Whilst on my travels this past month, I was thinking about which cities I regularly visit that are really geared up to be women entrepreneur friendly, with great networks, accessible ecosystems, and really supportive business environments. Globally, I would certainly rank New York, London and Berlin at the top of my personal list. And here in Africa, there are many cities that are going the extra mile to support the growth and development of women’s entrepreneurship, particularly those high potential women owned businesses. Many of these cities I have visited multiple times over the past year or two with our Lioness Lean In and other event programmes, such as South Africa, Ghana, Mozambique, Rwanda, Kenya, Zambia, Botswana, to name but a few. It will be interesting to see how many African countries make it into the Dell Women Entrepreneurs Cities Index this year (the next one is due for publication in August). In 2017, only two African cities made the top 50 list, Johannesburg and Nairobi. I have a feeling that is set to change as some of the most exciting growing economies are to be found in Africa. 

Have yourself an inspired entrepreneurial day! - Melanie

It’s good to wake up this morning to the smell of sea air and the sound of lapping waves close by as Lionesses of Africa returns to one of our favourite Lioness Lean In event destinations - Maputo, Mozambique. We have an amazing day lined up as we head to the Standard Bank Business Incubator, once again our host impact partner for the day. We are all set to welcome two packed audiences keen to meet and hear from our showcase women entrepreneurs from this exciting entrepreneurial city. We have not one, but two Lioness Lean In events planned today. In the morning, we will be welcoming women entrepreneurs who have already built their businesses and are looking to make those new, all important connections that can help them to grow. And, in the afternoon, our Young Lioness Lean In event will welcome the next generation of women business and brand builders, ready to be inspired by those women who have been there, got the T-Shirt and are already tasting entrepreneurial success. So, if you are planning on joining us in sunny Maputo, we look forward to seeing you there; and for everyone else, follow us on social media and experience all the action at a distance. It’s going to be a beautiful day in Mozambique.  

Have yourself an inspired entrepreneurial day! - Melanie

At our recent Start-up Night! Africa event in London, we showcased some incredible women global brand builders, one of whom was Adele Dejak, whose bold jewellery designs bowled over the audience. The appeal was firstly a highly individual design aesthetic combined with a strong back story and a powerful creative and business ethos. It reminded me of how important it is to showcase the truly world class creative female entrepreneurial talent we have in Africa and to connect their brands to influential marketplaces. So all this month on Lionesses of Africa, we will be showcasing some of the most beautiful jewellery designs and businesses, emanating from the creative studios of leading women entrepreneurs from across the African continent. By sharing their stories, introducing their work, and hopefully inspiring new audiences and customers to buy their designs, we hope to stimulate a powerful new interest in African contemporary jewellery design, created by a new generation of talented women entrepreneurs. Read our latest feature on 24 of Africa’s most innovative jewellery designers and crafters.

Have yourself an inspired entrepreneurial day! - Melanie

I was at a networking event in Europe recently and was chatting to a number of women entrepreneurs in our Diaspora community about the challenge of opening up conversations with successful women globally who they admired but didn’t know. The world of LinkedIn and other platforms has been successful in appearing to bring such people closer to us, and in the world of entrepreneurship, we often experience things in common that make shared conversations much more of a possibility. Yet often, women entrepreneurs are hesitant in making contact and inviting conversations on areas of mutual interest. What I’ve found over the years as an entrepreneur is that often it’s a case of just doing it - picking up a phone, sending an email, connecting on LinkedIn, writing an article that piques their interest, attending an event where they are speaking and then just connecting on a human level, one entrepreneur to another. After all, the one thing we share in common is our personal entrepreneurial journeys - we might just be at different stages of those journeys, but we share an interesting road travelled. That’s a starting point for a conversation.

Have yourself an inspired entrepreneurial day! - Melanie

I am a huge podcast radio fan, as many of you may already know if you have listened to our own weekly Lioness Radio Show. If you haven’t, click here to download the latest episode.  It’s so powerful, connecting a woman entrepreneur’s voice with her business and brand when it comes to engaging with audiences, and of course, potential customers. So I was fascinated to read the latest statistics on just how powerful podcasting is now globally, and how it can really help businesses to grow their engagement levels and customer connections.  In the US alone, the average number of monthly podcast listeners amounted to about 58 million in 2016, and is forecast to skyrocket to 112 million by 2021, according to leading US statistics portal, Statista. That’s a lot of ears tuned in to podcast radio, and a lot of opportunities to make your brand voice work for you. Customers love to make a personal connection with the people behind the brands and products they love, and having the opportunity to hear what makes those businesses tick from those who have founded them is truly powerful. So the question is, are you making your own brand voice work for you?

