By Leigh Andrews, Women in Africa Advisor and Contributor.
According to The World Bank, Africa leads the way on female entrepreneurship as the only region in the world with more female than male entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, they also face the most challenges when it comes to seeking funding and support to scale their business.
In the second edition of our Women in Marketing Africa #RealTalkSeries, we took a deeper look into these challenges real-world perspective from three female founders from the continent. Charles Lee Mathews (they/them) Publisher and CEO of Inc.Africa, steered an insightful conversation with Moky Makura, Executive Director of Africa No Filter; Catherine Young, Founder of Thinkroom Consulting and Managing Partner of GrindstoneXL Ventures; and Mamela Luthuli, Founder and CEO of Take Note Information Technology, on their journeys into entrepreneurship, as well as the peaks of how they've scaled their businesses and potholes they’ve faced when operating in an environment not necessarily wired to support them.
Extending the 2022 International Women’s Day theme of #BreakTheBias, this edition focused on women founders of high growth start-ups across the continent, looking at the challenges they’ve faced in starting and scaling their businesses. These are the five most phenomenal features of the female founders featured in this talk.
Female founders phenomenal feature #1: Proactively disrupting the status quo as the FOD
Mamela Luthuli’s Take Note IT is single-handedly curbing the multi-million-dollar problem of cable theft on the continent. Passionate about all things tech, the internet’s evolution made her want to do more and address the narrative of often being the first, only and different (FOD), as a young black woman in the (board)room.
Now specialising in cybersecurity and preventing reputational damage, Mamela admits that her biggest challenge was realising her self-told stories were holding herself back from growth. Mamela says to be kind to yourself, see each day as a fresh opportunity, embrace both our feminine and masculine energies, and to entrench this push to be our best possible selves is the next generation. Entering mentorship and spiritual programmes to recentre herself and chip away at the insecurities, she has learned to change her own narrative by work hard at not taking negative feedback personally. If you feel sensitive in the boardroom, take a deep breath and think through your response as you don’t have to respond immediately.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) recently mentioned a global scarce skills shortage, which is the classic supply-demand problem: We simply don’t have the resources or knowledge required to get important work done. Compounded by the fact that South Africa has the highest unemployment levels in the world, she formed a cybersecurity centre of excellence, which created 30 jobs under the harshest economic conditions yet amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Proof of the power in disrupting the status quo and revelling in being the first, only or different.
Female founders phenomenal feature #2: Fearlessly facing burnout and imposter syndrome
Catherine Young, Founder of Thinkroom Consulting and Managing Partner of GrindstoneXL Ventures, says we tend to be so focused on the here and now and our future success that we don’t stop and think about the essence of our trajectory as female founders.
She realised as she got older that she just didn’t have the energy to keep going through the motions – a classic sign of burnout and imposter syndrome, as she started to question whether she was good enough. When imposter syndrome first strikes, many keep it to themselves as they feel they are the only person in the world struggling with it. But as you open up and share your experience, you realise it’s pervasive as we work in a system that asks so much of us.
This built and blossomed as she felt the pull to leave the corporate realm and start her own business. But not just any business: Thinkroom helps build entrepreneurs’ small businesses, giving back in a way that makes a difference one entrepreneur at a time. Catherine points out that the Harvard Business Review has found female founders tend to field different questions from venture capitalists, which actually affects how much funding they get – with a focus on potential for loss and prevention over potential for profit and promotion.
It’s basic human nature for biases to appear when a group is not balanced, so address these upfront as true equality is not about one being better than the other. We need to smooth out the playing field and address privilege. Progress will mean our future female founders no longer have to first fight the fact they are female before fighting the fact of business. Proof that we can make it if we fearlessly face burnout and imposter syndrome as the unaddressed plagues of our time.
Female founders phenomenal feature #3: Refreshing and reframing the African narrative though representation
Moky Makura, Executive Director of Africa No Filter, takes this a step further in addressing the stories we tell ourselves and how we bring that African narrative to life, especially on representation and visibility in the start-up environment.
Also a serial entrepreneur, Moky condensed how her 50+ years of life’s work as an entrepreneur and storyteller, now with Africa No Filter, serves to brighten the perceptions people have of Africa both in the stories we tell ourselves and in those we share with the rest of the world. She has also written about Africa’s greatest entrepreneurs and features female founders on her podcast – receiving an overwhelming amount of feedback for her episode on imposter syndrome. She is adamant that if your current business can’t afford you, get a job until it can. She is living proof of this philosophy in action as most of Moky’s businesses started as a side hustle to not compromise her lifestyle.
