HGCP 2021 Participants: Anita Dafeta talks about how her love for the different stories that emanate from ancient folklore inspired Origho Lagos
I sat down with Anita Dafeta, the founder and creative director of Origho Lagos to get to know her and how how her love for the different stories that emanate from ancient folklore inspired her to create homeware rooted in African heritage. Tell us a little about yourself. I am the founder and Creative Director of ÓRÌGHÒ Lagos, a brand that aims to connect Africa to the world through contemporary homeware rooted in African heritage. After completing my secondary schooling at Loyola Jesuit College Abuja, I obtained an International Diploma in Business from Oxbridge Tutorial College and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management from the University of Sheffield UK. After my time at University, I worked briefly in London as an Accounting and Finance intern for a media company and later returned to Nigeria in 2015. I have worked with renowned brands in various disciplines such as Tiffany Amber Nigeria, Capital Club Lagos and Ermenegildo Zegna. After returning to Nigeria from the UK I realised that there was a huge gap in the creative artisan sector in Nigeria and began liaising with artisans in areas such as woodwork, weaving, pottery and beading; thus the foundation for what has become ÓRÌGHÒ Lagos was forged. I am a resilient and dedicated founder who is committed to immortalising our African heritage. I currently live in Lagos, Nigeria with my family. What do you do for fun/relaxation? I love art and music so generally I visit galleries, art exhibitions and listen to music from artists like H.E.R, Snoh Aalegra and Brent Fayaz. I’m a lover of 90’s music as well and I believe that great food is also a great time. If you had to write a book, it would be on what and why? It would be a heartfelt, emotional but sometimes hilarious biography of my life thus far. Like how I got my fortune told at the Cirque Le Soir in London on Ganton Street…, still waiting for that to manifest by the way. But it will also have real, raw moments of hard work, tears and everything in between. What do you feel are your biggest achievements? I think my greatest achievement is starting a business and sticking with it through thick and thin, especially in this part of the world. What is your favorite aspect of being an entrepreneur? Turning my radical ideas into reality. Introduce your company the way you would to a potential customer. We produce artisan made interior décor and home goods products that are rooted in African folklore, design and craftsmanship with the aim of connecting the world to our continent and immortalising our heritage in the home. You can follow our Instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/origholagos/ to keep up to date with our product launches and brand events. What was the inspiration behind Origho Lagos? The business is inspired by our African heritage and craftsmanship. I have always loved the different stories that emanate from ancient folklore and I thought it would be wonderful to integrate that in an authentic but new way through homeware. How did you come up with the name for your company? The name ÓRÌGHÒ Lagos is derived from my Itsekiri name Orighomisan which means “My head is good” in the native dialect. How have you carved a niche for yourself in your industry? I believe there are individuals who want to own unique pieces of interior décor from Africa. Our craftsmanship is very well sought after all over the world. However, I believe we are still in the trial phase where we really need to get our brand out there and see what works. What is your ‘why’ i.e., bottom line, and how do you stay motivated? True motivation is generally hard to come by these days especially because we live in a hyper visible era with most people posting about their ‘apparent’ successes but not showing the true hard work that goes on behind the scenes. To keep myself motivated I try to ignore the vanity metrics and re-enforce my personal ideology that great things take time to build. I understand that I have a purpose bigger than just me and it has to be fulfilled. If you were given $1m to invest in your business, where would it go? I think the virtual art/NFT (Non-Fungible Token) space is a new but interesting sector to invest in. What entrepreneurial tricks have you discovered to keep you focused and productive in your day-to-day busy schedule? I don’t have a lot of tricks up my sleeve (wink) but I believe in listening to your body and recharging when you need to. I also think you should always reflect on the end goal to remind yourself ‘why’. Anita is currently on the High Growth Coaching Program scaling up Origho Lagos to keep on immortalising African heritage in people’s homes.
