The Shege of Work and Business

A few weeks ago, we asked our community to share something about their work or business life that they’ve never said out loud, professionally.

We expected a handful of replies. What we got instead was a flood, and once we started reading through them, a few things came up again and again. Enough that we knew we couldn’t just say “thank you for sharing” and move on. These stories deserved a real conversation, not a comment section.

Here’s some of what came up.

The Boss Who Makes You Question Your Own Sanity

The manager who takes credit in the meeting for the work you did alone at 1am. The one who promises a promotion “next quarter” for three quarters running. The one whose mood decides whether the office is safe or unbearable that day.

What struck us wasn’t that these stories exist, every working woman has at least one. It’s how often they get minimised. “That’s just how work is.” “Every job has a difficult boss.” Except when you put dozens of these stories side by side, a pattern shows up that’s harder to wave away: a lot of talented women are quietly burning out under leadership that was never held accountable for how it treats people.

The Client From Hell (Every Entrepreneur’s Favourite Story)

If the corporate stories were about hierarchy, the business owner stories were about disrespect in a different form. The client who negotiates your price down, then expects premium delivery. The one who disappears for three weeks mid-project and resurfaces demanding it “yesterday.” The one who wants “just one small revision” for the fifth time, still within the original budget.

Running a small business in this economy is hard enough without also having to manage clients who’ve never once considered that your time, materials, and expertise cost something. Several women told us they’ve started undercharging just to avoid conflict, and then resenting the work because of it.

Business Partnerships That Don’t Survive the Money Conversation

This one came up more than we expected. The co-founder who quietly checked out once the business started making money. The “50/50” partnership that was never actually 50/50 in effort. The friend-turned-business-partner situation that ended the friendship too.

Nobody warns you, when you’re excited to start something with someone you trust, that the hardest conversations will be about money, contribution, and who’s actually doing the work. A lot of the women who wrote in said the business itself wasn’t the hard part, the partnership was.

The Real Shege

Put together, what we heard wasn’t really about any one bad boss or one difficult client. It was about how much invisible labour goes into simply surviving work and business as a woman in Africa right now, managing other people’s egos, chasing payments that should never have needed chasing, staying professional while being disrespected, and rarely having anywhere to say any of it plainly.

That’s what we want to give the community now: a real space for that. Not to name anyone, not to drag anyone, just to name the patterns clearly enough that when you read them, you think “wait, this happened to me too.”

Come Talk to Us

Over the next few weeks, we’re opening this conversation up properly across our social pages, real (anonymised) stories, audio conversations, and a few live sessions where you can join in and share your own experience. Toxic bosses, difficult clients, business partnerships gone sideways, the interview process that ghosted you, the job that wasn’t what the description promised, we’re covering all of it, one week at a time.

If any of this sounds familiar, you’re exactly who this is for.

Follow the conversation and add your voice here

This is your platform as much as it is ours.