Inspiration Archives

In fashion&style August 12, 2021 By Women of Rubies

Angella Manda, A Malawian Entrepreneur Who Making A Clothing Business Out Of Crocheting

For many, crocheting is a hobby. Something they do to pass time and clear their mind. But with time, crocheting has proven to be an art and craft that has grown to be lucrative to the point that it becomes a business, a stream of income for a lot of people.

Malawians are taught the art of crocheting at an early age and Angella Manda has decided to stand out from the rest by turning her craft into a clothing business. She is the founder of Angelos Crochet and today, her growing customer base are in constant demand for her beautifully crafted crochet garments and accessories.

Angella was born in the Central part of Malawi, in Lilongwe. She graduated from the University of Malawi, Chancellor College. In the fourth year of her studies in college, she started crocheting as a small business and upon graduating, she took it on as a serious business. Angella has been crocheting for about 15 years in total. Long enough for anyone to become a professional!

Angella started crocheting because of her deep love for creating that she has developed as a child. This love for creating something was what drove her to start her business. Another inspiration to start her business was the lack of existing suppliers of crochet products because at the time she started her business, there were not a lot of people doing it. So the fact that people wanted crocheted products but had limited options from where to buy, was also a source of inspiration to start the crocheting business.

Angella believes her business is special because it is a representation of a childhood source of joy. Since she had the best time crocheting as a child, she ensures her pieces have that same childlike authenticity and innocence to it.

Concerning her journey as an entrepreneur, Angella did not come from an entrepreneurial background. Being an entrepreneur was never something she envisioned. Her course of study was even far from business.
She transitioned into a business woman as soon as people started showing a lot of respect and love for her products.
According to her, “there would be times I’d think, this will probably not last that long in the early days of my business. But turns out, the support was always growing and now I have come to accept and believe that this is what I was meant to be doing. And my effort into it has also just automatically grown.”

Satisfying her customers and getting positive feedback is her greatest source of fulfilment as an entrepreneur. Satisfying their orders is a source of joy on her end.
“It is also satisfying knowing that you’re doing something you truly love. Every day when I’m doing it, even times when it’s not easy, I am satisfied already.” Says Angella.

Angella’s biggest advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is for them to believe in their work and talents. “You have to have so much trust and belief in your own talent that even on those hard or bad days you know you are great, and you’ll be able to get through this. That way no matter what hurdles you face along the way that try to stop your business goals; they are nothing compared to the belief you have in yourself. It is also important to celebrate others along the way and be open to collaboration.”

Angelos Crochet, designs and crochets all sorts of products – fashion items and accessories, ranging from dresses, skirts, suits, trousers, tops, hats and bags, all produced using quality yarns.

In Inspiration August 8, 2021 By Women of Rubies

Edna Reis And Sandra Pimentel, Angolan Wellness Entrepreneurs Passionate About Workplace Wellness

The strength of every organization and company lie in the wellbeing of its staff and employees. Companies who know this ensure they pay attention to the wholeness and wellbeing of their staff as it is directly proportional to their success as a company. Helping employees avoid burnout and providing maximum support to help them manage their physical, mental and emotional balance is key. This is why Edna Reis, the founder of Active Wellness in Angola created her business to help meet the demand for better health and total wellbeing in the workplace.

Edna Reis launched Active Wellness in 2017 and her partner, Sandra Pimentel joined in 2019. They are both psychologists with great management skills, motivation and experience in this field.

Active Wellness is a Start-up focusing on Mental Health and Organizational Well-Being Consultancy, with a diversity of services that meet the growing national and international health demand in the corporate environment.

Active Wellness works towards the perfect mental health and well-being of organizations by proposing solutions that help reduce the incidence and prevalence of mental disorders through specific psychotherapeutic interventions inside and outside the work environment.

Their services include: Mental health consultancy; Quality of life research at work; Individual and group psychotherapeutic interventions to better manage traumatic events with a high probability of triggering anxiety, stress, burnout; Employee wellbeing programs; Mindfulness classes; Mind and Body Balance interventions; Workshops and lectures.

Both Edna and Sandra had no entrepreneurial background prior to Active Wellness but Edna’s strong believe that each of us has a vision about how we would like to position ourselves in the professional world drove her into entrepreneurship as her own means of making meaningful contribution with her work.

She is happy being an entrepreneur and she describes her fulfilment as an entrepreneur using these words, “The possibility of helping to de-stigmatize mental health, contribute to the country’s growth, development and people’s health is undoubtedly a great satisfaction.”