Have yourself an inspired entrepreneurial day! - Melanie

Yesterday, chances are many of you may have celebrated Mothers’ Day with your families, the day when they acknowledge and appreciate what you do for them each and every day. The cards may have been lovingly made and written, perhaps cupcakes baked, maybe even breakfast in bed appeared at an unearthly hour in the morning accompanied by your eager children’s faces. But these days, if you are an entrepreneur and a mom too, then it’s just as likely that your day of celebration was spent juggling precious family time and work time - that’s just the reality. And the rise of the mompreneur suggests that this scenario is only set to grow. So, if you are waking up this morning wondering how to make your own business life and home life work at a practical level, then here are a few practical tips. Set perfection aside; be present in both your work and home life and stop trying to multitask 24/7; know your why - you have to believe in the reasons you are doing all of this; get the whole family to buy into what you are doing; lose the guilt and stay positive; and above all, take time to enjoy this crazy mompreneur life you have chosen.

Have yourself an inspired entrepreneurial day! - Melanie

Don’t you just love the power of social media to build a buzz and excitement around a new product launch, or a must-attend event? I have to say, I loved seeing the incredibly talented women entrepreneurs who were pitching at our Start-Up Night! Africa event in London this past month really harnessing their social media platforms to get people talking and interested in their brands before they even got onto stage to present their businesses. These days, it’s an essential part of any successful brand building and marketing strategy and an opportunity to get an audience talking and generating excitement on your behalf. As much as it takes time and effort to really drive positive, continual social media activity around your brand, it can definitely pay-off in so many ways, not least of which is getting you known out there. So start building your own unique brand buzz in the marketplace, and really tap into the power of social media to make those all important audience connections. 

Have yourself an inspired entrepreneurial day! - Melanie

I have to say, I love nothing more than seeing women entrepreneurs in action, passionately pitching their businesses to potential investors, selling their products to interested customers, or nailing that all important, life-changing deal. It’s great to see! After all, business is about selling, in all its forms, and some people are naturally better at selling and feel more comfortable with it than others. I was chatting to an amazing young woman entrepreneur recently at her studio and she was talking about how she loves the creative process in her business, developing the products and getting them launch ready, but literally dreads the sales process. Yet in business, especially when you are a startup, it’s a skill that’s essential to develop, and importantly, to perfect. So the bottom line is, we need to find a way to fall in love with the art of selling and not just creating, as sales are the lifeblood of our businesses.  

Have yourself an inspired entrepreneurial day! - Melanie

It’s official - not getting enough sleep impacts on your productivity, which means your business as well as your life could suffer if you are not getting the hours of sleep your body needs. According to the Mayo Clinic, adults need on average between 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night. Now I don’t know about you, but I can’t remember the last time I had that much sleep, I think I was a small child! However, it appears that my approach to sleeping could be impacting on my productivity - and possibly yours too if this story resonates with you. I am one of those people who has never been good at sleeping, and being an entrepreneur means I tend to work long hours. Lots of travelling across different time zones also interrupts normal sleep patterns, making it difficult to settle into a good sleep routine. So on a recent plane journey, I  decided to revisit the wonderful book by Ariana Huffington - The Sleep Revolution. She has some great insights to share, saying: “We sacrifice sleep in the name of productivity, but, ironically, our loss of sleep, despite the extra hours we put in at work, adds up to more than eleven days of lost productivity per year.” That’s a big cost to our businesses and our health. So, pass me the pillow please!  

Have yourself an inspired entrepreneurial day! - Melanie

I was invited last month by the India/South Africa Business Summit in Johannesburg to be a guest speaker and to chair a panel discussion on the subject of Exploring Opportunities for Women’s Entrepreneurship in India and South Africa, and specifically looking at how women business builders can be the economic game-changers in both countries - a topic near and dear to my heart. We covered a number of important topics in the session, from how to break into new global markets, to how to access capital, to creating networks, and mentoring, through to how to create the supportive business environment in which women entrepreneurs can grow. But perhaps the most engaging part of the session was when women entrepreneurs in the audience found their voices, pitched their businesses, challenged the status quo in the business environment, expressed their frustrations at the barriers to entry, and looked to find solutions amongst themselves. If more of us find our voices in business, make our pitches heard because they are well prepared and compelling to those decision-makers who are listening, and speak out when change needs to happen, and we do this as a collective, we can make our voices make a difference.