HGCP 2021 Participants: Founder of Closer Adenike Bamigbade is all about the impact and value their products delivers to Nigerian women and girls
I sat down with Adenike Bamigbade, the founder of Closer to get to know her and how she’s empowering women to take charge of their menstrual health. Tell us a little about yourself. I’m Adenike and I work in the social development space; so I guess you can call me a social worker. I work on ideas and solutions that solve critical issues that affect young people and women. I am working on three things at the moment; raising young anti-corruption champions, improving access to employment for youth and building a sustainable way to end period-poverty in Nigeria. What is your ‘why’ i.e. bottom line, and how do you stay motivated? There are myriads of problems around us and this keeps my brain active. I am always asking; how do we solve these problems? Being an avid reader, I have read about how ordinary people create ideas that change the world, so this inspires me to keep creating, iterating and not give up trying to solve a problem I care about. Period poverty is a real issue in our world, though the main problem is poverty. However, menstrual health should not be dependent on how rich a girl is, because she is only obeying nature’s call and it’s not her fault. I have seen lots of campaigns around period-poverty, but I feel most have short-impacts, we need to create a more sustainable solution to solve this big problem. This is purely what Closer is here to address, ensuring women and girls have access to good menstrual health. What do you feel are your biggest achievements? Closer is a new business and I am overwhelmed by the acceptance everywhere I had the opportunity to talk about the idea. Working on the idea and seeing the idea come to life is my biggest achievement so far. We took our time to work on the product, identify the best suppliers and ensure the experience is great. For us at Closer, every subscriber is a real woman, and she matters to us dearly. For every profit on each Box of Closer, 10% is used to help a girl from disadvantaged home to be out of period poverty. The smile and excitement on the girl is one I can’t buy. Also, each girl writes a ‘thank you’ letter to each subscriber that donated towards her period box. What is your favorite aspect of being an entrepreneur? I enjoy the fact that I am adding value to people’s lives. Closer is all about our women and our girls. We are all about the impact and how valuable our products are to people’s lives, not the profit at all. As a business, we make profits, but the experience of our women and girls is fulfilling for me as the founder. Introduce your company the way you would to a potential customer. As a woman, you ought to be in charge of your menstrual health. Closer conveniently gives women access to the best-selected products specific to their menstrual needs through a subscription-based platform. A woman’s lifecycle is largely controlled by her reproductive health starting from puberty to menopause. She is an egg-bag and her dreams can be tied to how well she is able to manage her reproductive health. With Closer, we are providing access to organic sanitary pads, organic panty liners and very important products women need each month to be in control of their menstrual health. Closer wants more women and girls to show up whether the red-visitor is around or her belly is pumped with a baby or she is in her grey-old-days enjoying menopause. We deliver the appropriate intimate care kits women in each category need without any worry. Where can people find out more about your business? At Closer, we want to take the stress off you every month. Start your subscription on our website at www.closer.ng. We also want to be with you all month round, so ensure you subscribe to our mailing list where we unfold the little secrets women shy about. You can also connect with us on Social Media on Instagram.com/closerng, Facebook.com/closerng and Twitter.com/closerng How have you carved a niche for yourself in your industry? Quality, quality, quality. At Closer, we work directly with suppliers who are producing quality products. Our sanitary pads are safer for you and the environment. Our bikini shavers are healthier alternatives. We don’t do normal, we go extra to ensure we provide quality products. This has made us distinct. Also, we are in the big e-commerce health industry, but we narrow it down to menstrual health only. This is a niche with low penetration in Nigeria at the moment, the ocean is still blue here and Closer is positioning itself rightly in that niche. What challenges have you faced first as a founder and then as a female founder? Human resource in terms of getting the right people to work on the idea. This would have been easier if there was enough capital to pay people, but I am willing to allow the business to grow and pay people at our own capacity. I do not want to take the risk of paying more than the business is making at the moment. If you were given $1m to invest in *business*, where would it go? Closer is a subscription business solving an important problem. It has the capacity to scale. With an investment funding of $1m, we will purchase more assets to aid logistics and distributions and also increase marketing budgets. With this investment, we can reach 1 million women per month and that means at least 100,000 girls will be out of period poverty every month. What’s the best advice you have received in business that you wish to pass on to our community? Just start. I can be a perfectionist, so I always want everything to be perfect before I start. Launching Closer in March 2021 was not my ideal way of doing things but I obliged to the advice I
HGCP 2021 Participants: Titilayo Taiwo on co-founding Africa’s leading one-stop talent marketplace
