Babalwa Fatyi: Serving my Purpose with my many hats on
Meet Babalwa Fatyi the South African Environmental Scientist who is a wife, mother, poet, author. She is also the managing director for Myezo Environmental Management Services Consulting company, Myezo growth and development institute, and co-owner of the ZenQ fashion line. In recognition of her outstanding contribution towards the development of the economy, Babalwa has been awarded various accolades. She won the Standard Bank 2016 Woman Entrepreneur of the Year in 2015, and in 2016, she won the Most Influential Woman in Business and Government Award. What factors have helped you achieve as much as you have? The biggest factor that has contributed towards my success is not contradicting who I am. I aim to produce outputs that are authentic. My outputs should be aligned with my inner being and bring me peace. To ensure this, I’ve made sure that I understand my purpose and that I align my goals with that purpose. That way when I’m faced with challenges, I am strengthened by focusing on my purpose which God revealed to me. Therefore, when I feel out of tune with what I need to do, I talk to friends and to God. They remind me of purpose and keep me on track. Secondly, I am driven by serving others. I see my gifts and talents as a means to achieve greatness. You wear many hats, tell us your secret ingredient for achieving it all. The things that I do revolve around my core and serve my purpose. My responsibility revolves around showing gratitude and taking care of the environment that has been entrusted unto us. Poetry allows me to respect and feed my soul, by nourishing it. My ZenQ clothing line in an expression of my artistic creativity through clothes. I believe clothes can reflect the essence of who we are. They can show how we feel as well as how we wish to be viewed. All these different things are just a tangible expression of who I am. My gifts and talents, which are given to me, to fulfill my role as an environmental ambassador and a steward. So I do not wear many hats but I wear one hat: I wear me. What led you publishing your poetry book “Greetings from My Core”? Poetry to me is an expression of who I am and a conduit through which I could find my voice and reach out to others and request them to engage with me on some of the matters that affect our society. Through poetry, I could share my authenticity, experiences and love my surroundings, including its beautiful diverse people I encounter, who inspire me or bring life to those experiences. This enables me to be more conscious and is also an opportunity for me to give reverence to God. What can you tell us about your company – Myezo Environmental Management Services consulting? At Myezo, we seek to serve the environment, communities, and developers through guidance on how to best take care of the land we have. We help developers with regulations and assessing the impact of developments on both the land and the communities. Through our work, we learn’t that our solutions must be tested by our clients who are our partners. As respect, empathy and listening to others are key in what we do, we must incorporate all the diverse views we face. How has Myezo developed in terms of creating jobs? Our greatest strength is our heart for youth and solidarity to the challenges our country face in terms of unemployment and poverty alleviation. We aim to bring to life the National Development Plan goals by playing a role within our areas of influence and capacity. Through providing a platform, we’ve helped youth penetrate into the job market and therefore provided them with the needed resources to improve their lives and their families. The youth were not only exposed to scientific knowledge but also to self-awareness, project management, and organizational skills among others. What does the Myezo Growth and Development Institute do? At this institute, we do coaching and mentoring through our collaborations with some universities. We contribute to ensuring that there are no wide gaps between what is taught at schools and what industries expect from graduates. Our other collaborations with other organizations include projects such as the Princess D Menstrual Cup. Through this, we hope to put girls back to school and not miss out on learning due to natural biological processes. This is aligned with our environmental stewardship role as this cup reduces the sanitary pads that go to the landfill or medical waste disposal sites. Finally, together with the Tsogang Re Direng Youth Foundation, we empower girls with career selection decisions and also help connect them to skills development opportunities. These include skills such as events management of vintage recycling where they learn practical environment-friendly skills that generate income. What do you do to relax? I’m a very outdoor kind of person. So for fun, I take walks at the nature reserves around my neighborhood. This helps me find peace and tranquility in just giving my self-time to be alone at times and just recharge. I also believe in being spiritually fed and therefore fellowship with other believers. Other than this, I spend time with my husband, family, friends. Listening to the sound of my kid’s laughter and running around brings joy to my life.
