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)

Startup Story

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.

Doreen Michelo, a Zambian agripreneur addressing food security through affordable locally grown farm produce

October 23, 2022 Melanie Hawken

Doreen Michelo, Founder and Managing Director, Mzala Enterprise Ltd (Zambia)

Startup Story

Doreen Michelo is the Founder and Managing Director of Mzala Enterprise Ltd in Zambia, a business founded in 2018. She is a serial entrepreneur and business leader focusing on enhancing local community capacity growth and sustainability by growing and producing high quality farm produce for the local market that is not only accessible but very affordable. Empowering the local community through Agriculture Skills training and knowledge dissemination through the skills hub/centre is another major focus of the business as it aims to leave a lasting positive impact on the community supporting its operations. The business has employed 9 permanent workers and 20 seasonal workers. Doreen has 9 years business work experience as a professional in various industries.

Priscilla Musenge, a Zambian entrepreneur creating sustainable animal feed solutions for greener business

September 25, 2022 Melanie Hawken

Priscilla Museng, founder, Entomo Farm ( Zambia)

Startup Story

Priscilla Musenge is a Climate Change activist and a budding entrepreneur, who is the ceo and founder of Entomo Farm in Zambia, a business launched in 2018. It has since created jobs for 7 people. She was one of the top 10 Finalists of the inaugural cohort of the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs in 2020, a White House Initiative. Additionally, in the same year, Priscilla’s start-up also received a grant in sustainable waste management from United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Zambia. Most recently, she also won 2nd prize in the world’s largest green business ideas competition - the 2021 Climate Launchpad business competition and was one of the recipients of the inaugural 2022 ZANACO (Zambia National Commercial Bank) awards in Zambia.

Lioness Launch / Lifestyle brand, Africana Woman, launches its first international retreat for women

September 18, 2022 Melanie Hawken

Chulu Chansa, founder, Africana Woman (Zambia)

Lioness Launch

Africana Woman is a lifestyle brand, founded by Chulu Chansa in Zambia, that helps women of African descent connect, collaborate and celebrate. Chulu believes in pursuing holistic health in order to attract true wealth. The brand’s range of products support women in their mental, emotional and spiritual health, with Retreats, Workshops, Courses, and Community on offer. This month sees the announcement of the first International Retreat to Marrakech, Morocco. The Retreat is slated for 2-7 July, 2023 and will take the women through a signature program called KNOW your Roots, Grow your Purpose. This is a guided, deep self-reflection where women will rest, reflect and reconnect with themselves.

Evelyn Kaingu, a Zambian fintech champion empowering women and business

May 8, 2022 Melanie Hawken

Evelyn Kaingu, Co-Founder and CEO, Lupiya (Zambia)

Lioness Weekender Cover Story

Lupiya, an innovative fintech business in Zambia building inclusive and accessible financial solutions

Evelyn Kaingu is the Co-Founder and CEO of Lupiya, a Zambian fintech providing financial solutions for individuals and businesses in Zambia. Evelyn is an award-winning young leader whose selfless belief in people drives her to innovate solutions that are people centric. Her ideas are well-placed in considering small enterprise and technology as enablers and measurements of economic progress in Africa. She has first-handedly designed products with very few resources and built Lupiya to be a million-dollar business. Launched in 2016, today Lupiya employs 20 people. Evelyn is one of the 50 founders selected for Google’s prestigious inaugural Black Founders Fund in Africa.

Chilufya Mutale, building a Pan African Challenger Bank for SMEs

April 17, 2022 Melanie Hawken

Lioness Weekender Cover Story

PremierCredit, a Zambian fintech platform supporting women entrepreneurs and small scale traders

Chilufya Mutale is the Co-Founder and CEO of PremierCredit, an online microlending and investment platform operating in Zambia and Zimbabwe. Since 2019 PremierCredit has been offering micro loans in Zambia, supporting local entrepreneurs and small scale traders, many of whom are women, increasing their access to capital and the ability to grow their businesses. With the support of its partner banks in Zimbabwe, PremierCredit provides affordable bicycles, smart phones and solar equipment to underserved communities across Zimbabwe. PremierCredit is the first mover on the Zambian market to offer Peer to Peer lending, a platform that connects Investors to borrowers. The company currently employs 60 people.

Chiinga Musonda, a pioneering artisan chocolate brand builder

April 25, 2021 Melanie Hawken

Chiinga Musonda, co-founder of Savanna Premium Chocolate (Zambia) — **Chiinga Musonda**, co-founder of Savanna Premium Chocolate (Zambia)

Lioness Weekender Cover Story

Savanna Premium Chocolate, a bean-to-bar brand putting Zambia on the global chocolate map

Passion is one of the key ingredients to building any successful business and brand. And, in the world of artisan chocolate making, it is one of the Savanna Premium Chocolate brand’s strongest assets, thanks to founders Chiinga Musonda and Lynna Musonda Phiri.

