by Lionesses of Africa Operations Department
So 2025 has begun and as with all new years, we have our own resolutions. Although not technically a ‘resolution’ as by definition it is designed to only last one month, ‘Dry January’ does tend to outlast many of our well thought out self promises for the year, although as (occasional) wine drinkers, we of course don’t count as a failure the ‘White Wednesdays’ and ‘Thirsty Thursdays’ that tend to creep in towards the end of the month. We are after all, only human.
One resolution that does stay with us however is to learn something new each year. This we always follow through on, although with varying levels of success. Our learning of the beautiful Italian language for example still rests comfortably at the beginner stage, along with our resolution refreshed each year to move to Italy. Yes, yet another year has gone by and still we are no where nearer our dream of waking each morning to a Tuscan sunrise, we have of course asked Melanie to understand the hurt we are going through and be especially kind as we work through the pain…
This year our resolution is to overcome our fear of AI, to trust in the regulations being brought by the EU and others, and to learn to love this incredible business tool, all within our usual vision of such resolutions having ‘Maximum Satisfaction, Minimum Effort’. Can’t be too difficult we thought!
Let’s get something straight from the start - AI is not going anywhere. It is not only here to stay, but if used well, significantly levels the playing field for all nimble SMEs, and most importantly for us in the Lionesses of Africa, it allows our incredible membership a chance to play catch up with (and possibly overtake) so many larger firms, many of whom have enjoyed a far easier route to finance and investment with which they have raced ahead, building large companies and cornering markets.
Many of these larger firms will now have heavy Operations and HR costs, - once seen as essential for growth, becomes less so due the tools available to all through AI. Get on the right side of AI and overnight you will start to pick up speed, whilst these other companies will find what was important for them in the past, is now a drag on their business.
Who wouldn’t want that for 2025!
It was therefore with much excitement that we tuned into the new Lioness Radio show season that was launched this week, entitled ‘The AI Series’ hosted by Tessa Hawken which can be found here:
The first episode didn’t disappoint, called ‘Navigating Artificial Intelligence In The Workplace’. Exactly what we wanted! There is so much fluff out there designed it seems to confuse within which we could, and have often lost ourselves. Here was a chance to lean on the shoulders of others who have gone before us and learn fast.
Tessa was interviewing two incredible Lionesses and whilst we are not here to give away any spoilers, not least because the whole episode is jam packed with hints, tips and knowledge freely given by her expert guests, Lusanda Omelo – Founder of findaiforthat.com and Michelle Geere – CEO of myadbot.com, there were a few nuggets we can share for today to give you a feel of the program.
Having followed through further with these experts’ websites and published work, it was also clear they had done Gladwell’s 10,000 hours of hard work to become the gurus they are. 10,000 hours, so that we mere mortals, don’t have to. They have made it their mission to drive a path forward through the maze, fog and fear that is AI, so that others can follow.
‘Maximum Satisfaction, Minimum Effort’ seemed to be within our grasp!
For a long time now we have been stuck on the negatives of AI, possibly grabbing these as a way to possibly hide our own fear of the unknown, but such fears (as often is the case) will never allow us to move forward and so it was brilliant, if not essential that we got to hear these experts talking so freely about the benefits of AI for all.
Lusanda’s business has a simple mission - to provide businesses, entrepreneurs, and professionals with the AI-powered solutions they need to streamline operations, optimize workflows, and stay ahead of the curve in today’s fast-paced, technology-driven world. This means as Tessa pointed out a chance to seriously save time, allowing far more to focus on scaling one’s own business.
AI is not just ChatGPT, there is a huge world of tools out there specifically suited to each of our businesses, industries and even projects. Granted ChatGPT is a good start, and as Lusanda points out here in one of her excellent LinkedIn tutorials (well worth following her on LinkedIn for all of these nuggets of wisdom), the paid versions are far better, not least because they move away from those generic type answers we feel the free version often gives, seemingly produced either to please by pushing back what it thinks you want to hear, or to cover generalisations. But to really get the full advantages of AI and to really save you time and therefore make you far more efficient, you have to go deeper and that is where Lusanda makes the difference - highlighting, explaining and holding your hand as you navigate through hundreds of different AI tools designed specifically for your particular industry, business, niche or even project.
Just because Lusanda has shown us where the AI tools live, of course does not mean we can just click a button and bingo - hundreds of hours are saved. As with ChatGPT, instructions have to be clear, data that you use and drop into the instructions has to be the best it can (usual rules apply, ’rubbish in, rubbish out’ - there is no magic wand for that), and employees have to be brought in to the process and trained so that they don’t just assume they will all lose their jobs, and luckily, Lusanda has all of that covered as well. It seems our 2025 New Year’s Resolution is going to be far easier than expected!
However, there is one area that has always proved incredibly hard to reconcile from a results basis, and that is Marketing. The act of throwing money out of the window on the assumption that some of it might hit the target and come back with increased sales under its wings… How do you actually know the spend is hitting the intended target? How long do you have to wait before you know? How do you even know that particular sales were the result of a particular area hit, or because of the increased spend, or perhaps it was due to something completely unrelated? Is your campaign even having any impact at all? In fact studies have shown time and time again that a well designed spend on Marketing does reap benefits, but you have to have such faith when you write that cheque.
Tessa openly highlights this stating that “…navigating the complexities of online advertising can feel overwhelming”. To guide us on this treacherous route her next guest Michelle Geer, founder and CEO of adbot.com, leveraged her 15 years of experience in digital advertising and of running small businesses to build a platform that's revolutionizing how SMEs advertise online by integrating advanced AI. Again those 10,000 hours of hard work, learning, trying, failing, getting back up and trying and learning again, whilst perfecting the product…just so we don’t have to!
As if to confirm our thoughts on marketing being such a faith centric act, and that one might simply do better by opening a church…in one of her excellent articles (here) Michelle discusses an ongoing antitrust trial which suggest that agencies are often driven by incentives (allegedly) paid out by media platforms to ‘encourage’ them to use certain channels such as (ditto) ‘Youtube and display ads’ for their customer budgets. She quotes the agency’s often used phrase "More awareness will lead to more conversions!”, which we actually heard recently from some (very well paid) agency types, but what does that phrase actually mean? It certainly does not stop that nagging feeling that there is someone being made a fool of in the room…
To remove this using advanced AI technology she is able to analyse real-time data and performance metrics to intelligently distribute your budget where it will have the most impact (note in ‘real-time’). Her research has shown that doing a search advertising campaign yourself usually means as much as 20 hours a week of work, and that doesn’t include the hassle, thought, worry, rethinking etc. Letting the advanced AI technology within her Adbot take control not only results in you only spending 1 hour a month on this, plus your reports will be clear and very easy to understand.
Once again you can go it alone, but as all Lionesses know, it is far better to go together. ‘Maximum Satisfaction, Minimum Effort’ once more - and surely it’ll be more fun with another Lioness!
Leaving the last word to a member of our exclusive community of 100Lionesses (an incredible group of about 130 inspirational African businesswomen who have built multi-million US$ businesses, or who have transformed the world in some incredible way), the brilliant Ethel Cofie, states clearly here that: “Artificial Intelligence (AI) holds the transformative potential to drive economic growth and support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across Africa. With AI applications emerging in various sectors, this technology is poised to revolutionize key industries and address critical challenges on the continent.”
So why not join us and make it your 2025 resolution to join the nimble in-crowd before it’s too late and embrace the joy of ‘Maximum Satisfaction, Minimum Effort’ with AI & fellow Lionesses, and listen in to the Lioness Radio AI Series.
Enjoy the show!
Stay Safe.