Audrey Simbiso Chidawanyika, an innovation-driven Zimbabwean tech entrepreneur

March 19, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Audrey Simbiso Chidawanyika, founder, Simbiso Jumpstart Initiative (Zimbabwe)

Audrey Simbiso Chidawanyika is the founder of Simbiso Jumpstart Initiative in Zimbabwe. She is a multidimensional pan-African leader, a globally celebrated mentor, and an award winning disruptive innovator. She is an innovation, strategy and transformation catalyst, a human capital development and business process re- engineering expert. A community and program management specialist, she has extensive experience working with NGOs, corporates and start-ups in Africa. She is passionate about accelerating human growth and has over ten years of experience working in the African Innovation, Development, Humanitarian and Entrepreneurial Ecosystem. She has proven ability working with organizations exploring the role of entrepreneurship, technology, innovation and local knowledge in creating paths to sustainable development. Audrey is a Management Consultant and Strategist in Agile Scrum, Lean Six Sigma, Enterprise and Human Centred Design Thinking. She launched her business in 2019 and today it employs 12 people.

Mandy Dube, a serial business builder creating economic empowerment opportunities for women in Zambia

March 10, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Mandy Dube, founder, Yinu Custom Creatives (Zambia)

Mandy Dube is the founder of Yinu Custom Creatives in Zambia, a business which she runs alongside her professional role in international development. Yinu Custom Creatives is a collection of five brands covering fashion (Bonisa Tailoring), beauty (Simple SkinCare), food (Wadya Chani) and entrepreneurship (Atuule Hyesu) all underpinned by mental health or as Mandy likes to put it, Mental Muscle. The focus of the business is to promote mental health, wellness and economic empowerment for women.

Ayanda Majola, a South African entrepreneur building a niche beauty brand for sensitive skin

March 5, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Ayanda Majola, founder, Yanda Cosmetics (South Africa)

Ayanda Majola is the founder of Yanda Cosmetics which is a local South African beauty brand that specializes in scientific skincare made specifically for sensitive skin. As well as being a beauty entrepreneur, she is also a medical science student. Her business is committed to bringing non-toxic, simple, effective and affordable skincare products made with clinically proven active ingredients that were carefully selected from her background knowledge in both Medicine and Science. Despite her young age and being a full-time health science student, Ayanda has been able to grow her brand in a short space of time. Her products are now available on Zando and Takealot which are the leading online platforms in the country and she has recently signed a deal with an international shopping platform that will stock and sell her products in the United Kingdom.

Lungile Mbhamali, an entrepreneur transforming plastic waste into handcrafted accessories in Eswatini

February 26, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Lungile Mbhamali, founder, (ban-twa-na) Craft (Eswatini)

(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.

Bontle Tshole, a South African entrepreneur passionate about healthy eating

February 26, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Bontle Tshole, founder, Baaa Health & Luminary Thrivist (South Africa)

Bontle Tshole is a healthy eating and responsible food advocate, and the founder of Baaa Health & Luminary Thrivist in South Africa. She started her entrepreneurial journey early on in her life through the time she invested in assisting her mother in the family business at age nine. Over time she grew to love business and the endless opportunities it offered to her. It was during her tertiary studies that she began what was then called Baaa Smoothie Bar, now Baaa Health, in 2017 and has grown its reach and capacity since then. Baaa is a health bar that is changing the narrative of access to healthy eating by promoting responsible food choices through the provision of healthy quality food, addressing UN Sustainability Development Goal 3.

Ebele Ezeamakam, a Nigerian flutist turning her talent into an inspirational personal development coaching business

February 19, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Ebele Ezeamakam is a versatile, creative and innovative musician and personal development coach from Nigeria. She believes in the power of music and its ability to induce progressive, positive transformation in an individual. Ebele continually strives for excellence in music compositions, music performances, interpersonal relationships by involving music training, coaching programs and Talk Shows. In the process, she inspires, influences, motivates and helps to raise a generation of people that thrive in Spiritual Development, Personal Effectiveness, Stress Management and Social Etiquette.

Tania Morgan and Britt Marki, creating a self-care focused feminine wellness brand in South Africa

February 19, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Tania Morgan, founder, MiQuann (South Africa)

Tania Morgan and Britt Marki are cofounders of MiQuann! a South African feminine wellness business focused on female self-care, hormonal health and ageless lifelong sensuality. This dynamic team are developing a community platform to empower women to make lifestyle and self-care choices to optimise their hormonal health enabling a better quality of life and lifelong sensuality.

Mariama Dia, a Senegalese entrepreneur transforming local fruits into natural retail products

February 12, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Mariama Dia, founder Delices Casamançaises (Senegal)

Mariama Dia is the founder of Delices Casamançaises in Senegal. She is married and the mother of two children, and holds a masters degree in geography. Being from Casamance, which is a forest region located in the south of Senegal, she witnesses every day the destruction of fruits resulting from overproduction. This is what led to her decision to launch her business, Delices Casamançaises with the aim of transforming the fruits to allow consumers to enjoy 12 months of the previously only seasonally available fruits.

Alix Willemez, an entrepreneur in Cote d'Ivoire providing consumers with useful local online information

February 5, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Alix Willemez, founder, Mamafrica (Cote d’Ivoire)

Alix Willemez is the founder of Mamafrica in Cote d’Ivoire, a business that aims to make life easier in Côte d'Ivoire and to reduce dependence on word-of-mouth by offering consumers innovative and practical online services while supporting the development of local businesses. Today, the whole Mamafrica team works every day, through its different specialized websites, to bring quality information on health, leisure, to promote the employment of quality domestic staff, to highlight reliable real estate agencies and local craftsmen, and to support local NGOs.