I sat down with Titilayo Taiwo, the founder and chief operating officer of Terawork.com to get to know her and how she co-founded Africa’s leading one-stop talent marketplace. Tell us a little about yourself. I’m Titilayo Taiwo, the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at TERAWORK.COM LIMITED. I oversee TERAWORK’s operations; strategic partnerships and I’m also involved in building exceptional teams and driving revenue. I am a Biochemist turned Operations/Human Resources expert with over 10 years of experience that spans Wellness, Oil & Gas, Software Design & Development. I am also a partner and volunteer in various charity organizations. I’m passionate about youth empowerment and I’m very committed to building tools to help people work better together and more effectively. I also enjoy wining and dining with families and friends for relaxation. What is your ‘why’ i.e. bottom line? My ‘why’ is all about the vision and the impact opportunity, I am doing my part by using digital technology to contribute towards solving the long age unemployment problem in Africa. My goal is to see freelancers on our platform earn billions of dollars while helping millions of businesses of all sizes to grow and achieve their goals. I wake up everyday to ensure that TERAWORK grows into a company that has real impact on the lives of millions of African sellers and buyers. On motivation I regularly review our goals and progress because I find that seeing progress is a great motivator in itself, and also goes a long way in improving my self-esteem. How has your entrepreneurship journey been so far? As a result of my hands-on experience, I’ve been featured on several entrepreneurship panels and master classes hosted by Enterprise Development Centre(EDC), Webtv, Churches, Schools etc. I was celebrated by Sterling Bank Plc alongside 5 other women nationwide during the International Women’s Day Celebration in February 2020, as a founder and a leader of a company that strives to give equal opportunities to women. I’m also in the 2021 Cohort of AWS Activate Africa for Africa’s inspiring women start ups founders and leaders. What is your favorite aspect of being an entrepreneur? I’ve never wanted to be an entrepreneur, let alone a serial one. But I absolutely love it now and would never trade it for another occupation. I love the freedom of being able to be wherever you want, with whomever you want, doing whatever you want to. It’s truly priceless. I love a constant challenge, and the endless opportunities to learn and grow one’s mind. I also love that as my business grows and becomes more successful, it has different challenges and needs that require me to adapt yet again and grow too. But for me the best part about being an entrepreneur is being in charge of your own destiny. When we’re born, we’re placed into a custody of our parents. Then our society. Schools. Corporations. Entrepreneurs get to break free and take control of their own lives. It’s exhilarating and rewarding. Introduce your company the way you would to a potential customer. TERAWORK is a freelance marketplace that is helping small business owners by giving them the support and access to any competent talent they need to succeed. We provide businesses with on-demand affordable and quality freelancing services in legal, accounting, social media management, software development and 54 other service categories to grow. From the comfort of their homes and within a few hours, they can hire vetted on demand professionals which enables them to focus on building their businesses and save operational costs by 40%. Our Escrow system ensures that they don’t have to pay for substandard jobs any more. With TERAWORK value is guaranteed or you get your money back. You can learn more and sign up by visiting our website at https://www.terawork.com/. How have you carved a niche for yourself in your industry? We did so by focusing on just one pain point – the hassle of hiring cost effective quality talent. Our offering of on-demand quality and proven talent with an escrow system that guarantees value or money back is unique. What would you say has been pivotal to your growth and success so far? My growth mindset; my belief that skills are built, and that new abilities can be developed through practice and effort. I strongly believe in my capacity to learn and grow, and that my intelligence can be developed. I tend to persist in the face of setbacks, take on board and even invite feedback and find inspiration those around me. I see life as an endless opportunity to figure out new things and appreciate that failure is part and parcel of learning and progressing – it’s necessary and therefore not something to shy away from. I also understand that mastery of a skill takes persistence, practice and time. What’s the best advice you have received in business that you wish to pass on to our community? It’s actually a quote by Steve Jobs, ”Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you; the aircraft, vessels, etc. And you can change it, you can influence it…, once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again” What’s your number 1 tip for anyone struggling to overcome entrepreneurial overwhelm and keep going? Learn to do less; the first step to dealing with this is to accept that you’ll never get it all done. I know that’s hard to accept and say, but it’s a reality. Once we acknowledge that, we feel less stressed because we have less resistance to trying to do it to all. Remind yourself every day that it’s not about getting more done. It’s about getting results that matter. “Do three things well, not ten things badly.” Then outsource, that is why we created TERAWORK! Titilayo is currently on the High Growth Coaching Program hard at work to grow TERAWORK into a global talent marketplace where value is always guaranteed.
