Kgabiso Palesa Sephai, a South African entrepreneur passionate about socio-economic development in grass-roots communities

August 12, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Kgabiso Palesa Sephai is the founder and managing director of two entities, KgabisoPalesa Consulting and KgabisoPalesa Cares NPC in South Africa. She is also a director at In Pursuit Renewable Energy. She has over 15 years experience in project planning, project & programme management, PMO setup and management. She holds a B.Eng (Hons) in Electrical Engineering from Multimedia University in Malaysia, a Postgraduate Diploma in General Management, and an MBA from the Gordon Institute of Business Science. She is also a Project Management Professional and a member of the Project Management Institute.

Silvia Ferreira, a Mozambican entrepreneur changing the world one brick at a time

August 6, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Silvia Ferreira, founder, Cosini Lda (Mozambique)

Silvia Ferreira is the founder of Cosini Lda, a construction, real estate and industrial solutions company started in Mozambique in 2020 and with a workforce of 12. She is the winner of the Access bank 2022 award for the biggest Female Entrepreneurship project in Mozambique. She has an MBA in supply chain from Vlerick Business School in Belgium.

Daphne Kasambala, an entrepreneur in Malawi building a wholesale marketplace for African creatives

August 6, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Daphne Kasambala, founder and CEO, Meekono (Malawi)

Daphne Kasambala is the founder and CEO of Meekono, a wholesale marketplace for African creatives seeking global trading opportunities. A multifaceted entrepreneur and former corporate banker with experience gained with major institutions in Europe and Africa, Daphne is a relentless problem-solver and collaborator who is determined to play a key role in putting African creativity on the map. Daphne considers herself a global citizen, and has recently returned after many years abroad to focus on growing her business. One of Daphne’s proudest moments was scaling Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise funds for a revolving micro-loan facility for African women micro-entrepreneurs. Her business was launched in 2021 and today employs 5 people.

Nicolene Schoeman-Louw, a South African entrepreneur making reliable legal information available to more people

July 23, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Nicolene Schoeman-Louw, co-Founder & Managing Director, PocketAdvisor (South Africa)

Nicolene Schoeman-Louw is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of PocketAdvisor in South Africa. She is also one of the skilled facilitators at PocketAdvisor. Nicolene’s involvement is a passion and means through which reliable legal information can be made available to more people. Nicolene is also the Founder and Managing Director of SchoemanLaw Inc in Cape Town, South Africa. She is an admitted Attorney of the High Court of South Africa, Conveyancer, Notary Public and Mediator with a passion for entrepreneurs and helping them reach their most ambitious goals. Nicolene has enjoyed the confidence of many successful entrepreneurs (both locally and abroad) over the years and continues to do so. As a trusted advisor she has actively contributed to the successes of many businesses, helped and continues to help many entrepreneurs build lasting legacies.

Robyn Keet, a South African management consultant accelerating business and digital transformation

July 23, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Robyn Keet, co-founder, BrightWolves (South Africa)

Robyn Keet is the co-founder and operations manager for the South African entity of a Belgian-based management consulting company called BrightWolves. Robyn is passionate about bringing together sustainability and entrepreneurship. After gaining valuable experience studying and working in Europe, Robyn returned to her roots to co-lead the international expansion of BrightWolves into South Africa with business partner Domien Agten. BrightWolves is a boutique consulting firm that specializes in providing end-to-end solutions, from strategy to implementation. The company covers the entire spectrum, from business advisory to digital transformation and sustainable value creation in companies. BrightWolves’ vision is to deliver positive and sustainable impact to its clients, to its team, and the South African economy.

Leonilde Melembe Bene, a Mozambican artisan entrepreneur creating handcrafted accessories

July 16, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Leonilde Melembe Bene, founder Paphalati (Mozambique)

Leonilde Melembe Bene, is the founder of Paphalati, a handicrafts and handmade jewellery small business in Mozambique. She has a passion for accessory designs, recycling materials and home décor articles. Paphalati also restores old pieces of jewellery, giving them a second life. She founded her business 15 years ago, first it was only her and now she employs 3 people, one of them a local community seamstress. Professionally she also works as a Communication and Public Relations Manager. From a very early age she became interested in the world of arts and culture. She made her directorial debut with this short film and was the winner of the 2nd Edition of the Maputo Shortcutz competition (2022).

Zola Mhlongo, a South African entrepreneur building an exciting contemporary shape-wear brand

July 16, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Zola Mhlongo, founder, Undefined Shapes (South Africa)

Zola Mhlongo, better known as Zola Zee Lovin’, is an actress, singer and media personality turned businesswoman with a contemporary shape-wear brand, Undefined Shapes, based in South Africa. Born and raised in Durban, and pursuing a degree in Drama at the University of Cape Town, the stage has been her office until Undefined Shapes awakened her entrepreneurial spirit. In just two short years since its inception, Undefined Shapes has achieved remarkable sales success, consistently selling out multiple times. The business continues to thrive, cultivating a rapidly growing community of loyal customers.