On the importance of shifting the often harmful and stereotypical stories that exist in Africa, she said our limited frame of reference in South Africa means we tend to believe the same stories about Nigeria as Europeans do. Surprisingly, the support of influential US and UK institutions makes it easier to raise donor funding for charitable work in Africa than it is to do business in Africa. This goes to the perception Africa is broken or dependent, which is a lot tougher to crack as a woman. Her advice is to be brave. One step at a time we can step over the hurdles of your insecurity, overthinking and analysis paralysis. Proof that it’s on all of us to refresh and reframe the African narrative though representation.
Female founders phenomenal feature #4: The magic of me-time. Know thyself, know thy business
Moderator Charles Lee Matthews said the career milestone of reflecting and coming back to yourself, as Catherine shared that her meditation routine has been transformative, as she can control how she spends the first few hours of her day in celebrates the sunrise. So many of us start our interactions with others on the wrong foot by preceding our requests with an apology: Sorry to ask, sorry to disturb. This dilutes the power of your ask and potency of the word over time, so don’t make excuses about asking for something you’re entitled to. Banish the word from your everyday rhetoric.
On entering a boardroom filled with masculine energy – not just from males – sit with your back straight in the chair and focus on your breathing to slow it down. Feel it from your gut and pause before responding. Your voice naturally lowers, which brings a sense of calm energy to the discussion.
We also need to rethink how we speak about equality because it’s not just about feminism and females showing up to the fight. Equality is about fighting any potential oppression, so we need to change our language. Hopefully in a few years we won’t still be banging on the same drum, but for now the conversation is crucial. If not us, then who? If not us, then when? Don’t shy away from calling out unfairness and talking about your experience.
Moky says to remind yourself why you are at the table. Once you’re clear on that, nothing can stop you. Again proof of the importance of self-understanding in order to succeed in your entrepreneurial ventures.
Female founders phenomenal feature #5: Finding solutions and support to scale and succeed
As a Grindstone beneficiary, Mamela has found that if you’re looking for funding you need to show up, nurture the relationship and make time for the work that matters, accepting as many networking opportunities as you can and putting yourself out there on LinkedIn. Put in your application and start the conversation.
In closing, Moky said with half a billion women in Africa, we have more to admire here than anywhere else in the world. Have a vision for your business, find a coach if you’re serious about expanding and learn how to sell. As a business founder, you sell something every day of your life.
Mamela added that her role models were Maya Angelou and Oprah, as that’s what the media exposed her to. It took her mother’s passing in 2020 to realise just how much she had shaped and moulded who she is as also an entrepreneur and philanthropist. Look no further for inspiration than to our powerful female ancestors who paved the way. While she was extremely passionate about getting her business started, she realised she was chasing the numbers rather than delivering the service, so advises that instead of running after success, you have a clear vision and stick to it. Do it exceptionally well and the money will follow.
Catherine says competition will always be there so find your niche, stick to it and see where you can work with them. You’ll likely only see your true business value proposition get off the ground in 3 to 5 years so focus on what you do best rather than getting disheartened by others’ success.
Charles also reminded us of the pragmatic fruits of investing in yourself, cultivating a growth mindset and knowing your business, which yields the most incredible rewards.
The inspiration woven through all these narratives is to ruthlessly be yourself and know yourself and your business to grow your confidence. Walk into your fear, walk into that boardroom and tell your story. Do the mindful work needed to exorcise the negative voices that come from school, family or society, whether through yoga or therapy. Constantly strive to better yourself and relentlessly invest in becoming your best self, because L’Oreal said it best – you’re worth it.
The Africa chapter of Women in Marketing (WiM) is a global network of senior managers and c-suite professionals established to educate, inspire, recognise, connect and reward women (and their males advocates) in marketing, advertising, communications and other creative fields. Women in Marketing Africa’s Real Talk Series discussions in this edition of the #RealTalkSeries are made possible through the support of partners UN Women’s Unstereotype Alliance South Africa chapter, a thought and action platform that seeks to eradicate harmful gender-based stereotypes in all media and advertising content, bringing together partners seeking to collectively use the advertising industry as a force for good to drive positive change all over the world; Kantar, the world’s leading data, insights and consulting company that helps clients understand people and inspire growth; and Inc.Africa, a pan-African platform on a mission to tell the stories of Africa’s entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, founders, innovators and business builders, providing a platform for them to tell their own stories.
Rewatch the session for further insights and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn for updates on future free talks in our series of conversations that allow women to share their experiences of the challenges they’ve faced and, in doing so, help others master career progression; balancing work and home life; the impact of the global pandemic; the hard decisions and sacrifices they have had to make; and what has worked for them as ambitious professionals.