Chimuka Moore

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...

In the previous post, we looked at how planning and goal-setting can help alleviate stress for women entrepreneurs. But for true stress management, such methods must be teamed with physical self-care. Today, I’ll share several tips for female entrepreneurs who want to take better care of their minds and bodies during stressful times. Breathe: Whenever you find yourself feeling stressed, concentrate on calming your breathing. Stress management and life coach Pamina Mullins writes on her blog , “ The simple act of slowing your breathing automatically shifts your attention away from whatever triggered the stress response and sends a cascade of calming chemicals throughout your body. ” Too many of us breathe very shallowly when stressed, yet what our body truly needs in order to stay calm is deep breathing, which delivers much needed oxygen. Become used to noticing your breathing throughout your day, and when you recognize that your breaths are shallow, stop what you’re doing and dee...

Running or launching a business in Africa can be stressful for women entrepreneurs. While it is crucial to work hard and commit, you must ensure that you don’t burn out. Fighting stress and committing to self-care are actually investments in the business you are growing. In this post, I’ll focus on how smart planning and goal-setting can alleviate your day-to-day pressures. Know When to Plan: Knowing when to plan your day is just as important as knowing that you need to. When you’re feeling under pressure, planning can exacerbate your stress. By planning your day the evening before, however, you can ensure that you plan when you feel calmer—and this mood is more likely to flow into the following day. Plus, that’s not the only benefit. Bridget Edwards writes , “ While sleeping, the subconscious mind helps prepare for the day’s tasks ahead,” and adds that, when combined with visualization, planning ahead in this way has even been known to dramatically improve income and sales. ...

Women entrepreneurs in Africa may fear that they won’t be taken seriously in male-dominated industries, yet the two female entrepreneurs whose stories I tell here weren’t afraid to enter such spheres. In both cases, they started small and invested in their businesses, while maintaining a positive, empowered attitude. I hope their stories will inspire women entrepreneurs to launch into male-dominated industries with confidence and a sense of pride. On Nkemdilim Begho’s IT Journey, Reinvestment was Key: As successful as Nkemdilim Begho is now, business didn’t come easily at first for the Nigerian entrepreneur. As a young woman, Begho had help from her well-known father, Chris Uwaje, in starting her first company, but even so, she had trouble signing enough clients. Rather than backing down, however, Begho’s solution was to make the initial business small, focusing on a “slim and lean way of working” (as quoted at Lionesses of Africa ). She kept reinvesting her own money into...

Areas like fashion and cookery, which have often been the preserve of women, have served female entrepreneurs in Africa well. But today, industries such as finance, tech, and manufacturing are no longer solely dominated by men. In fact, with a positive attitude and strong perseverance, women can achieve great success in these sectors. Here, I will share inspiring stories from two well-known women entrepreneurs in Africa who have both had huge successes in male-dominated spheres and who cite persistence as key. Divine Ndhlukula entered private security because she saw the opportunity to do better, having experienced a lack of professionalism and delivery within the sector. Also, by building a large-scale security company in Zimbabwe, she sought to empower women who were struggling to find employment. According to Lionesses of Africa , she started up SECURICO in December 1998, equipped with one desk, one administrator (in addition to herself), and a staff of three security operat...

Some believe that, as a woman entrepreneur doing business in Africa, your brand should emulate your competitors’ brands. However, the ways in which your brand differs from others are vital for attracting customers and clients. As Dorie Clark, best-selling author of Stand Out , tells Melinda Emerson at SucceedAsYourOwnBoss.com , the first step in uncovering how to stand out is to “understand what’s distinctive about you and your business.” Take Sekayi and Tukiya Fundafunda , for example. The sisters, who are now co-owners of MaFashio , a popular fashion and consultancy firm in Zambia, started out by recognizing their distinctive tastes in fashion. “As teenagers,” writes Tukiya Fundafunda at She Leads Africa , “we dressed very differently from our peers, which wasn’t something that was popular in Zambia at the time.” The Fundafunda sisters started photographing passersby who had their own distinctive fashion sense, then shared the photos on their “MaFashio” blog. MaFashio, which...

Entrepreneurship involves risk, no matter what your gender, and women entrepreneurs doing business in Africa must necessarily take chances. Certainly, when women entrepreneurs do take risks, their businesses often benefit. But which risks are worth taking and which are not? Below, I join with successful women entrepreneurs in and from Africa in sharing risk management tips. Assess the realities—and not only in terms of money: “Money is the first risk most people see,” writes Amy Rosen at Entrepreneur.co.za . “But entrepreneurial risk is deeper and more nuanced.” She recommends being clear and objective about the various risks of acting on an opportunity: “Sit down and write them out,” she advises, taking into account financial risks as well as those of reputation, time, stress, and intellectual capital. When you have your list of risks, you can look at them more objectively. How will they balance out? You might gain money if your risk pays off, but what will be the emotional o...