Francisca Ogunlade: My Scars are My Strength
Francisca Onyinye Ogunlade is a car crash survivor who decided to make her second chance at life very impactful and interesting. She is also known as the “Side Business Queen” because she helps corporate employees leverage their strength to start and grow a profitable side business in 90 days or less. She is a banker with 12 years experience, a founder of an event tech company and a business coach. In this interview with Francisca, she talks about surviving a car crash, and how she got into the business of event planning and management. [bctt tweet=”Your location should not be a hindrance to your dreams. The internet has made life easy” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] Having being involved in a car crash, what impact did this have your life and business? The car crash turned my whole life around. I had two fractures in one leg and also a cranial injury. As if that’s not enough, I had to carry my pregnancy to term on crutches and a cane. The biggest blow was that I lost the use of one eye – imagine having to be very careful when applying eyeliner because you only have one eye! This accident taught me that life and business are always full of twists and turns. Sometimes, you lose almost everything (like I almost lost my life) and you are left with deciding either to remain conquered or rise up to fight the storm. For me, I chose to live and live well. I charge you to do same. From your experience, how can young women maximize their locations? On July 16, 2017, I changed the narration of the events and wedding industry in the Southwest of Nigeria. My team and I planned and hosted a beauty and bride exhibition, and this event has created so much ripple effect within and outside the many states in Nigeria. The interesting thing about launching out from your location is that you are probably one of the few people with that idea and boom, you are in the limelight. In the last year too, I created Nigeria’s first events budgeting app on the Google play store (Eftinzz Events and Budget Planner). All this taught me that your location should not be a hindrance to your dreams. The internet has made life easy. Make your dream clear enough and your location will be your Launchpad. How do you create a balance between your day job and your business? I must confess that this has not been a box of chocolate. I had to identify my support system and carry them along with my plans. They are a part of life. On my part, I had to make some sacrifices which include reducing my social life. Unfortunately, I lost some few friends who couldn’t understand the new direction I was going but we are now on the same page. What are some key lessons from your journey you’d like others to learn from? I could never have imagined that I would go through some of the things that I have been through. However, through every experience I learned the following lessons: Your scars are your strength Your dreams are valid You must be crazy enough to believe in your craze You are human – it’s okay to ask for help What advice can you give young ladies building their careers or businesses? I won’t tell you it will be easy because it won’t be. But the good thing is, even if it is easy, you can do it. Be true to yourself. Never be scared to dream and make sure you live an enjoyable life because your dreams are valid. If you’d like to get featured on our Facebook page, click here to share your story with us.tory here.
9 Business Lessons from My First Year of Business
Like many people, I was faced with the dilemma of deciding whether or not I needed to attend business school to start my business as I had no experience. However, I finally decided to be brave and start my business without any experience. In my one year since starting, I have learned the following lessons. 1. Never take things too personally. When operating with people, it’s often very easy to make arguments, criticism and other relations personal. However, if you want to succeed in the business world, you need to remember that at the end of the day, how you deal with your customers and partners is strictly business and not personal. 2. Separate your business life from your personal life. When you have a friendly relationship with your clients, it is very easy for the lines to get blurred. Sometimes, this can end up in sticky situations where one party does not fulfill their end of the deal. To avoid these situations, it is important to set the lines clear between your business and your personal life. You need to maintain a work-life balance. 3. Be clear about your job description. As a service based business, one of my ethos is going beyond and above for my clients. Sometimes, this results in taking up certain duties (aka unpaid labor) that are not part of my job description. This can get overwhelming. Therefore, it is important to be clear about ALL the services that your offer from the onset. If necessary, you should draw up contracts that reflect your services and your limits. 4. Review your prices regularly. You might be doing yourself a great disservice if in a bid to come across as affordable you under-price yourself. It is important to review your prices as often as possible. Especially when you’re in an industry like social media where your responsibilities are flexible and subject to change. 5. Be accountable. In the absence of a business partner or a co-founder, you need to learn how to hold yourself accountable. This can be as easy as setting small, medium and long-term goals and working toward them. These goals are important to give you a sense of direction and to keep you in check. 6. Toot your horn. One of the few things I still struggle with is putting myself out there as I’d like for my business to speak for itself. But the game has changed and the internet is over saturated. The only way for you to be noticed or to come across as a thought-leader or an expert in your field is if you put yourself out there. There are no two ways about it. Do you want to be the go-to person for a particular service? Put yourself out there and let people know. 7. Have confidence in yourself. When you are running a business, you’re gonna need all the confidence you can muster for the tough days ahead. You will face people who don’t believe in your dreams and your plans may even fail. It is important to keep believing in yourself even when others don’t. 8. Find time to improve your skills. Work/Life can be overwhelming sometimes and before you know it, three months have gone by without you learning anything new. In this ever-changing world, there’s a need to constantly improve your skills. Thankfully we have the internet at our disposal but finding the time can be a challenge. To fix this, make a schedule maybe during the public holidays and learn something that would directly improve your daily activities. 9. Customer service is key. Just because you’re not selling a product to a consumer doesn’t mean customer service is any less important. You’re selling services. Treat your clients with courtesy. Referrals are still king. If you’d like to share your story with She Leads Africa, let us know more about you and your story here.
