the pride of Africa's women entrepreneurs
Lorna Rutto, founder of EcoPost, Kenya
Source: Standard Digital News Kenya | December 27, 2014 | by Faith Ronoh
Lorna Rutto, the founder of EcoPost Limited in Kenya, has despite her tender age already attained a remarkable list of achievements in environmental conservation that has seen her garner several international awards.
Read the article here.
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There is no doubt about it, Africa’s women entrepreneurs have been making the headlines for all the right reasons in 2014, scooping top entrepreneur awards and accolades, and achieving global recognition for their business and brand building efforts. Lionesses of Africa celebrates the success of 10 of Africa’s women entrepreneur trailblazers who in our opinion have been the continent's leading newsmakers over the past 12 months.
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IWEC International Women Entrepreneurial Challenge 2014 Awardees in Stockholm, Sweden
Six of Africa’s leading women entrepreneurs achieved global recognition on 17th November in Stockholm at the prestigious IWEC International Women Entrepreneurial Challenge Awards. The event aims to develop a global business network for successful women business owners, helping them gain and expand access to international markets.
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To round off the year, we bring you our top 7 favourite reads for women entrepreneurs - all authored, or co-authored by women. We hope they inspired you as much as they did us.
Let’s face it, there is nothing quite like getting inspiration and advice from other great women entrepreneurs who have been there and done it, bought the T-Shirt, survived business failure and other challenges, made it through the good times and bad times - and ultimately achieved success.
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To kickstart 2015 off on a truly inspirational note, we are sharing our Top 50 Inspiring Quotes from some of Africa's leading women entrepreneurs. We found so much motivation and encouragement in their words and we hope they inspire you too as you continue on your own entrepreneurial journey to success in the year ahead.
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Kofo Akinkugbe, founder & CEO of SecureID Nigeria Ltd
SecureID Nigeria Limited, founded by Kofo Akinkugbe, a leading Nigerian digital solution provider certified by Visa, MasterCard, and Verve for Chip Embedding, Chip Encoding, Chip Personalization, Card Personalization, and Card Fulfillment, in partnership with Sterling Bank has provided a Biometric ID Card to enable ‘Financial Inclusion’.
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Anna Savage (top left), co-founder of I Heart Market, Durban
Sometimes you just need to allow your business to evolve....
- Anna Savage is the owner and co-founder of the popular I Heart Market in Durban. Since its humble beginnings in 2009, this now renowned market has mushroomed in popularity, becoming a favourite with Durban locals and visitors alike. Anna has managed to bring together a colourful celebration of local talent, fresh foods and quirky decor and design and she strongly endorses authenticity, originality and clever craftsmanship.
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Lorna Rutto, founder of Ecopost, Kenya
Source: Standard Digital | December 27, 2014
Lorna Rutto has won the 2014 Green Award by the Transform Kenya Awards, a joint initiative of the Standard Group and Deloitte in recognition of her work. Her company, EcoPost, has saved over 250 acres of forests and withdrawn over 1,000,000 kilograms of plastic waste from the environment.
Read the full article here.
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Susan Mashibe, founder of Via Aviation, Tanzania
There are not too many young 4 year old girls in the world who have a dream of a career in aviation and go on to launch a unique and highly successful technical and logistics company to support private jets in Africa - but the inspirational Susan Mashibe is one of those few!
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- Sheryl Sandberg is the COO of Facebook. Her remarkable career has included stops at the World Bank, the U.S. Treasury, Google and Facebook, where she's been Chief Operating Officer since 2008. Sheryl Sandberg grew up in North Miami Beach, Florida, and studied economics at Harvard. Her position as one of Silicon Valley's most successful female executives has made her a lightning rod for both praise and criticism, especially after the publication of her 2013 book Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead in 2013.
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A big LoA community congratulations to Swaady Martin-Leke, founder of Yswara the African luxury tea brand, who was recently nominated an Emerging Leader by the Aspen Institute France under the patronage of President François Hollande. Félicitations Swaady!
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Maira Koutsoudakis, founder of Life group of companies
Top business tip for women entrepreneurs....
- Maira Koutsoudakis is an internationally acclaimed interior architect and founder and CEO of the Life group of companies and Life Interiors, Architecture and Strategic Design. Maria’s garnered international acclaim for her firm’s multi-award winning work in the areas of luxury resort, boutique hotel, exclusive residential, restaurant projects and product design.
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Swaady Martin-Leke, founder of Yswara
Chetna Vijay Sinha, founder of Mann Deshi Foundation, India
- Chetna Vijay Sinha is founder of Mann Deshi Foundation of India and Mann Deshi Mahila Bank which is India's first rural cooperative bank she founded in 1997. Its client base and membership is 100 per cent composed of semi-literate or illiterate poor rural women with an average annual income of less than USD 1.5 per day. The number of direct beneficiaries stands at 209,000. Chetna was recognised by the Schwab Foundation as a Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2014.
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Anne Githuku-Shongwe, founder & CEO of AFROES Transformational Games
Anne is literally a game-changer in every sense of the word, empowering young people in Africa to learn, engage, and challenge existing perceptions of the continent through mobile gaming.
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Jenna Clifford, founder of Jenna Clifford Designs, South Africa
You must keep on trying....
- Jenna Clifford is a world-renowned jewellery designer, known for her unique designs and superlative craftsmanship. Established in 1992, her company has steadily grown its clientele and improved its profile to institute itself as a powerful force in the jewellery industry. Her bold and dramatic designs are sought after by some of the most recognised business icons and celebrities from around the world. Today, Jenna Clifford Designs employs around 70 people, including some of the finest jewellery artisans and craftsmen in South Africa.
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Sue Liang, founder of Asulia Foods
- Sue Liang is the founder of Asulia Foods. With Asulia, she combines her love of vegetables and food with her commitment to helping girls around the world. When she’s not creating new recipes, you can find her on her yoga mat or putting hot sauce on almost everything she eats! She lives in Boston, USA.
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Dr. Ola Orekunrin, founder of Flying Doctors Nigeria
There are certain people you come across in life that are truly inspirational on a number of levels, but medical doctor, pilot and healthcare entrepreneur, Ola Orekunrin is certainly one of those.
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Deola Sagoe, founder of Deola
Check your motives are right before you start your entrepreneurial journey....
- Deola Sagoe, founder of Deola is the leading lady of African haute couture fashion from Ondo State in Nigeria. Deola has been at the cutting edge of high fashion since 1989 and became the first black woman to present a collection at AltaRoma, Rome’s celebrated fashion week, back in 2004. Her globally appealing style has earned her an enviable clientèle that ranges from Africa's first ladies, to society girls like Lydia Hearst, top model Alek Wek, and famous personalities such as Oprah Winfrey and Will Smith.
Read moreSource: Diamond Woman's Nigerian Women of Vision | Published on November 30, 2014
This video features Bella Naija's founder Uche Pedro who has recently been named as one of the ’30 Most Promising Young Entrepreneurs In Africa in 2014′ by Forbes. She is the Managing Director of BellaNaija and Creative Director of BellaNaija.com, an online company that develops and manages exciting online media content aimed at Pan-African and Nigerian audiences.
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