Have yourself an inspired entrepreneurial day! - Melanie

It seems like every day when I read or watch the news, another globally recognized actress or female celebrity is making headlines with the launch of her new business.  Being an entrepreneur and launching a new product or service seems to be par for the course in Hollywood these days. Just this morning I was reading about Beyonce’s new entrepreneurial venture, bringing healthy vegan eating routines to the public via a new digital app; and actress Sophie Vergara’s new underwear subscription company, EBY - Empowered By You. What these and other well known celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow (remember her Goop curated lifestyle brand) have found, is that no matter how successful your career might be, there is nothing quite as empowering as creating and launching a business and a brand that connects directly with customers. There is something to be learned from these women - they understand the power of building and leveraging a personal brand to directly benefit the launch and sustainability of a new business. As women entrepreneurs, we can all learn to leverage our position and reputation as founders and innovators, using our personal brand value to drive interest in our new businesses and brands.

Have yourself an inspired entrepreneurial day! - Melanie

I was listening to a podcast radio show this week about the announcement of the annual, highly prestigious and ultimately very competitive Women’s Prize for Fiction in the publishing world. And it’s an exciting year in the life of this competition as it turns out, with some of the biggest names in literature being pushed aside by up and coming new women writers. Now you might wonder why I am mentioning this fact, and what it has to do with the world of entrepreneurship we all inhabit. But something the assembled judges said during the conversation was really interesting. They were impressed by a new generation of strong, young female voices that spoke to them most directly and truthfully in their writing. These women had written books because they had something to say and were not afraid to express their true feelings through their work - basically, their voices were authentic. It reminded me of the power of being authentic, and that’s something we can all learn from in business. We are much more likely to make a connection with our audiences and our customers if we build businesses and create products that are authentically ours, with messages that resonate with those we are trying to reach. 

Have yourself an inspired entrepreneurial day! - Melanie

I was in London last month when the big Marathon weekend took place. 40,000 people, each motivated by different reasons to run, hit the streets in record-breaking 24.1 degrees Celcius temperatures in the hopes of completing the 26.2-mile race. The African continent celebrated as Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya won the elite women’s race, recording a personal best time in the process. But the London Marathon is not just about winning - it’s more about testing yourself to the limit, pushing personal barriers and boundaries, benchmarking yourself against your fellow runners, and ultimately setting goals to be achieved, often against the odds. There are lots of parallels between running a Marathon and running a business - both start with a vision and goals to be fulfilled, with passions to be realized, but ultimately, it’s about endurance and being in it for the long haul. Business success doesn’t happen quickly, it’s like running a race - you have to break the long journey down into more manageable sections, and celebrate the small successes as you go.  

Have yourself an inspired entrepreneurial day! - Melanie

I am a really happy traveller, in fact put me on a plane heading somewhere interesting for work or pleasure and it’s my idea of bliss. Spending time travelling also gives me some precious uninterrupted time to think, read, and bounce new ideas around. On a recent trip to Europe, I was reading a new book mid flight, the title of which had originally leapt off my Amazon Book search and shrieked ‘read me.’ It was ‘Cowgirl Power’ by Gay Gaddis, the US ad-agency entrepreneur power-house and also Texan Longhorn Rancher - who says you can’t have a diverse business life? It’s the story of how Gay built a mega-successful business by taking her fearlessness and courage learned the hard-way through ranching, and applying it in the entrepreneurial and corporate world. She makes a great point which resonated with me and one that I thought I would share with you all this morning. She says that finding success in the tough world of business is not a matter of having to change yourself to fit the environment, rather it’s about understanding your strengths, building on them and unlocking your own unique power to make things happen. Great advice!