Rukky Esharegharan: I am redefining education in Nigeria
Rukky Esharegharan is an early childhood education expert and founder of The Teachers Hub and South Pacific Teachers Academy. This is an initiative she founded to help deal with the lack of skilled teachers in the Nigerian education sector. In less than two years since founding The Teachers hub, Rukky has grown its membership from 1 to 7500 members. She talks to us about her journey building the Nigerian education sector. How did your journey as an educator begin? I first began my journey 16 years ago as a nursery teaching assistant while I awaited my university admission. Initially, I wanted to be a doctor and later a writer. For my degree, I studied English and later published a series of short stories, wrote a novel and started a blog. Teaching was just something I did during the holidays to pass time. Our society does not promote teaching as a lucrative profession for high achievers, so even though I was great at teaching, I never thought of it as a prospective career. Two things changed me. Firstly, my quest to play an active role in my children’s lives led me to study more about early childhood care and education. Secondly, my teaching experience in a government secondary school in Warri, Delta State, opened my eyes to the decay in our education sector. When I met the children, something stirred up within me. Each day I would go home upset and worried about how unmotivated the senior secondary students were. I wanted to help these children but a 40-minute English lesson three times a week was not enough. Therefore, I decided to fully immerse myself in education. [bctt tweet=”I am redefining education in Nigeria, one teacher, one school owner, one parent at a time – Rukky Esharegharan” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] Tell us about The Teachers Hub and the impact it is making I started ‘The Teachers’ Hub in December 2016 with a singular vision ”to equip parents and educators with 21st-century teaching skills.” Though we have schools for education, we lack skilled teachers. The Teacher’s Hub community was founded with the aim to network with, and helping other educators. In the past 8 months, I have trained over 350 educators (teachers, parents, school owners and consultants). The many testimonials have inspired me to keep going. A parent from one of my courses called me to say she had decided to become a full-time teacher after the training with me and I cried with joy. I am redefining education in Nigeria: one teacher, one school owner, one parent at a time. How has social media enabled you to grow The Teachers Hub brand and what makes it stand out? The Teachers’ Hub started as a Facebook group a while back, and we’ll be hosting our first of many Early Childhood Education Conference in April and May across 4 states (Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Delta). Without social media, I won’t have come this far. I have people contact me from different parts of the world and that’s because of the power of social media. What makes The Teachers’ Hub stand out is that I give of myself so freely. When I first started, I had a dear friend call me to say ” Why are you sharing so much for free in your group?” She could not understand when I tried to tell her that I just wanted to help other educators find their way. [bctt tweet=”Without social media, I won’t have come this far – Rukky Esharegharan” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] What advice can you give aspiring teacher being held back by the poor remuneration in Nigeria’s education sector? I like to say that ”teaching is a work of the heart.” Do it, not for the money, but for the love of our children, the love and future of our country. Only quality education can liberate us from the mess we face in our country. Make that sacrifice today so that our children will get a better future. Money is important because we all have needs. However, money is often the after effect of hard work, passion, dedication, personal development. Be the best teacher you possibly can be and the money will come. What difference did working with UNICEF make in your journey as an educationist? My current work with UNICEF has opened my eyes even more to the realities of the Nigerian education sector. When one is a teacher or even a school owner or consultant, they don’t fully grasp the decay or damage in the system, unless you have someone show you a bigger picture. UNICEF helped me look beyond the symptoms of our dysfunctional educational system to the root cause. And our team’s solution will address the root cause and not just the symptoms. It’s a very big project that would have a national impact. What lessons have you garnered from your entrepreneurial journey? I have learned that to be a successful entrepreneur, one must be passionate, committed, focused, hardworking, highly self-motivated and be a lifelong learner. Don’t be too quick to say I have arrived, no matter how good you are, because there is always something more to add, to learn, to be. There is this saying that a teacher’s reward is in heaven, what is your take on that? Yes, I believe the saying to be partly true because great teachers are like mothers: our love and commitment to the children can never be adequately compensated with material gains. While I will say yes we have a very big reward waiting for us in heaven, we can and should experience wealth in financial terms, also good health, peace, and satisfaction here on earth. All we need to do is work consistently on being the best versions of ourselves. [bctt tweet=”Don’t be too quick to say I have arrived, no matter how good you are” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] If you’d like to share your story with She Leads Africa, let us know more about you and your story here.