Arlene Singh, a South African environmental consultant in the renewable energy sector

February 5, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Arlene Singh is the founder of Nala Environmental (Pty) Ltd based in Johannesburg, South Africa. After years in the corporate sector, she took the big leap into starting her own Environmental Consulting firm. Arlene’s business is focused on providing environmental consulting services to Developers in the renewable energy sector in Africa. The business was founded in 2019 after 10 years in the sector. She is registered as a Professional Natural Scientist in the field of Environmental Science with the South African Council of Scientific Professionals and a Registered Environmental Assessment Practitioner with the Environmental Assessment Practitioners Association of South Africa.

Dirce Vicente, a Mozambican agripreneur uses the power of publishing to inspire others in agriculture

January 29, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Dirce Vicente, founder, Fly Eagles LDA (Mozambique)

Fly Eagles LDA is a digital magazine publishing venture, founded by experienced agripreneur, Dirce Vicente in Mozambique. Passionate about Agriculture, she has already developed many solutions to improve the agricultural ecosystem in Mozambique. Dirce is the founder of Dfruit, Agri impact, and is currently letting her passion emerge with the launch of an agribusiness magazine called Fly Eagles Agribusiness. The magazine aims to provide the reader with unique experiences, inspiring them to reach their purpose and unlock their maximum potential. It shares stories of overcoming and persistence in Agriculture from people who are making it happen, and excelling in this field.

Tamryn Lowe, a South African entrepreneur passionate about photography

January 29, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Tamryn Lowe, owner, Tamryn Lowe Photography (South Africa)

Tamryn Lowe is the owner of Tamryn Lowe Photography based in Johannesburg, South Africa. She is an international award winning photographer with a passion for helping change the way women see themselves, as well as helping businesses receive more qualified leads through being intentional with their personal branding photos. While she founded her business eleven years ago, she spent the first four years also working for other photographers and the second four years in corporate - all while running her own business at the same time.

Teresa Kulei, a Mozambican entrepreneur harnessing natural ingredients to process balacate tea

January 22, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Teresa Kulei, founder, NSINYA COMÉRCIO e SERVIÇOS, LDA (Mozambique)

Teresa Kulei is the founder of NSINYA COMÉRCIO e SERVIÇOS, LDA in Mozambique. She graduated in Agronomy from the State University of Saint Petersburg-Russia and works in the agribusiness area. NSINYA was founded in 2020.

Barbara Kleinschmidt, South African entrepreneur tapping the healing properties of Aloe Ferox for her brand

January 22, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Barbara Kleinschmidt, founder and Director, Totally Wild (Pty) Ltd (South Africa)

With 30 years of experience in the aloe industry, Barbara Kleinschmidt is a founder and Director of Totally Wild (Pty) Ltd, a 13 year old Cape Town based company, specializing in natural and organic products, made from South Africa's wild-grown, indigenous Aloe ferox plants. Barbara, a single mom with 3 grown up sons, has always had a strong interest in naturopathy, traditional and natural medicines, and focuses on products that will help to improve the health of their customers. In addition, the aloe industry in South Africa relies on a large rural workforce to harvest and pre-process the aloe leaves, providing jobs and upliftment for entire communities who were previously disadvantaged.

Jessica Cumbana, a Mozambican social entrepreneur reducing the gender gap in STEM through coding

January 15, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Jessica Cumbana, project manager, Girls Can Code Club (Mozambique)

Jessica Cumbana is a 23-year-old Mozambican social entrepreneur and business analyst. She is the founder of the Elevate Youth Program, a project designed to empower young people and create development opportunities through training and programs. She is also the project manager of the Girls Can Code Club, a project developed with the aim of reducing the gender gap in the STEM field. A business administration degree holder, Jessica has always believed in using the transforming power of business to positively impact the world, having lived by this philosophy.

Kato Mokabathebe, a creative entrepreneur building a one-stop digital agency in Botswana

January 15, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Kato Mokabathebe, founder and Creative Director, Colourbox Pty Ltd (Botswana)

In today’s highly competitive business world, it is essential to make your brand work for you in the digital marketplace. That’s where Kato Mokabathebe, founder and Creative Director at Colourbox Pty Ltd in Botswana, comes to the rescue. Her creative digital agency brands, digitizes, and markets corporate brands. She is an entrepreneur with a degree in Multimedia Design and a major in Media Innovation. She is passionate about business, creativity, and applying technology to connect people skills. The company started in 2018 and currently has three employees and one freelancer. When she is not at Colourbox, Kato enjoys doing voluntary community work, traveling, and spending time in nature because it fuels her creative spirit.

Peace Samuel, an entrepreneur helping businesses to launch their products to market

January 8, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Peace Samuel, founder and owner, The Virtual Paragon (Nigeria & United States)

Peace Samuel is the founder and owner of The Virtual Paragon, currently registered in Nigeria and United States. She is a multi-skilled entrepreneur and has been featured on a number of business platforms. The Virtual Paragon is focused on helping businesses and experts launch their programs/digital products without the tech overwhelm or losing their authentic self. She started the company 6 years ago and it’s still growing. Peace has supported many businesses and they have gone ahead to grow and scale their businesses.

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