If you are a woman entrepreneur with plans to start your own business, or to grow an existing business, getting mentorship from existing entrepreneurs or membership of an entrepreneurship support group could be an important step in realising your business goals. As a first step, believe in yourself and your abilities to succeed. At GroFin , we support a number of highly successful female entrepreneurs and it is our experience that being a woman has never hindered an entrepreneur’s ability to run a profitable business. Having said that, we would also caution that women do face challenges unique to their gender which may influence their decisions when starting or growing their business. So, our GroFin Kenya investment officers spoke to two of the successful businesswomen that GroFin supports, in order to help other women entrepreneurs get their advice right from the horse’s mouth. Pamela Muyeshi, the owner of Amaica , a restaurant specialising in authentic Kenyan cuisine, and Ruth Kw...

The old story of low-skilled women entrepreneurs in the informal sector may be about to be rewritten by a fresh wave of tech-savvy and well educated women entrepreneurs. On the occasion of Women’s Month in South Africa, GroFin would like to celebrate such women and their contribution to Africa’s growth story.  If the past is any indication, women entrepreneurs have not had an easy time of it. And, African women have had it even harder. According to figures from the World Bank, while worldwide, at least 30 percent of women in the non-agricultural labour force are self-employed in the informal sector; in Africa, this figure is as high as 63 percent. But is this about to change? The World Bank study also points out that today, increasingly, women are making major strides in educational attainment at primary and secondary levels, pointing to an emerging breed of women who can become knowledge-based entrepreneurs of tomorrow. With global financial institutions like the World ...

Jeremy Lang Female entrepreneurs are playing an increasingly significant role in the South African economy, with financing figures from local small and medium enterprise (SME) risk financier, Business Partners Limited (BUSINESS/PARTNERS) , showing an encouraging cultural and empowerment shift in the country. 41% of BUSINESS/PARTNERS clients are female-owned SMEs – where at least 25% of the business is owned by women, and in which the female entrepreneur is actively involved. Further encouraging is that of the R310 million invested in female entrepreneurs in the 2016 financial year, the majority went to businesses in the traditionally male-dominated industries of manufacturing and retail. Jeremy Lang, regional general manager at BUSINESS/PARTNERS, says that recent investments also show that women are going into formerly male-dominated industries such as engineering. Additionally, sectors where female entrepreneurs have already established a sizeable presence, such as tourism, educat...

There is a longstanding misconception that investing, and the world of finance in general, is a man’s game. If you think about finance-related films - The Big Short, The Wolf of Wall Street, and the 1987 Michael Douglas classic Wall Street – could you name a female investor character? The unfortunate reality is that the investment world is generally perceived as a male dominated one. This is the view of Jenna Hartley, Investor Consultant at 10X Investments , who says that, interestingly enough, global research shows that there is a large uptake in female investors. “In a recent Blackrock survey[2], it indicated that there is almost no difference between male and female investor numbers.” Hartley believes, however, that the difference is the female approach to investing - a difference that might prove to be more effective over the long-term. Asking the right questions In her experience, Hartley says that the first thing that you notice about female investors is that they are m...

Michael Vacy-Lyle First National Bank (FNB ) has once again been voted as South Africa’s top business bank in the 2016 Sunday Times Top Brand Survey for the fourth year running. The winning brands are voted for by consumers and business decision-makers who rank them as being the best in their category in a nationwide survey. “We are honoured to receive the Sunday Times Top Brands award for the fourth consecutive year. This accolade validates our commitment to continually deliver quality products and services to our customers. Because we understand entrepreneurship and the hurdles that businesses face during tough economic times, we are well positioned to deliver innovative and cost effective solutions, helping them to grow and remain sustainable,” says CEO of FNB Business, Michael Vacy-Lyle. Changes in technology and the regulatory environment are constantly disrupting the financial services industry, challenging banks to think outside the box to identify the most efficient solutio...