5 Marketing Tips from Business Guru P.Diddy
Sean “Puffy/Puff Daddy/ Diddy/Brother Love” Combs is one of the greatest marketing geniuses on earth. He has remained relevant and dominant to hip-hop music, culture, fashion, business and entertainment over the past 20 years. Last year, Sean was also recognized as one of the Forbes 100 Greatest Living Minds. He is also often considered one of the top 3 of 5 wealthiest hip-hop artists on the Forbes list. Amidst all these, you may wonder, how does he keep all eyes on him? In this article, we will discover 5 tips from Diddy that can help us improve our marketing game and slay! 1. Say Your Name If there is one thing Diddy always does, is use every advantage to promote his products or name. Whether its an interview on Ellen or a cameo on The Breakfast Club, Diddy always has his products such as a bottle of Ciroc. You should take advantage of every airtime you get to promote your brand and products. Through being strategic, you should find a way to guide the conversation in a way that allows you to talk about your products. This will help increase your revenue and the reach of your brand. 2. Make The Circle Bigger The fact is you can only be in one place at a time, but you need to get the word out about you, your brand or business. You need people spreading a positive word about you to others. Diddy figured this out in his early days as a music producer when he started Bad Boy Records, which celebrated its 20-year reunion tour last year. Diddy has been instrumental in the careers of musicians like Notorious BIG, Mase, and more recently French Montana. Whenever a record of their plays, it will at some point announce “Bad Boy.” Through shaping and promoting the careers of the musicians he worked with, Diddy also extended his marketing reach. When you help other people achieve their goals, you also, in turn, grow your circle of influence and people who will do anything for you. 3. Stay On the Beat Is Diddy an expert of the FMCG, Film and Music industries? Probably not, but he knows enough of the field to spot a real opportunity. You don’t want to seem like you are all over the place, but rather that you ‘happened’ to be in a certain place or sector because you keep your finger on the pulse. Whatever you are working on, you need to know all the new developments and contribute to the conversations in a meaningful way that elevates the topic. Diddy lost his father to gun violence at a young age. Though he became successful, he didn’t forget to empower his people. His response to Black Lives Matter through building a world-class school in Harlem, the neighborhood he grew up in. 5. Have Fun Diddy always looks like he is having a great time, from salsa dancing in his underwear to the energy he brings when he is hosting shows. People are attracted to someone who is upbeat, so plaster a smile on your face and get hyped about whatever you do! We are always exchanging energy so make sure you put out positive vibes only! DO YOU HAVE ANY BUSINESS LESSONS TO SHARE? Let us know here.