4 Ways To Become A Financially Literate Mogul In 2021
Every two to four business days, I come across very questionable advice on how to be “financially literate” on the interwebs. I almost want to ask the person giving the “advice” if they believe what they are saying or if it is just vibes. See, not everyone is giving you advice is they have fact-checked, taken time to think through or practice. We have to learn how to filter what we hear about managing our hard-earned money, especially in a Panoramic. So, in this piece, we’ll be discussing- What it means to be a financially literate mogul. How you can increase your financial literacy without any of the shenanigans online. Sign up to get your FREE finance worksheet! So, what does it mean to be a financially literate mogul? A financially literate mogul has a basic knowledge about managing personal finances and building wealth. If this is you, it means you have an understanding of how to Create and stick to a budget Set realistic financial goals Pay your bills Track your expenses and income Save your money Navigate the basics of loans (personal, debt, mortgages, etc) Invest your money Now that all this has been listed, reflect on what you understand through PRACTICE and what you need to get better at. Want FREE finance-related content, resources and updates? Click here! Here are some No-BS ways to become financially literate. Read – Books, Magazines, web articles, newsletters, Facebook posts, Tweets, IG posts- read as much as you can about finance from trustworthy sources. Read sources that speak about finance in a way that is relatable to you. While some sources are very helpful in the advice they offer, the context that they operate in might not provide you with the insight you need. With reading comes fact-checking so Google what you do not understand or need more information on. Use Finance Tools And Apps- As much as we want to learn, we may not be able to do so all by ourselves. This is where apps and tools come in handy. These days, thankfully, there are apps and tools for almost every aspect of finance- be it saving, budgeting, tracking expenses or investing. Some finance apps even have learning centres and blogs to help you stay updated. Find one that incorporates the aspects of finance you want to improve on and commit to using it. Take A Financial Literacy Course- Sometimes, what we need is a course to help us step up our money game. If you are clueless about where to start on your finance journey or how to stay consistent, consider taking a financial literacy course. Find a course that breaks down what you need to know and gives take-home assignments. This will help you practicalize your learning and stay accountable. [bctt tweet=”Sometimes, what we need is a course to help us step up our money game. If you are clueless about where to start on your finance journey or how to stay consistent, consider taking a financial literacy course.” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] Join A Community Of Money-Minded Moguls- There is nothing as uplifting as being a part of a community of people with similar goals. When you belong to a group that shares your goals and has your best interest at heart, you remain motivated. The added accountability and access to resources can also not be underestimated. Find a community or group of friends and become an active member. [bctt tweet=”There is nothing as uplifting as being a part of a community of people with similar goals. When you belong to a group that shares your goals and has your best interest at heart, you remain motivated.” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] Key Takeaway Learning about finance takes constant practice. There is always room for improvement so do not beat yourself up about what you haven’t learnt. Approach learning about finance with an open but cautious mind and you will be surprised by how much you will grow. Join our community of young African women to get FREE finance-related content, resources and updates.