Vanize Da Natividade Teixeira, a Mozambican entrepreneur recycling Capulana fabrics to create dolls and clothing

July 9, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Vanize da Natividade Teixeira, founder, Muyana and Arts (Mozambique)

Vanize da Natividade Teixeira is the founder of Muyana and Arts in Mozambique. The company uses recycled materials, transforming them into dolls, bags and other products for the home, through sewing skills and empowering women who want to embrace this artform. Vanize has two interns who work with her, and who are currently being trained in specific skills. She is still running the company herself because it's small, but her dream is to be big and international one day. Vanize has a degree in accounting from high school, and was the commercial director of the company Mocinter lda that was in the field of service provision, and also of the business, Marumadi Planeta Mozambique, a guesthouse.

Sylvia Wambui, a Kenyan social impact entrepreneur helping businesses to grow

July 9, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Sylvia Wambui, Founder, Mursly Digital Group LLC (Kenya)

Sylvia Wambui is the Founder of Mursly Digital Group LLC in Kenya. She is a mentor, virtual assistant, and business consultant to entrepreneurs. She has spent over 6 years in marketing, across local and international clients where she has been a marketing lead, managing multiple brands and large tech brands. After COVID struck, it called for a restructuring of the business. That’s when Mursly Digital Group Limited was launched and has just recently been incorporated in March 2023. Mursly Digital Group offers business consulting services that cover strategy across business structures specifically marketing, social media, personal, and leadership development to ease the load of idea generation. It also does consulting and virtual assistance work, both in Africa and internationally, having worked with community and tech-driven brands like Black Women In Clinical Research, Blaze Group LLC, and Bauce Magazine. As a mentor, Sylvia has worked to support entrepreneurs and professionals by providing knowledge on capacity building and upskilling for scale / professional growth.

Nomsa Mdhluli, a South African communications specialist with a talent for storytelling

July 2, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Nomsa Mdhluli, founder, Tishala Communications (South Africa)

Nomsa Mdhluli is the founder of Tishala Communications in South Africa, a boutique Digital Marketing and Public Relations agency. She is an award-winning broadcaster who has a knack for storytelling, and translated this skill into Public Relations through her business. In 2018, Nomsa established Tishala Communications to serve corporate clients who deserved to have their ground-breaking business ideas, innovations and successes brought to public and business attention.

Mantate Queeneth Mlotshwa, a Zimbabwean creative entrepreneur using fashion as a tool for storytelling

July 2, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Mantate Mlotshwa is a creative and social entrepreneur from Zimbabwe. She is the Founder and Creative Lead for U Motle, a creative story-telling brand exploring fashion as a tool to curate experiences of African women and stories of African culture. She is a program design and development expert within the democracy, rights and governance sector. She holds a BSc in Psychology and has co-authored an anthology of short stories called Turquoise Dreams. She wants to grow the U Motle brand to reflect her travel within the continent, and to provide employment opportunities for other youth.

Tamara Bhatt, an entrepreneur building a specialist architecture business in Mozambique

June 25, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Tamara Bhatt, co-founder, Atelier (Mozambique)

Tamara Bhatt is co-founder of Atelier, a Mozambican architecture firm founded in 2012 and which today employs 5 people. She has a degree in Architecture from the Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal, she is pursuing a Masters in Urban Planning at Eduardo Mondlane University, focusing on ecological structure and urban green infrastructure. Her main areas of specialization include Architecture and Urbanism, with more than 13 years of experience working in the production and coordination of projects as a Senior Architect, Urbanist and Project Manager, with experience in physical planning, urban design and building design in Mozambique, Portugal, and Angola. Tamara has extensive experience in coordinating multidisciplinary teams, making projects compatible, as well as managing projects and clients.

Onkgopotse Khumalo, a South African entrepreneur democratizing access to mental healthcare

June 25, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Onkgopotse Khumalo, founder, The Pocket Couch (South Africa)

Onkgopotse Khumalo is a South African entrepreneur and the founder of The Pocket Couch, a health tech startup that aims to democratize access to mental healthcare. Her early professional journey saw her navigating financial services in the investment and portfolio management space, later transitioning to a management consultant role at McKinsey and Company. She then ventured into entrepreneurship after identifying that what she had initially thought was a problem unique to her own circumstance, was in fact more widespread across the globe. It was her personal journey trying to find avenues to better their mental wellbeing, that catapulted her journey into entrepreneurship, ultimately founding the startup with which she has a strong personal nexus. She prides herself first and foremost, however, as a dedicated mother to her 3 year old son whom she affectionately calls "boy genius".