Kelechi Udoagwu: Moving Fast and Breaking Things
From Tinsel to Technology. Kelechi is changing the narrative of African women in the tech world. Kelechi Udoagwu is an Accra-based Nigerian tech entrepreneur/consultant, presenter, advocate, student, and writer. Up until 2017, she was the full-time communications director at MEST Africa. She is also the co-founder of Skrife and produces and hosts the web series- Tech Roundup with Bitnode. Her work revolves around empowering through mentorship, edutainment, speaking engagements, multimedia content, and connecting to new opportunities. In this interview, she talks to us about her growing passion for technology and the need to empower more women and girls to venture into the tech industry. You’ve switched your career many times. What inspired your journey? It’s always interesting to be reminded of how varied my career has been. For me, it’s all been work, work, work – the different ways I earn money and contribute to the world. I started modeling while I was in the university. It was just for fun at first, then I graduated and focused on it full-time. That was when I got the Tinsel gig and I was fortunate to work with other big brands as well – Samsung, MTN, Haier Thermocool, Lipton, Vitafoam, and others. These early experiences prepared me for “adulting” as I learned to manage my money, deal with people from all walks of life and build a professional persona. After NYSC, I got my first 9-5 job as a Fashion Brand Manager but resigned after six months because it wasn’t very fulfilling. I then decided to explore a new industry. I was fascinated with tech entrepreneurship because it seemed like an easy way to make quick bucks. I got into tech in 2014. It’s been one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life yet. I love the industry, I love the variety and I love the fast pace. I worked as Head of Communications at MEST and founded my startup, Skrife in 2016. I also started creating multimedia – video and written – content – for brands, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders. [bctt tweet=”African women are a special breed. We do so much with a little and stay strong even when the shit hits the fan – @kelechiudoagwu” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] What part do African girls play in the next generation of technology, and how can they harness these potentials? It’s time, however, that we stop limiting ourselves to manual labor and start working smarter. It’s time we leave what we’re used to and conquer new mountains. They say “when you educate a woman, you educate a whole community,”. Imagine what we can do for Africa if we join in the global progression and conversation around technology. We don’t all have to be programmers but we can all be a part of the industry. There are branding, marketing, HR, design, community management roles available. If we do this, the next generation of African women will have role models who look like them and they can build on what we started instead of starting from scratch like we are. How has your journey been moving into the tech space? My journey has been interesting. I’ve never been one to ask for permission to make a move and that has helped me navigate the various industries I’ve been in, especially tech where “move fast and break things” is a mantra. Now is the best time for us to be involved. The industry is welcoming and there are a lot of opportunities directed at women specifically. It’s not always going to be like this so it’s wise to take advantage now. What principles and work ethics have played a role in propelling you further in your career? My ability shake off rejection easily greatly helped my career. Believe me, I’ve been rejected a lot of times. I believe getting ahead is a numbers game and for every 100 no’s, there’s one yes that makes it all worth it. My entire life, not just career, revolves around keeping my word. If I say I’ll do it, I do it. If I’m not sure, I say I’ll get back to you and think about it some more. This has helped me a lot at work – keeps my mind clear, keeps me happy with the people I work with and also keeps them happy with me. Tell us about your new book ‘Living Everyday like its Saturday’. I’m super excited about it! I have had so many ideas for books to write but this is the most relevant to me and my audience at this time. The book will chronicle the lessons I’ve learned being a freelancer from Africa – how I structure my day, deal with clients around the world, brand myself, use technology, etc. I can promise everyone in advance there will be no fluff in this book; only hardcore, real life, actionable advice. As a creative, what impact does quality content have in telling the African story for mainstream media? When we started Skrife, our goal was to build a platform and writers’ community that is synonymous with quality. If a client ever complains about a job done via Skrife, we refund their money or rewrite it at no extra charge. Creating content is like real-time documentation of our everyday experiences and it can be the difference between an economy that prospers and one that fails. Every time you read a book that was written ages ago, you step into the mind of that person. With technology changing everything around us, it is very important that we document these early days so the next generation continues from where we stopped instead of starting all over. “To forget is to throw away.” Also by creating more positive content, we can change the narrative of Africa. We can stop close-minded and sheltered foreigners from thinking we don’t read books or use the internet. Chimamanda Adichie was recently asked if there are libraries in her country. [bctt tweet=” We stand on the shoulders of great men and women who have passed
Nnanke Essien: The Visibility Expert