“I LEFT THE USA TO PURSUE MY PASSION IN NIGERIA.” MEET UGOCHI NWOSU, FOUNDER OF RELIANCE CLINICS
Not everyone owns up to their purpose especially when it takes you from one continent to another. Ugochi left the United States to pursue purpose in Nigeria. Ugochi is the founder of Reliance Clinics. She’ll be sharing insights into her life as a medical practitioner, health tips, the numerous challenges she faced and how she was able to overcome them. Who is Ugochi Nwosu? I was born in Nigeria and lived there until I was 7 before my family immigrated to the United States. That was where I did all my schooling. After my undergraduate degree, I did my residency training in the States also until I returned back to Nigeria in 2019. This kick-started my goal to start a business that provided quality private healthcare services. What are you passionate about? Healthcare! I really want to live in a world where everyone has full access to adequate healthcare. In Nigeria, the rate at which people in their early 40s and 50s die is really alarming. All of these can be avoided. I just want to help people live healthy and productive lives where they get to see their grandchildren and even great-grandchildren. Although this would be beautiful, it’s not easy. If people want to live till their late 80s, it starts from now. So, I want to keep educating people about this. What ignited the spark to start Reliance Clinics? For me, the inclination to work in healthcare came since my undergraduate studies. I learnt about the possible challenges, the requirements and mapped out the areas to make an impact. It was important to be properly grounded in what I was planning to do to avoid making any silly mistakes. I also worked with a whole lot of NGOs to ensure I had a feel of what I was about getting myself into. I didn’t really plan to start a business for myself. The decision to do that came after I kept searching for an NGO to work with but couldn’t find any at that point. This made me start looking for other possible opportunities. During my residency training, I met people who were interested in digital healthcare services and connected with them. They encourage me to just do what I need to do because no one makes actual change by talking and observing. It was great for me because I didn’t see myself as someone that could take up that level of responsibility upon myself. The plan had always been to work for someone who was already doing the things I needed to do. That’s basically how the business came alive. How was the startup phase of your business? I’m not going to deny the fact that everything was new to me. Firstly, we had to scout for a suitable location, then we had to figure out a way to get supplies for the clinic and basically test these supplies yourself because everything had to be reliable 100%. For funding, I met the founders of a health insurance company during my residency training so things sort of worked out for me in the sense that they needed a trusted clinic that they could send patients to so they kind of gave me the initial funding for the clinic. What business challenges have you faced and how have those challenges shaped your mindset? One major challenge has been hiring and training staff. For those in healthcare, the quality of services offered has to be nothing but excellent. Most times, doctors, pharmacists, nurses etc expect some things to be done in some certain way based on what they’ve seen before or something which might not necessarily be the right thing. When you tell this category of people that there’s a standard that should be met and we’re not going to overlook that standard just because we’re operating in Nigeria, it turns into a situation where it feels like you’re telling them that they’re not properly trained or something so that was a major challenge for me. Another challenge we had, in the beginning, was dealing with patients and staff who were used to things being done in certain ways and then we do them in totally different ways. For instance, most patients that come to our clinic are used to being given so many drugs even for not so serious cases. When we give them just 1-2 drugs, they feel like we’re not treating them the right way or we don’t really care about their wellbeing which is why we’re given them little amounts of drugs and that’s not the situation at all. What have you learned so far from running this business? When it comes to hiring, you have to ensure that those people actually have the skills they claim to possess. It’s mandatory that you do. I’ve learnt over time that you have to be very intentional when deciding who to bring on board, how to evaluate their skills and how to train them so that from day 1, they can actually deliver. Ugochi is a participant in the High Growth Coaching Program 2020. Catch up on her business journey on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Manage Your Money Effectively with these tips from Ifeoma Okoli
Managing money effectively is crucial for every professional woman. The ability to manage finances is what gives you leeway to have the lifestyle you want. Not every woman would tell you that they are comfortable with managing their money. Ifeoma Okoli is an Audit Analyst with a degree in Economics and Statistics. She has a Diploma with the Association of Charted Accountants. Ifeoma is also known to be a driven and enthusiastic Financial Analyst. In this article, she provides her tips on how women can effectively manage their money. The finance world is typically a male-dominated industry. What led you on to the path? I think the notion of the finance industry is typically a male-dominated industry was all in retrospect. Nowadays, especially in Nigeria, more women have begun to demand a seat at the table in this industry. On what led me to this path, I think one of my first