10.15 am: I’m back at Facebook HQ for another packed day of activities and more #blackgirlpower. Today’s session started with a fun task as well, Afua gave us a briefing and asked us to come up with a 30 seconds ad for SheHive and She Leads Africa. It could be acted out, spoken word format or even a song….this called for a rap battle 2.0!
10.35 am: Well, this task proved how resourceful and creative we can be because in 5 minutes, the Motherland Moguls came up with so many ways to show how SheHive was the bomb dotcom!
11.00am: The first session of the day started with Zeze Oriaikhi-Sao, the founder of Malee, a natural cosmetic brand out of Joburg (our last stop for SheHive this year) a brand on its way to global dominance.
She told us about the Malee journey from inception to dream come true! Whilst also sharing 30 things she learnt from building her brand. One lesson I picked up from her talk is, to believe in yourself and your dream.
11.55 am: SLA contributor Abiola and I seized the opportunity to do a short interview with Zeze talking about her support system and what the future holds for Malee.
12.05pm: The social media guru Imad Mesduoa’s talk on ‘how to build your professional profile’ was underway and I was beyond psyched to be a part of the audience!
I have been following Imad since the legendary elections in Nigeria last year…and over time have come to accept him as a #NaijaBoy at heart, that’s for sure. His Naija lingo during his talk proved that!
After Imad’s talk, it was lunch time so people mingled and networked as usual. I had the pleasure of sitting with a couple of girls from across Africa and could actually feel the true pan-Africanism vibe.
The topic of Zimbabwe came up and of course, Mugabe. A Zimbabwean lady was gave us insights into the economic climate in the country at the moment. We also discussed ideas of what the main issues are in Africa and how we can bring about changes. Who says SheHive is just about entrepreneurship!
2.00pm: Lunch over, I grabbed Imad for a quick interview where he discussed getting out of your comfort zone early on. Doing this demonstrates to future employers that you are capable of taking up new challenges and it improves and adds to your skills bank.
2.10pm: If you’ve heard of IrokoTV, then this may be partly because of Jessica, the PR mastermind and founder of Wimbart. She spoke to us about what it means to master the PR game and how timing is really strategic to your business.
Try and familiarize yourself with key calendar dates relevant to your brand industry and get ahead of the news cycle to get your brand in the media sphere.
3.30pm: Well I did promise more of Queen Bey, and aside from Jessica slaying her presentation with some epic Queen Bey elements, Ade Hassan gave us a different Bey love. So, the founder of the revolutionary nude lingerie company has clients like Jdunn and Beyonce and us darker-skinned ladies have nothing but love and thanks for this entrepreneur.
Ade also walked us through the journey that led her to start Nubian Skin, her lingerie and hosiery brand. Key thing I picked up from her story is, the right people in your support network are important because they are the ones who give you the needed push that could end up actualizing your dreams.
She also mentioned how extremely important it is to draft a confidentiality agreement when talking to consultants about your brand at the early stages. Your idea could be a goldmine!
4:30pm: I managed to interview Jessica and Ade about their businesses, also got them to give relevant advice to startups. So Motherland Moguls, don’t forget to check us out on YouTube for some awesome tips coming soon!
At this point ShopTheHive had officially begun. This initiative was set up to have MMs sell their products and network with potential partners and investors. Double win!! They got a chance to go on stage to tell us a bit about their business, free publicity for the win…Triple win!
5.00pm: I noticed a journalist crew doing their thing and as a Journalism minor I took advantage of the opportunity and got insights into how they operate. I also got some key advice from Victoire Eyoum, whom I later found out is the Editor-in-Chief of Voxafrica, a pan-African TV station.
5.45pm: After some last minute contact sharing and taking lots of pictures —was nice to be in front of the camera for a change— I headed back to Euston for my train journey home feeling all kinds of inspired and motivated.
Definitely worth my time and waking up super early in the mornings!