Nnanke Essien is a visibility strategist and business transformation coach. She helps individuals with awesome ideas, products and services to get seen and found by their ideal clients. She does this using a 5 step visibility building process to build an effective and efficient visibility roadmap. Nnanke believes that the path to success is littered with awesome but poorly marketed ideas, hence her mandate is to support businesses find this sure pathway. She is a John Maxwell Certified coach, a HR professional and a visibility builder round the clock. She has been supporting start-ups and businesses since 2007 even through college. Why is it important to stay visible? If nobody knows you exist, nobody will buy from you. It’s really that simple, you must always find a way for your ideal clients to remember that you exist. We call it top of mind awareness. In other words, if at any point your client has a need, your brand name should be top of mind. How can brands stay visible despite strong competition on social media? Truthfully, social media isn’t going anywhere and the earlier business owners understand this and take ownership the better for brands. Firstly, to stay visible, brands must adhere to a stellar mindset. Beyond this, brands need clarity on why they are in the business. This is in terms of the business mission, vision, values, identifying their business playing field (niche), their core message and their brand positioning on the value chain. Brands also need clarity on their ideal clients. Who are the people whose lives and businesses will be transformed by virtue of the fact that this business exists? Understanding the client’s exact needs, desires, challenges, what they need to transform, lifestyle, spending power and motivation is key to business visibility success.Finally, brands can also stay visible by authenticating their authority in the market. Having consistent, attractive and meaningful bio’s on their social media platforms can contribute to this. Their bio must contain relevant information on who the brand is. Also, nurturing communities i.e groups, leveraging on content and becoming an information reservoir for clients can be a great way of authenticating authority. In all of these, consistency and building revenue generating models, systems, processes and assets are key to success and visibility. What are your top three tips for business owners to incorporate into their brands? Have a consistent brand voice and visual appeal that is easy for people to spot and recognize. Focus on building relationships using KLT (Know, Like and Trust) techniques like live videos, Instagram stories, guest appearances et al. Leverage on content that your ideal clients need. How can women balance putting themselves out there while not appearing too forward? Woman know what you want. Don’t do things out of compulsion or pressure. The woman you buy shoes from didn’t shy away from her calling, the woman who sells human hair didn’t shy away from her calling. Recognize your hustle. Validate it! Look for a group of persons or coaches and mentors who can help you identify your hustle, find your sweet spot, stay there, flaunt it and own it. What do you wish more entrepreneurs knew about today’s changing marketplace? I wish they would spend more time actually researching than copying and wasting endless time doing idle and non-income generating activities. Behaviors are changing. The spending power of your ideal clients is changing. Algorithms on all the social platforms you are using are changing. [bctt tweet=”Spend more time researching, strategizing, building systems and processes that will stand the test of time – @gnnanke” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] What is the next step for you in 2018? I want to have intentional positioning. This will include focussing on my visibility cure show and collaborating with industry veterans. If you’d like to share your story with She Leads Africa, let us know more about you and your story here.
Joy Eneghalu: Using Strategy to Conquer Social Media
Joy Eneghalu is a social media strategist. She helps businesses and teaches individuals how to leverage social media to boost their brand awareness, increase their sphere of influence and make a profit. She is also the founder of the Influencer Marketing platform called Influensah. Can one thrive in today’s marketplace without social media? Social media has taken over and has the potential to expose one’s business to a larger audience. It is highly important to have your business on social media so you don’t lose out on the goodness. However, there is the offline part that people also have to maintain. Social media has become a must-have tool for every business to thrive in today’s marketplace. So, if social media is here to stay, what are the career opportunities open to young people? There are tons of career opportunities open to young people and the beautiful thing is that some of them are largely untapped and it costs almost nothing to get started. Young people can now go ahead and become some of the following professionals: Online TV Hosts Online OAPs Social media and community managers Online event planners Influencers Data specialists and Facebook ad experts Funnel experts Website designers and social media graphic designers Content creators All you basically need is a phone, internet, knowledge, skill, and visibility. If you are wondering if people do these as actual jobs and cash out, there are many of them and they aren’t even enough for the market. What were the mistakes you made when you started out? How can others avoid them? When I started out, it was basically trial and error. Eventually, I invested in courses that helped sharpen my skills. The number one mistake I made was not documenting an agreement with a client and that cost me lots of money because of the lacking proof. This lesson was very important for my success. Before discovering the essence of a community, I played a lone game for a while. However, I now belong to about 6 communities that have provided me with immense support and knowledge. With many people coming on to the social media space, what would you advise to stand out amidst the noisy marketplace? This may sound cliché but nothing beats being authentic, genuinely caring about people and adding value. These have been my own sauce and it works pretty much for everyone you see doing great things. If you are fake, people will find out. Let your style of delivery on social media speak for you. [bctt tweet=”Overnight success doesn’t exist as a social media strategist or manager; you have to put it in the work – @joyeneghalu” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] What are the myths in your line of business? Overnight success!! It beats my imagination when many say to me ‘Joy, I want to blog or I want to start managing an account. They said