inspiration career-wise was my dad. He too worked in this industry and I loved number crunching. However, one of the things that helped me was that my father insisted I do a lot of unpaid internships during my secondary school holidays. That gave me an early start to understanding the nitty-gritty of the industry. How would you describe your day-to-day responsibilities as an Audit Analyst for your company? I look at my role as more of control and compliance (Risk Mitigation), working constructively with finance and other departments to improve internal control across the organization. How would you advise more women to become more financially literate? First of all, to be financially literate does not mean you have to study finance in school. In fact, studies have shown that most people whose job is to manage other peoples finance are actually very bad at managing their own personal finances. With that being said, some of my advice to women is below: You don’t need a glucose guardian to be rich. Get a job and work towards increasing your net worth. There is dignity in labour and financial independence is one of the best gifts you as a woman can give yourself. This may sound very cliche but create a budget tracker. This would help you to know how much you should spend, how much you have spent in a month, variances and mechanical ways to save up from bargains. Whenever you are free, listen to financial podcasts. It will help improve your financial knowledge, plus if you have a side hustle, the podcast will teach you how to scale your business faster while learning from the mistakes of other entrepreneurs. To check out some of my favorite podcasts, click this link . How can the modern young working women budget and save effectively to cater to all her needs? Most career women who are salary earners oftentimes earn way less than their male counterparts at the same level. Yet most times are the ones doing more of the smart work. So as a young lady, be diligent and find out if you are long overdue for a salary increase. Arm yourself with facts and go forward to renegotiate your salary. To be able to cater to all your needs means you have to increase your income and to increase income means you have to increase the money coming from your revenue-generating unit(s) Like I said before, use a budget tracker it would save you a lot of headaches. Have at least three bank accounts. One should be your expense account, one your revenue accounts and the last should be your savings account. Do not spend directly from your revenue account. Separating your account would also help you track your inflow and outflows. Try as much as possible to save up 40% of your monthly income especially if you are still single and have fewer responsibilities. Saving for rainy days cannot be overemphasized. 20% of your six months income should be able to take you on a holiday trip. If not, it simply means the trip is a way too much above your budget and you are balling above your budget. Find a cheaper option. Trust me, you can have an amazing holiday on a budget. Apps like Piggy vest are there to help you cater to your personal savings and investment. Finally, one which most of us ignore. Always negotiate for your pension and health insurance in all your places of employment. Your pension may seem minuscule right now but it compounds and would eventually help to reduce the financial burden when you are old and frail. Are there useful tools or apps that can support women in dealing with their finances? Yes, there are. Apps like Expensify, Fudget even Google sheet can help you with planning and managing your finance What is one thing that you want more women to be aware of when it comes to managing money? If you are contented, you would not go broke trying to prove to broke people that you are not broke. How are you improving your spending habits this month? Click here to join the SLA #SecureTheBag challenge.
Jobs – Product Manager
She Leads Africa is a digital media and events company that believes in the power of young African women to build amazing careers and businesses, serve as community leaders and influencers, and eventually take over the world. Our organization has been featured on CNN, Black Enterprise, Forbes and CNBC Africa. We’ve worked with brands including Dark & Lovely, Uber, Cointreau, Samsung, and Facebook. Our #MotherlandMoguls, as we affectionately call them, are the reason we exist. Our mission is to provide them with inspiring, educational events and content to help them live their best lives. We’re looking for a product manager to help drive product planning and execution throughout the product development lifecycle, from gathering product and customer requirements to product introduction. Reporting Structure: The Product Manager will report directly to an SLA co-founder. The Product Manager will be responsible for improving all aspects of SLA’s end-to-end community journey and drive product decisions to meet business objectives. Responsibilities: Design and manage product roadmaps, ensuring timely completion of deliverables along the entire product lifecycle: from concept through production, from sustaining improvements to value engineering. Generate detailed documentation (including market/product requirement documents), communicate these requirements to the appropriate teams, and ensure timely cross-functional execution. Manage an outsourced development firm and determine product priorities and resource allocation. Facilitate the design of creative and innovative solutions that encompass the entire customer journey and actively question solutions to ensure alignment with product/company vision. Determine the best metrics for product success. Combine intuition with data analysis to continually drive product improvement. Provide input into product pricing, go-to-market, development