comes to job creation. In this very room today are women who have created tens of thousands of jobs and who have empowered hundreds of thousands of Africans. I know, I’m probably going to embarrass them, but I’m going to ask 2 of our speakers to stand up so that you can all get to know them — Victoria and Tara please stand quickly. Now ladies, let me tell you this. Victoria through her organisation SELFINA has financed 27,000 women, created 150,000 jobs, and economically impacted over 250,000 Tanzanians. We will hear later how she did this from the most humble of beginnings. Tara has over 10,000 beauty reps spread across Nigeria with ambitions to create thousands more jobs. You will also hear later this morning how Tara started out as a student in her living room! This is not pie in the sky! Ladies we are creating jobs. And, to all of you in this room just starting out on your entrepreneurial journeys — you have it in you to make the same impact on job creation.
Thirdly,
The most interesting thing about us women entrepreneurs is not only are we are an amazing engine for economic growth, but we are also the most powerful engine for equitably distributing that growth. We are in fact the most powerful solution for addressing inequality on the continent.
Fourthly,
A huge number of studies show that Entrepreneurship and Democracy are closely linked. Democracy works best when there is this kind of turbulence in the society, when those that are not already well-off have a chance to climb the economic ladder by using their brains, their energy, and their skills to improve their economic status, to create new product and markets or to serve existing markets better than their older competitors. Simply, entrepreneurs are a key building block of thriving democracies and the links between women’s economic empowerment, women’s entrepreneurship, and democracy are well known.
But ladies, not only are we good for strengthening democracies we are also the strongest crusaders in the fight against corruption. As women entrepreneurs we need to continue to lead this anti-corruption fight in our countries.
So, you see ladies, the facts are there for all to see. And, I hope you will start to see and take seriously the strength we have as a collective of women entrepreneurs — as powerful agents for change. We need to embrace these facts, we need to own this space, and we need to not only see ourselves as great business women, but as powerful agents for change across the continent.
So, what can we all do to make a difference? You might be sat there thinking — I’m not Tara, or Victoria, or Kate, or Kofo — how can I make a difference as an individual? How can I be the agent for change that this continent so badly needs?
The answer I believe is simple.
It’s this: lead from where you are. Do what you can with the resources you have to change the lives of those around you. Make a start and you will be amazed at the power you have within you to make a difference.
Entrepreneurship is not easy. Building a business is hard and often, it’s a very lonely journey. But you can take heart from the women you are going to hear from today, and from the many other great women entrepreneurs who have come before you. Take every opportunity to learn from them, so that you can avoid making their mistakes; let yourself be inspired by them. And, remember this: every big business started as a small business.
So, my hope for today is that you will come away truly inspired and confident in the knowledge that you are not only a great woman entrepreneur in the making, but you also an incredibly powerful agent for change.
As I always say — prepare to be inspired!
Have a wonderful conference!