this thing is like oil money. If I do it like this now, by xxx time, I will have xxx amount of money’. It baffles me a lot. Overnight success doesn’t exist as a social media strategist or manager; you have to put it in the work. Some people even take 10 years! Money doesn’t grow on trees in the online world. Secondly, just because one is visible and popular online doesn’t mean the person has billions sited in their account. It can be very annoying to have people asking you for money because of your online fame. If one is being visible on social media, please understand that it is part of the journey and not the destination. Could you briefly share with our Motherland moguls on WhatsApp for business? WhatsApp for Business is a highly innovative tool that businesses can use to offer fast and efficient customer care services to their customers. With a range of different features such as analytics and labels for pending payments; WhatsApp for Business is a highly effective tool for online business. I personally advice having the ‘Click to Chat’ feature on your website or social media platform. This feature enables people to easily chat you up and maintain a human relationship with your business. Final Words You can do this. You can achieve anything you want with the right mindset. [bctt tweet=”Hone the skill of recognizing opportunities and jump on it before the crowd does – @joyeneghalu” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] I look forward to having lots of young ladies kicking butts in the social media/online space. If you’d like to share your story with She Leads Africa, let us know more about you and your story here.
Edirin Edewor: When failure gives you wings, fly higher
Edirin Edewor is a two-time Amazon Bestselling Author, a Mindset and Author’s Coach, and an Entrepreneur. She works with three types of entrepreneurs to help them publish their books and establish their brands. Through Edirin’s Process Publishing System, entrepreneurs are helped to write their books with ease in record time get published on Amazon and become bestsellers. She also caters to the AUTHORPRENUERS who want to sell their books profitably as well as create extra streams of income through their writing. Finally, Edirin’s 5-Step Process Blueprint helps unknown and underpaid entrepreneurs in the service industry become highly influential and highly paid personal brands. How do you think your past failures set you up for success? In 2011 when I was 20, I attempted suicide. After that, I have had 502 of my job applications rejected in 4 years. I failed in 9 out of 11 business in 5 years. I battled with depression and a diagnosis of Early Onset Rheumatoid Arthritis at age 25. With all this suffering, I felt like a failure and thought my life was over. After much reflection, I began developing a growth mindset which helped me overcome all of these difficult times. I eventually wrote two books; The Productivity Checklist which became an Amazon Bestseller in 2016 and You and Your Mindset. Understanding that my failures were only learning processes, helped me eventually succeed in life and business. These lessons have helped me effectively start, scale and sustain my business in no time. So, now I help others too. [bctt tweet=”Understanding that my failures were only learning processes, helped me eventually succeed in life and business. – Edirin Edewor” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] You do a lot of great work with authors. How important is writing to establishing one’s authority in any given field? A lot of influential business people today have written books to establish themselves as authorities in their fields. From Robert Kiyosaki, Brian Tracy, to Steve Harris, Arese Ugwu, Nimi Akinkugbe and myself. Sharing your knowledge with the public shows that you know what you’re doing. It also helps you reach a lot more people with valuable information and grows your value perception. What tips would you give our young Motherland Moguls who are trying to gain influence in business? Everyone has to start from the bottom. No one gets to the top of the mountain by falling there. Getting to the top of the mountain of success requires you to climb. It will take some time, dedication, commitment and keeping a positive attitude in the face of obstacles. One great way to growing influence is getting published and growing your own community. There are many skills and tools to help with this. Social media platforms have made it easy to grow your influence and build a community of a loyal following today. [bctt tweet=”I’d like people to understand that life is in processes and you need to master one level to get to the next one. – Edirin Edewor” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] From your experience what are the difficult aspects of being an entrepreneur in Africa? First of all, being an entrepreneur anywhere, male or female, is difficult. However, Africa presents some unique challenges. The continent is not as technologically and industrially advanced as first world nations. Therefore, there are limited opportunities available to us. This forces us Africans to be creative and create unique solutions to solve our challenges. Secondly, the African market is still not largely globalized and the ease of doing business on a global scale is still being stifled by the political and economic environment. What advice would you give other entrepreneurs on handling this? As stated earlier, we have to create unique solutions to our challenges. While we wait for certain technologies to become available to us, we should maximize on what we have. This also includes constantly seeking opportunities to partner with global businesses to create more favorable conditions to do business. Here is where building trust and fostering good relationships become vitally important. From your past failures, what would you advise a young African woman getting set to start a business or career? Being patient and intentional about learning the lessons even when you fail, helps you learn faster, fail less and fly higher. Today I have built a multi-million naira business sharing this message and helping entrepreneurs build influence so they can share their stories and impact others. If you’d like to share your story with She Leads Africa, let us know more about you and your story here.