budgets, and sales forecasts. Cultivate a deep understanding of our customers throughout their lifecycle, and advocate for solutions based on their needs and pain points. Monitor and report on sales and customer satisfaction metrics and offer data-driven insights about what new products or product lines will have the greatest impact for our customers and business. We are looking for someone who: Has 3+ years of relevant product management experience. Has a strong project management background, with demonstrated ability to execute on tight deadlines. Has recorded huge success working in a startup environment where you have taken ideas from conception to execution. Has the ability to juggle multiple priorities. Has exceptional communication skills, and demonstrated ability to build high-trust relationships. Has an engineering or design background; experience bringing a physical product to market required. Has experience guiding cross-functional teams in a highly iterative, rapidly evolving agile environment. Has excellent analytical skills with demonstrated experience turning data into actionable insights. Has experience with A/B testing, UX/UI principles and customer research techniques. Has a can-do attitude and is flexible enough to take on any task we throw at them Is passionate, hungry and eager to build SLA into a world-class institution Has high professional and ethical standards i.e. understands that there’s no such thing as African time – you’re just late Is comfortable taking and giving feedback Has a good sense of humor – because we’ll be working hard so we better keep each other entertained Is comfortable working in a startup environment where we’re making the rules up as we go along. Ultimately we’re looking for someone who wants to be part of something great. Someone who wants to help us create one of the best African companies in the world. Submit your application here:
You better get your Hot Girl Summer on, Motherland Mogul
Summer or no summer, you MUST live your best life. You are a boss and keeping up with the trends in the digital world is the major key! You must have come across the term Hot girl summer over the past month. If you’re not sure what everyone is on about, we’re serving you the tea in this article. What is #HotGirlSummer??? The phrase #Hotgirlsummer was coined by American rapper, Meghan Thee Stallion. She used the term to tell women (and men) to be unapologetically themselves and fiercely go after their dreams and goals. It simply means that summer or no summer, you MUST live your best life. The term first appeared on Twitter after one of her fans posted a photo with the caption “I hear it’s a #HotGirlSummer”. Since then, the term has since caught on like bush fire. Men and Women around the world are now posting fun and happy photos of themselves on social media with the same caption. The phrase represents women living out their best lives at their own terms, to make it the best thing to ever happen to them. If you are looking to have your own Hot Girl Summer season like the Motherland Mogul that you are, here are some tips to get you started. 1. Review and Define Your Goals In order to live life unapologetically, there must be a goal or vision that you are looking to achieve. It is important that you have a vision of where you are going and come up with a plan of how you will get there. This may involve improving your current skill set or going back to school. Choose your path and glow while pursuing your goals. 2. Put Your Best Foot Forward Where You are In most cases than not, it will take time to get to your dream job/businesses/bosses and/or clientele. While you are building towards your goals and dreams, it is essential that you grab every crucial opportunity that comes by. The journey to achieving your dreams is a culmination of all the work and effort that you are putting in now. Use your current position to build a richer network as this will make your journey much easier. The phrase, Your Network is Your Net worth should come in handy where you are now and when you finally get to achieve your goals. 3. Put In the Work Nothing works unless you do. To achieve anything in life, you must be willing to put in the effort and work required to get where you want to be. It is also important to ensure that your voice is heard in meetings and in boardrooms. As you put in the work and effort, it is also very important that you are taking credit for your achievements. You are much more memorable when your voice is heard, therefore, going forward ensure that you are the lady who takes credit for her work, contributes ideas and always have engaging thoughts in any meetings and conferences. An organization or client will always value someone who adds value. Your work is then to add value. 4. Have Fun While Doing It Girl, work hard and play hard while you’re at it. Going after your goals and choosing to be outstanding is definitely not always fun. There is a lot of unseen hard work and in some cases, you are your own biggest cheerleader. But, how about making it fun for yourself by having a weekly gratitude list? Each week, write down something you are grateful for and also tick off a goal that you have accomplished. It is the consistent cumulative effort that eventually pays off and keeps a smile on your face. 5.Take a Selfie and Don’t Forget to Hashtag #HotGirlSummer Lastly, while putting in the work and securing the bag don’t forget to take a bomb selfie as you live your best life, on your own terms. It is always relaxing to get the perfect selfie and keep the movement going for all the women who are making it happen for themselves and their communities. Have yourself a Hot Girl Summer. Join our Facebook Live on August 22nd to learn how to drive social change through your business/ Career. Click here to sign up.