Monica Musonda, Zambia’s nutritious food manufacturing visionary

January 17, 2021 Melanie Hawken

Lioness Weekender Cover Story

Java Foods, a food-processing market leader in affordable nutrition

Corporate Lawyer turned entrepreneur, Monica Musonda is the Founder of Java Foods, a Zambian based food-processing company that provides affordable nutrition to the Southern African market. Monica currently serves as non-executive director on a number of boards including Airtel Networks Zambia Plc & Zambia Breweries (where she is chair). She is the recipient of the 2017 African Agribusiness Entrepreneur of the Year award, a 2013 Young Global Leader (World Economic Forum) and Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellow. Forbes Magazine and Africa Investor named her as one of the leading Young Power Women in Business in Africa in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

Savanna Premium Chocolate wins major international chocolate award

January 12, 2020 Melanie Hawken

Awards and Accolades

The International Chocolate Awards, the equivalent of the Oscars for the chocolate world, have recently taken place, and Zambia’s Savanna Premium Chocolate, founded by entrepreneur Chiinga Musonda and Lynn Musonda Phiri, has scooped a top prize.

100 LIONESSES: Monica Musonda, high-flying lawyer turned food manufacturing entrepreneur

June 8, 2019 Melanie Hawken

Monica Musonda, founder of Java Foods (Zambia) — **Monica Musonda**, founder of Java Foods (Zambia)

Monica Musonda is founder and Chief Executive Officer of Java Foods, a food processing company based in Zambia. Monica's vision is to revolutionize the eating habits of the youth market by offering them affordable and nutritious food options made from local products. Monica is a dual-qualified English solicitor and Zambian advocate with over 15 years of experience in legal practice and corporate management, including being corporate counsel at the International Finance Corporation and for Aliko Dangote of Dangote Industries Limited.

Bupe Chipili Mulapesi, a Zambian strawberry farmer and processor

October 12, 2018 Melanie Hawken

VIDEO: Bupe Chipili Mulapesi is a Zambian agripreneur turning her passion for strawberry growing into a thriving business in the country.

Bupe Chipili Mulapesi, a Zambian agripreneur turning her passion for strawberry growing into a thriving business in the country

October 8, 2018 Melanie Hawken

Bupe Chipili Mulapesi, founder of Farm23 Strawberry (Zambia) — **Bupe Chipili Mulapesi**, founder of Farm23 Strawberry (Zambia)

Inspiration to start a business comes in many forms, and for successful agripreneur Bupe Chipili Mulapesi, founder of Farm23 Strawberry in Zambia, her inspiration came from a fellow woman farmer across the other side of the world.

Lusaka inspires and connects the city’s women entrepreneurs at the latest Lioness Lean In event

October 7, 2018 Melanie Hawken

On the morning of Wednesday 3 October, leading women entrepreneurs from Lusaka in Zambia gathered together at the Radisson Blu Hotel to be inspired and to connect with their fellow women business and brand builders at the latest Lioness Lean In breakfast event in the country. And it lived up to its promise of a great occasion! The event was cohosted by Lionesses of Africa and NATSAVE (National Savings and Credit Bank).

Celebrating 5 Zambian women entrepreneurs taking the country’s economy forward

September 9, 2018 Melanie Hawken

Throughout the month of September, Lionesses of Africa will be celebrating Zambia’s many innovative and talented women entrepreneurs who are helping to shape a new and dynamic economy in the country.

Chita Mumba Zulu, an entrepreneur creating beautiful, affordable engagement and wedding rings for Zambian couples

July 22, 2018 Melanie Hawken

Chita Mumba Zulu, founder of Eternal Jewellery Zambia — **Chita Mumba Zulu**, founder of Eternal Jewellery Zambia

Successful businesses understand that finding a gap in the market is key, and for entrepreneur Chita Mumba Zulu and her team at Eternal Jewellery Zambia, that gap was in the wedding and engagement ring market. Today, the business is making a name for itself by supplying quality, affordable and beautiful jewellery for couples who are planning their wedding celebrations.

Chiinga Musonda and Lynn Musonda Phiri, two pioneering Zambian entrepreneurs putting the country on the global chocolate map

July 6, 2018 Melanie Hawken

Zambia’s women entrepreneurs share, inspire and connect at the Lioness Lean In event in Lusaka

November 12, 2017 Melanie Hawken

Screen Shot 2017-11-12 at 3.19.05 PM.jpg

On 8 November, the Lioness Lean In roadshow returned to Zambia to showcase and empower women entrepreneurs in the city. The event was once again held in partnership with Stanbic Bank at the Taj Pamodzi Hotel in Lusaka, and brought around 80 women business owners from across the city from both the Stanbic Bank client list and also from the Lionesses of Africa network. Lionesses of Africa is one of the fastest growing networks of women entrepreneurs with over 450,000 women business and brand builders in 49 African countries and across the Diaspora.

Miyoba Buumba, a Zambian entrepreneur taking her passion for African design and turning it into a distinctive homeware and accessories brand

June 11, 2017 Melanie Hawken

Miyoba Buumba, founder of Mwabonwa Designs (Zambia) — **Miyoba Buumba**, founder of Mwabonwa Designs (Zambia)

Often a business idea stems from a personal passion, and in the case of Miyoba Buumba, founder of Mwabonwa Designs in Zambia, that passion came from her interest in proudly African design. Today, her brand is a reflection of her own design inspiration and her love of African style and culture.

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