One of the things I love most about travelling around the African continent on our Lioness Lean In tour is meeting truly inspirational women entrepreneurs and hearing their startup stories. Yesterday, I was privileged to meet an amazing agripreneur in Zambia, Bupe Chipili Mulapesi, founder of Farm 23 Strawberry. She is one of the country’s successful strawberry growers and is building a rapidly growing and thriving business. I asked her how she first got started in business and she told me it started with just 20 strawberry plants, sent to her by another hugely successful woman agripreneur from Australia, who became her mentor. Five years later, because of her tenacity, her willingness to learn, her hard work, and importantly, a big vision, she has created a great business that is expanding, employing more women, and supplying some of the biggest retailers in the country. It’s an inspirational story and one that you will be able to read next week on our Lionesses of Africa platforms.
Have yourself an inspired entrepreneurial day! - Melanie