Have yourself an inspired entrepreneurial day! - Melanie

Today I’m inspired to write about how, as entrepreneurs, we need to appreciate and leverage the power of partnerships. They are an effective means of opening up exciting new relationships and business opportunities, particularly in markets we are trying to break into. That’s why later today, I will be speaking at, and hosting a panel discussion on Women’s Entrepreneurship at the India/South Africa Business Summit in Johannesburg. As women entrepreneurs across Africa are looking to break into new markets around the world, this important platform looks to explore the possibility of new partnerships between India and South Africa as a starting point. I will be sharing the outcomes and the learnings with you all over the coming days. These are exciting times for Africa’s women entrepreneurs - let’s make the most of our partnership opportunities to make things happen! 

Have yourself an inspired entrepreneurial day! - Melanie

I have gained some really interesting insights this week being back in London, and probably the one that sticks with me most is the need for Africa’s women entrepreneurs to think more globally about their businesses. I have seen at first hand how excited UK investors and retailers are about the exciting new wave of contemporary African women-owned brands emerging from the continent with world-class products that also have a powerful back-story. But we are not seeing enough of these businesses and brands breaking through. The opportunities are undoubtedly there in Europe, the US, and other key global markets as the interest in African design and creativity continues to grow. But more women entrepreneurs on the continent need to think about building businesses and creating products that are geared towards global markets in order to tap into this exciting marketing opportunity.  

Have yourself an inspired entrepreneurial day! - Melanie

It’s great to be back in London today and to have the opportunity to showcase some of Africa’s leading women entrepreneur global brand builders at our 2nd Start-Up Night! Africa event of the year. This is an exciting marketplace and one that has great potential for future business and collaboration for Africa’s women brand-builders, but it can be both daunting and challenging to break into such markets when you’re sat on the other side of the world. That’s why showcase events like these are really important. By giving a platform to women entrepreneurs to pitch their world-class businesses, brands and products to influential audiences in global cities such as London, Berlin, Paris, New York and others, it stimulates wider interest in doing business with Africa’s women entrepreneurs. Getting access to markets will always be a critical success factor in any business - that’s why our Start-Up Night! Africa events are part of our strategy to open up key global markets for our Lionesses of Africa community. Find out more.

Have yourself an inspired entrepreneurial day!

As many of you know, I spend a large amount of my time travelling around Africa and the world, hosting and speaking at events that connect women entrepreneurs with each other and with exciting new market opportunities. In between those meetings and events, as I sit working on my laptop in different global locations on planes, in airline lounges, hotel lobbies, cafes and in railway stations, I have noticed at first hand a growing global trend, particularly amongst millennials. It’s the rise of the digital nomads - entrepreneurs, particularly millennials, whose lives combine business and travel and the freedom to work connected anywhere on the road. These days, it’s possible to run a successful digital business from anywhere as long as you have a laptop, an internet connection, your network, and your digital client base with you. 

Have yourself an inspired entrepreneurial day! - Melanie

I was chatting to one of the women entrepreneurs in our Diaspora network in New York this week about knowing when the right time is to launch a new business, or venture into a totally new area of business, or launch a completely different product into a new  marketplace, and how scary a prospect that can be. I shared with her some insights from a great interview I had been reading with Jane Rosenthal who is the co-founder of the fabulous Tribeca Film Festival (together with acting legend Robert de Niro). She has a great approach which centres around knowing when to trust your instincts. She says: “What personal traits or strategies do you rely on to create opportunity for yourself and others? For me, it is to trust my own instincts and to not give in to the doubting voices that are always on my shoulder. It's looking at pros, cons and intangibles. Then you have to just make a decision and go.” It’s a great approach to take, in business and in life.

Have yourself an inspired entrepreneurial day! - Melanie

Did you know that today is World Book and Copyright Day, UNESCO’s annual, world-wide tribute to the global authors who create the books that inspire us to develop a love of reading? As entrepreneurs, we know there is nothing quite like getting inspiration from, or into the mind of, a great entrepreneur or ‘thought leader’ on the subject of entrepreneurship and finding out what it takes to build a great business. Each week I personally read and review the latest books written by those women entrepreneurs who inspire us through their successes and failures, and their good times and bad times. I introduce you to women authors from around the world who you might not have heard of, and bring you reviews of my own favourite essential reads on the subject of entrepreneurship in general. Hopefully, these books will help to inspire, motivate and keep you informed as you build your own businesses. So, if you are in need of a little inspiration this morning, check out our book review and Essential Reads.  

Have yourself an inspired entrepreneurial day! - Melanie