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...

More than half of the world’s economies don’t foster high-growth female-owned businesses. This was a finding in the 2015 Female Entrepreneurship Index (FEI) which revealed that 47 of the 77 countries surveyed scored below 50 points. From a local perspective, South Africa ranked 36th out of 77 countries with an FEI score of 44.2. In comparison, the United States ranked 1st with an FEI score of 82.9.  Gugu Mjadu, executive general manager of marketing: Business Partners Limited (BUSINESS/PARTNERS), says that these figures demonstrate that South Africans need to push even harder for equality in entrepreneurship, but, at the same time, warns that the country must be patient. “Research all over the world shows that when it comes to high growth entrepreneurship, female entrepreneurs are still in the minority. The move to equality is bound to be a slow, generational shift, but one that will require a conscious effort to complete,” says Mjadu.  “However, there is no doubt th...

Bronwyn Oliveira Franchising: a natural fit for any female entrepreneur  For up and coming female entrepreneurs striving to make their mark in the highly competitive business world, franchising is an enticing prospect. Due to its supportive nature, which provides the basic tools to make the business a success, the industry has notably demonstrated remarkable growth amongst female ownership in recent years, proving that franchising is a viable business option for all talented entrepreneurs. Bronwyn Oliveira, Divisional Marketing Manager for The Fish & Chip Co. shares more on the franchising model and how women are thriving in this industry. Following the 2012 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Women’s Report, it is refreshing to see that an estimated 126 million women were either establishing or already running new businesses in 67 economies around the world in 2012. In addition, it was also reported that an estimated 98 million ladies were running established busi...