What went down at the #IAMORIGINAL Boss Brunch & Panel – Johannesburg
Curated within the beautiful landscape of Jozi on a peaceful Sunday, She Leads Africa in partnership with The Cut Life and Originals by Africa’s Best held a Boss Brunch and panel with the finest Motherland Mogul influencers of Africa. The location was a hidden oasis of tranquility, The Gabriela’s Tea Room, perfect for some girl chat, champagne was flowing, the crowd was buzzing. What a beautiful Sunday. In the era of feminism and self-love, you do find some false prophets that don’t live up to their campaign inside as loudly as they may be online. What was important about the #IAMORIGINAL panel and brunch was that it focused on the challenges black women struggle through. The theme that stood out from the event was the need for women to back each other up and actually mean it. For the older and younger generation to join minds and create solutions for the Motherland Moguls that follow. The event kicked off with a warm welcome from the bubbly Shanon Stanislaus of Originals by Africa’s Best. She spoke about the benefits of their new Coconut Creme range that has nutrition rich formulas, helping your natural hair with the foundation its needs for hair goals. I tried some of the samples from the gift bag and I am sold on the products, which are available from Clicks nationwide or through The Originals by Africa’s best website. We then proceeded into an hour-long networking bingo session, that had our Influencers and Motherland Moguls buzzing through the room, the energy was so lively- It felt like the best girl chat session I’ve been to in ages. We held bingo cards that had questions such as “Who in the room has three pets, Who is an only child”. These were great ice breakers, especially for an introvert like myself. Back to our tables, we were served incredible dishes by The Gabriela’s Tea Room patrons, everything delicious and mouthwatering. This amazing panel was moderated by Tahira Joy of The Cut Life joined by Shanon Stanislaus (Originals by Africa’s Best), Enhle Mbali (Actress), Azania Mosaka (Broadcaster) and Jamelia Donaldson (Founder of Treasure Tress). They spoke on self-care and beauty, ways to effectively run your business and respect yourself and values in the process. We all got a few tips on how to reach your next Boss level in entrepreneurship through their stories, lessons and best practices. Azania Mosaka dropped so many nuggets that had all the women in agreement throughout. In the entertainment industry women are made to choose to get ahead either giving their bodies or having to dumb down their intellect so at to seem less of a threat to colleagues. As shocking as it may sound, these are challenges most women are still overcoming. A recurring theme throughout the Boss brunch and panel was how women need to remain educated and curious in our endeavors and not forgetting the people we build our dreams with. “If you’re starting your race, be invaluable to your team.” – Shanon Stanislaus.. There’s only so much you can do as an individual, once you realize your expertise is invaluable, the impossible is just as attainable as anything. We truly are better together. On the theme of staying curious in what your interests are, Jamelia Donaldson of Treasure Tress stated… “ You don’t know what you want to do until you’ve tried it all”. This tied in so well with the events hashtag of the day #IAMORIGINAL, when you apply yourself and work on what your secret sauce is, what do you really have to lose ? All in all, this was an event, unlike any other networking event I have been to, which is saying a lot as I have been to a ton of networking sessions and gone home feeling as though I barely received much value from the speakers. It could be just how intimate the brunch was or the fact that everyone left their egos at the door and simply wanted to celebrate each other. I have nothing but praise for what these women aimed to share through the event and I believe that we can all learn from them. As Motherland Moguls we are constantly inspiring those around us, we may not realize it a lot of the times, the best thing we can do is live an intention-driven life in our goals, decisions, and actions. Work within the passion and not ego, power or status. I’m definitely looking forward to more events from these powerhouses. Sponsored Post.
Here are 5 reasons why you need a personal website
Have you ever seen a myname.com website and thought “oh that’s so cool but it’s not for me?” Well let me shock you, if you want to stand out online whether in the corporate or business world as a slay queen in the 21st century, then you best believe it’s for you. Still in doubt, let me give you 5 reasons why you need to grab your domain name and have a beautiful website designed to suit your goals and personality. 1. Your paper resume is about to go extinct! A recent study by OfficeTeam shows that more than one-third of companies feel that resumes will be replaced by profiles on social networks. What this means is that prospective employers and clients are and will be searching for you online. 2. You get a home for all your online activities It means that even if all social media platforms crash, there’s still something to your name on the web. It also means that there’s something to link to when people mention you on the web. 3. Worldwide exposure Having a personal website allows you to be able to express yourself, your gifts and your thoughts online thereby building thought leadership in your areas of experience and expertise. This makes you more attractive to people seeking to work with you. 4. Make digital sales “I don’t want another source of income,” said NO ONE EVER! Having a personal website makes it easy for you to create and sell virtual products without messing with your job or business. You can host products such as ebooks, online courses, pre-recorded songs and albums, webinars and so much more on your personal website and make passive income from them. 5. Build your personal brand Having a personal website helps you get conscious about building your personal brand. You can retire or resign from a job or business, but you can never resign or retire from being you. So don’t build your career or business and forget to build your personal brand. If you’d like to learn more about building thought leadership and online visibility for your personal or business brand, please click here to get access to my FREE online visibility checklist on my “personal” website ?.