Rinae Sikhwari: I want to be a change driver
Meet Rinae Sikhwari, a 26-year-old young woman from Tshikwarani Village in South Africa. She currently resides in Polokwane finishing off her BCom Economics and Business Management from UNISA whilst working at New Leaders Foundation. She is a fan of reading African literature books, watching series, traveling and discovering new places. Her favorite pastimes include going to food markets, organizing activities for the children in her home church, as well as watching TED Talks and writing. Rinae describes herself as a change driver and a learner at heart. She is an advocate for providing quality education, especially for children in disadvantaged communities. Education has always been one of Rinae`s biggest passions and she strives to gain a stronger understanding of the complexities, challenges, and milestones of the South African Education System. Part of this is to not only be a solutions bringer but also a change agent to see the education system transformed to cater to the needs of all the children across the country. The South African Education Government spends 6.4% of its GDP on education, however, performance levels are lower than many other countries in the region. Not all children have access to the same quality of education, a legacy left behind by the apartheid government. Rinae is a consultant at New Leaders Foundation, a non- profit organization that is committed to transforming South African Education. The Organisation founded the Data Driven Districts Dashboard Programme, an approachable, highly intuitive dashboard that displays appropriate education-related information to education officials at all levels in the South African Schooling system. She emphasizes the importance of data – “Having accurate data ensures that informed decisions are being made, data determines all the decisions and interventions that need to be undertaken.” Her work involves a lot of interaction with stakeholders from the department of education in driving data-driven conversations and decisions. Engagement with these stakeholders is based on data attained from schools through the South African School Management System. “I’ve learned to understand how essential it is to have people skills and managing working relations with officials of different levels and rankings”. Her work ranges from assisting Department of Education officials from district directors to curriculum advisors and school principals attain data that will assist them to make informed decisions.Her work also takes her into the field where she can see firsthand how the policies of the Department of Education affect local communities. “Working in the field has offered me the context to understand the data we extract from schools on a daily basis.” This has brought visibility of complexities of the department and an understanding of the massive gaps and inequalities in the education sector. Central to her beliefs is the importance of advocating for the education of young women especially those that are growing up in areas where they are faced with so many socio-economic issues, who face so many challenges and a lot of the times education becomes a pillar and an enabler for them to defy the odds against them. Her own upbringing in a rural village made her understand that it is through education that a woman becomes independent and attains opportunities. “I am still such a firm believer that not only does education enable one to critically think and analyse but also education gives one the opportunity to be inquisitive, seek to explore and know more and the more you can do better, a learned/well-read/educated woman is able to challenge the status quo, I believe being educated gives one option and looking at how marginalized women are in society particularly black women it is imperative and essential for women to be educated.” Rinae established a reading club in the township of Seshego in 2015 for children aged between 4-14 years old, currently, the club has over 50 children and has strong support from the parents. She describes the reading club as a platform for children to learn to read and write for enjoyment, it’s a space in which children learn mathematical, social and literacy skills. “I’ve just observed how children enjoy our sessions and most of them have become avid readers, I love how they speak their minds and express their opinions that is actually what’s important for me.” Rinae has always wanted to do work that has a meaning to her and her development as someone aspiring to be a change driver. What does this mean? Being a change driver means doing more to better her community whether it be through mentoring and tutoring or supporting community development initiatives started by her peers or young people from her village. It also means giving a voice and a platform to those who need the change most- raising awareness about initiatives and shinning the spotlight on the developments in the community. Know of anyone impacting your community? Share their story with us here.