Skip to main content

Three Successful Women Entrepreneurs in Africa Give Advice on Common Entrepreneurial Mistakes


It is all too easy to believe that successful women entrepreneurs in Africa have been fortunate from the beginning, when the truth is they have all overcome challenges. In this post, I share tips from three successful female entrepreneurs on some of the biggest mistakes to avoid when growing a business in Africa.

Get capital in perspective: Ory Okolloh, Director of Investments at Omidyar Network, has founded multiple successful companies. She told CNN, “Most entrepreneurs think capital is the biggest problem they have—but it’s not.” Okolloh recommends that entrepreneurs prioritize their own understanding of the marketplace and how they can develop a strong position in it. “You can have all the capital you want,” says Okolloh at CNN, “but if the market fit and ability to adjust are not present, your startup will likely not succeed.”

Mistakes can be your best teachers: For Sheila Afari of Sheila Afari Public Relations, mistakes are a vital part of entrepreneurship—and trying to avoid them is problematic. “I spent so much time ‘playing it safe’ out of fear of not being perfect or not keeping clients happy that it took me quite a while to learn a lot of the things that have helped my business grow exponentially,” says Afari at She Leads Africa. Stating that mistakes have been her best teachers, Afari’s advice is to not be afraid about making them, even at the outset. “Had I allowed myself to make more mistakes at an earlier stage,” adds Afari, “I believe my company would have been where it is now about a year or two ago.”

Don’t quit the skills you developed in the past: Gina Din-Kariuki was in charge of corporate communications at Barclays Bank for 14 years before she left to set up Gina Din, a leading independent and indigenous strategic communications agency in East Africa. Though she had climbed as high as she could on the corporate ladder in the banking world, she longed to step out on her own. She advises entrepreneurs who quit their jobs to not make the mistake of abandoning the skills they have built over the years. “You can’t have spent 30 years doing something and [then] just leave it,” says Din-Kariuki on Know Your Leak (K24TV), adding that such skills are really worthwhile. Advising entrepreneurs to draw on their previous experiences in management, organization, logistics, or elsewhere, Din-Kariuki says, “Whatever you’ve been doing is a real value-add,” reminding us to draw on what we know.

For women entrepreneurs in Africa, there will always be challenges to overcome, but by learning from the continent’s successful women entrepreneurs, you can avoid common pitfalls and step forward with confidence.

--Chimuka Moore
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Miyanda Maimbo Kitawa on Facing Challenges (Wisdom from Africa’s Successful Women Entrepreneurs)

Although gender equality is on the rise in Africa, there are more potential challenges for women entrepreneurs than there are for men. However, it isn’t unusual for successful women in business to attribute their successes to the challenges that they’ve faced. In this post, I share the wisdom of Miyanda Maimbo Kitawa , who set up the first human resources company in Zambia at a time when HR businesses didn’t exist there. As you’ll see, her story contains many lessons for women who are facing the challenges of entrepreneurship, especially those who are just starting out. A tough start doesn’t mean you won’t succeed: When Miyanda Maimbo Katiwa drove to Zambia to start her human resources company, she had only a little money to split between her living expenses and what was needed to launch her venture. Having quit her job and been told by her boss that it was impossible for someone without prior experience to succeed in such a business, she knew she was taking a huge risk. “T...
2 comments
Read more

Align Your Brand With Others: A Tip for Women Entrepreneurs

“Aligning yourself with a similar type of business can be a powerful way to expand quickly,” writes Karen E. Spaeder at Entrepreneur . Alignment has long been a tried and tested marketing technique that can also build powerful relationships with others. When you align yourself with another brand or business, you say to both of your audiences, “What matters to one of us matters to both of us. Thus you can attract each other’s potential clients. Alignment doesn’t have to take place online. For example, if when you shop at your favorite clothes store, you receive a “percentage off” voucher from a different store, those two stores are being aligned. The implication is that if you like one store, you will also like the other. As famed marketing expert and bestselling author Seth Godin writes, “Alignment isn’t something you say. It’s something you do.” Here are two easy ways to align your brand with another brand: Choose a social cause to openly support: If there is a socia...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Beginner’s Guide to Social Media in Africa for Women Entrepreneurs

Accessibility to social networks may be limited in Africa, but a reported nine percent of the population who do use social media often view it as important and empowering. Given that access to cell phones is widespread in the continent, use of social networks and messaging apps is increasing by the year among businesses, customers, schools, and students . In fact, the 2014 “Emerging Nations Embrace Internet, Mobile Technology” report from the Pew Research Global Attitudes Project (as quoted in ventureafrica.com ) reports that about 78 percent of Africa’s internet usage is for social media. No wonder female entrepreneurs doing business in Africa are using social networks to support each other. In the first of this series of posts for women entrepreneurs looking to use social media in Africa, we’ll review some of the main social networks, as well as how women entrepreneurs are using them.   Social Networks Popular in Africa Facebook long dominated social networking in A...
Post a Comment
Read more