Kealeboga Tshikovhi, a South African biodiesel entrepreneur contributing to the Green Economy

June 18, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Kealeboga Tshikovhi, founder, Lamo Fuel (South Africa)

Kealeboga Tshikovhi is the founder and ceo of Lamo Fuel based in Kuruman in the Northern Cape in South Africa. She is a seasoned entrepreneur focused on building resilience towards carbon emissions by providing an alternative clean source of fuel at lower prices. Her business achieves this by collecting used cooking oil and converting it into Biodiesel, thus turning waste into an energy source. Lamo Fuel is a 100% woman owned company which started in 2014 and which today employs four permanent staff and seven temporary staff members. The business started with 200L daily production in 2020, to now a 1000L production of Biodiesel per day as of May 2023. Kealeboga is excited about this great milestone and looks forward to achieving continual growth over the comings months and years.

Tanatswa Dindimanga, a Zimbabwean entrepreneur building a natural skincare brand

June 18, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Tanatswa Dindimanga, founder, Organically You Skincare (Zimbabwe)

Tanatswa Dindimanga is the founder of Organically You Skincare, a natural skincare brand in Zimbabwe that creates products that are good for every skin type. The business was created in response to her own journey to find natural, organic solutions to various skin conditions she experienced, and now she helps other customers do the same with her brand.

Márcia Dima Jone, a Mozambican entrepreneur building an organic fertilizer business

June 11, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Márcia Dima Jone, founder, N’toko Organic Lda (Mozambique)

Márcia Dima Jone is the founder and owner of N’toko Organic Lda, a startup that collects and recovers waste. Currently, its focus is on composting for the production of organic fertilizer in order to promote the adoption of sustainable cultivation practices by gardeners and farmers and the reduction of the use of pesticides. N'toko has been committed to environmental education as one of the bets for promoting the Circular Economy, through the correct disposal of solid waste, its use and sustainability.

Ruth Butaumocho, a Zimbabwean entrepreneur building a specialist rock drilling and blasting business

June 11, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Ruth Butaumocho, founder, Zalando Perfectors T/A Zalando Rock Drilling and Blasting (Zimbabwe)

Ruth Butaumocho is a 48 year old physically disabled entrepreneur who runs Zalando Perfectors T/A Zalando Rock Drilling and Blasting, a Zimbabwean based company that offers rock drilling and blasting services. She realized that there was a yawning gap in the market for prospective home owners and small companies that could not afford to engage big companies for blasting and drilling services. So, in 2013, Ruth bought a small diesel compressor and immediately started offering drilling and blasting services to individual property owners. Her hope is to grow the business so that it becomes a regional player in the sector.

Ashalia Maharajh, a South African business and life coach, helping the country’s youth fulfill their potential

June 4, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Ashalia Maharajh, founder, Sivuka Youth (South Africa)

Ashalia Maharajh is the founder of Sivuka Youth in South Africa, a business founded in 2018 and employing 7 people. She harnesses her energetic nature, love for learning and motivation, her solid experience and knowledge to enable and motivate young minds and nurture an individual’s drive for deeper purpose and motivation. With South Africa’s high strategic focus on Equity for Youth and Black Empowerment, Ashalia is driven to provide companies with the in-depth training needed for their young talent at this critical stage of their careers. She leads with a powerful blend of logic and intuition and has designed programmes that make a positive impact. Her talks and training sessions are inspirational and moving. Her positive, enthusiastic nature and innate ability to discover the strengths within others, helps her unleash potential and purpose within others.

Connie Matlejoane, a South African entrepreneur building a multi-faceted corporate gifting and branding business

June 4, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Connie Matlejoan, founder, CRM Enterprise

Connie Matlejoane is a female entrepreneur from Klipfontein View in Midrand, Johannesburg, in South Africa, and has built a thriving business, CRM Enterprise, despite facing numerous challenges along the way. After being retrenched from her previous job, Connie decided to start her own business, and 5 years later has grown CRM Enterprise into a successful corporate gifting and branding enterprise with six permanent employees. Connie is an inspiration to other female entrepreneurs, and her story is proof that with hard work and determination, it is possible to overcome the odds and build a successful business.

Maura Cumba, a Mozambican entrepreneur building a multi-faceted microfinance business

May 28, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Maura Cumba, founder, Nilombi Microcredito and Imperium Finance Consulting (Mozambique)

Maura Cumba is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of Nilombi Microcredito and Imperium Finance Consulting in Mozambique. Today, at the age of 30, she is also a mother of two children as well a business builder which currently employs 15 people. At the age of 17 she began her professional journey in the areas of protocol and sales. At the age of 21 she embraced the profession as HR Consultant, accumulating 5 years of experience in this area with a focus in recruitment and selection. At the age of 27, she decided to embark on the world of entrepreneurship, and today she is a serial entrepreneur.

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