the pride of Africa's women entrepreneurs
Lombuso Mthethwa, founder, Moms Club Eswatini
Startup Story
Lombuso Mthethwa, founder of Moms Club Eswatini, has built a social enterprise and specialist support group helping Eswatini’s pregnant women and new moms through their healthy new parenting journeys. It provides antenatal classes, pregnancy yoga and Lamaze classes, together with a specialist online shop that provides everything moms need in those early weeks and months.
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Lungile Mbhamali, founder, (ban-twa-na) Craft (Eswatini)
Startup Story
(ban-twa-na) Craft, founded by entrepreneur Lungile Mbhamali in Eswatini, began 2017, a small, handcrafted business which collects and recycles plastic packaging waste from supporters and friends of (ban-twa-na) and also collecting in areas where waste pollution is to be found. After collecting the waste, (ban-twa-na) constructs various craft items such as bags, coin purses, key holders, laptop bags, make up pouches and also backpacks, mainly using recycled chocolate wrappers, chip packets and maize meal bags. Founder Lungile has been recognised for her entrepreneurial recycling efforts and featured in Forbes Magazine in October 2018, and also CNN. She has had the chance to train differently-abled women and men on toy and doll making, under the organization Palms for Life, has undertaken and delivered a few corporate orders, and also exported goods to South Africa and England.
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Nokuphila Dlamini, founder, Visibility Graphics (Eswatini)
Startup Story
Nokuphila Dlamini is the founder of Visibility Graphics in Eswatini, an e-commerce business that offers graphic design services to Small and Medium Enterprises in the country. She currently lives in Mankayane, Eswatini and holds a Bachelor's degree in Arts of Journalism and Mass Communication, majoring in Advertising and Public Relations. She also has a Certificate in Digital Marketing.
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Sian Louw, ceo and owner, The Pacific Institute Swaziland
Startup Story
Everyone wants to have the opportunity to become the best versions of themselves, but achieving the desired end goal is not always easy with out expert help. In eSwatini, entrepreneur Sian Louw, ceo and owner of The Pacific Institute Swaziland, is assisting those who are looking to transform themselves and their organisations.
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Claudia Castellanos
Lioness Weekender Cover Story
Black Mamba, an award-winning, Eswatini-based, specialty food brand making a sustainable impact.
Black Mamba is an ethical business from Eswatini in Southern Africa, co-founded by Claudia Castellanos and her husband Joe, that manufactures specialty foods that are good-for-you, good-for-the-planet, and good for the rural communities they work with. The range includes chilli sauces, pestos, chutneys and jams, all made with organically grown ingredients and “no added nonsense”. Through a partnership with the local NGO Guba, Black Mamba trains small holders in permaculture and regenerative farming and buy their fresh produce to make our products. To date, 60 farmers are part of the value chain, and the direct positive impact reaches over 1000 individuals in Eswatini. Black Mamba has won several Great Taste Awards in the UK for its chilli sauces, and currently exports its range to countries such as South Africa, the US, the UK, Germany, Norway and Taiwan.
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Claudia Castellanos, co-founder of Black Mamba Foods (Eswatini)
Investment Feature
Enygma Ventures has just announced that Black Mamba Foods, the ethical producer of specialty foods (best known for its chilli sauces) based in Eswatini, and co-founded by entrepreneur Claudia Castellanos, has become the fund's latest pioneering investment.
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Zanele Thabede-Vilakati, co-founder of Women Working Together Initiative (Eswatini)
Hosting and organizing successful events takes in-depth experience, practical specialist knowledge, and a strong knack for networking and collaborating with people to get things done. Zanele Thabede-Vilakati, co-founder of Women Working Together Initiative in Eswatini, is using her experience to showcase and connect talented women in the country through a series of innovative and highly effective networking events.
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Sanele Dlamini, founder of Flexy (eSwatini)
The inspiration for entrepreneur Sanele Dlamini to establish her clothing retail and beauty business, Flexy, came from the need to create an economic future for herself. Today she is doing much more, creating future career paths for other young women in her country.
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Eswatini has a growing environment for women entrepreneurs to realize their business building ambitions. So, it was good to see over 100 of the country’s leading women entrepreneurs gathering at the Royal Villas for the first Lioness Lean In event to be held in the country on 21 March. The event aimed to give women entrepreneurs in the country the opportunity to share their business building stories, inspire one another, and connect for greater business success.
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Mellisa Mazingi, Managing Director of Gone Rural Swaziland
Africa has a long tradition of producing handcrafted goods that are lovingly produced by each country’s rural communities. But for one company, Gone Rural in eSwatini, headed by entrepreneur Mellisa Mazingi, the mission is to create world class, handcrafted products that the world can fall in love with.
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Sonia Paiva, founder of Woman Farmer Foundation & Eswatini Kitchen (Swaziland)
Building one business is tough enough, but creating and running two successful, high impact businesses that both positively impact on society and the lives of those working in the agricultural sector is impressive. Sonia Paiva, founder of the Woman Farmer Foundation & Eswatini Kitchen (Pty) Ltd is proof positive that it can be done.
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Claudia Castellanos Roques, co-founder Black Mamba (Swaziland)
For all those who love the taste of chillis and want to buy products that are organic, fair trade produced in Swaziland, and supporting local farmers and producers, then Black Mamba is a gourmet chilli product brand to watch.
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Thuli Dlamini-Teferi, founder of Bobholotsi Flavours (Swaziland)
There has been a global rise in interest in all things natural and artisan-made when it comes to food products, something that foodpreneur Thuli Dlamini-Teferi is tapping into with her company, Bobholotsi Flavours. She is exciting tastebuds throughout Swaziland with her lovingly handmade and natural range of jams and sauces, all celebrating the wealth of local ingredients on offer.
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