Be willing to learn every day, nothing is given, have the courage to create the future you want, without neglecting the challenges that are typical of the trajectory. Edna says to women who want to start or create anything new.

In Inspiration August 6, 2021 By Women of Rubies

Mary Nyaga, A Florist Making A Difference in the Floral Business in Kenya

Flowers are beautiful. Everybody loves flowers because of the freshness and aesthetics they add to homes, offices and exterior spaces. Mary Nyaga, a Kenyan florist and founder of LorMar Florium is on a mission to adding joy and beauty to people’s lives through flowers.

Mary is harnessing the power of technology to do this through a subscription-based flower business using an App called Flowerhood that creates virtual floral arrangements and messages for customers to send to their family and friends.

Mary Nyaga is a co-founder of LorMar Florium, a business launched in 2019. She started the flower subscription company using the highest quality Silk artificial flowers.
Not willing to shut down business as a result of covid, she decided to take the business to another level by giving people an opportunity to create their own flower designs and personalize them with messages through their App called Flowerhood.
Mary describes herself as having an entrepreneurial spirit and a creative, having tried a few businesses. Taking women through a Leadership program where they have to draw their goals really motivated her to capture her dreams in her own form and drawing.

LorMar Florium, is a flower subscription company with different arms and product/service offerings. They have a flower studio with amazing flower delectables, creating a setting for brides or other people to come choose the array of colourful silk flowers. They also do flower design training and photography at our studio. And their App, Flowerhood, now on Google Play store allows customers to create virtual arrangements that they can send to their dear ones near and far, giving the gift of thoughtfulness to dear ones. Mary sees the flower industry as a great opportunity to bring connectivity to others.

Mary has been a jack of all trades, living in other countries and just picking up on what could come in as an extra income, and the good thing about this kind of lifestyle is that it has a way of leading you straight to where you want to be.
She had a school that she founded In Uganda which she had to let go after moving back to Kenya. On the side, she had a jewellery and shoe shop selling high end and unique products, and at one time she also ran a clinic. This also enabled her to network unconsciously back then. Moving back to Kenya accelerated her leadership journey and yet it was her entrepreneurial spirit which led to starting up her flower business, LorMar. Mary’s background of entrepreneurship sure contributed to her path as her grandfather was an entrepreneur and some of her family members too. Her mother has a streak of entrepreneurship in her as well.

Mary is pleased with being an entrepreneur because of the motivation and other benefits that come with it. For her, she loves the work-life balance that comes with entrepreneur. She enjoys the freedom to think, explore ideas and grow her business whenever she likes. She enjoys the freedom to also engage in other activities that gives her a boost mentally, spiritually, emotionally and physically. For her, her greatest pleasure of being an entrepreneur is the flexibility of time to engage in other things.

Her advice to going women who are seeking to start up is this, “Ladies, women, young and mature, I would just say start. Write down the areas you are interested in, see how best you can do in your different business ideas, single out them out. Do your research, network, get a mentor, be confident in yourself, and do not be afraid to speak up. For me, not speaking out cost me. Now I know better and I can say look at me now. Be proud of yourself and note down every little success. Those little successes put together are key milestones.”

In Food August 5, 2021 By Women of Rubies

Aasiyah Ravate, A Mozambican Food Entrepreneur And Founder Of Home Cooking With Love

For a lot of people, cooking is a chore while for others, it is their love language and a thoughtful expression of their love. For Mozambican entrepreneur, Aasiyah Ravate, cooking is a passion turned business venture. Founder of Home Cooking With Love, every meal she makes are a delicious hit made with lots of love for her customers.

Aasiyah Ravate is a 22-year-old CEO and founder of Home Cooking With Love. She is also a year 4 student of dentistry. She has a great passion for cooking, and during the pandemic she reinvented herself and created her business, Home Cooking With Love. During the past six months, she has been serving her snacks to agencies, banks, and thousands of people in her city.

Aasiyah’s business celebrates the concept of homemade food, which makes people travel for flavors without leaving home and without needing a visa. Her business specializes in traditional Indian food, Italian food, fast food and desserts.

Aasiyah was inspired to start her business by her mother who was both a fighter and a warrior and taught her to fight for her dreams. “I have a passion for cooking. I am still struggling to achieve my dream of opening a restaurant. I was also inspired to start my business to help my mother because she was always a mother and father to me and my brother, she deserves the best.”

On her entrepreneurial journey, Aasiyah confirms that at first it was very difficult, because she had no idea how to own and run a business. Her mother helped her invest, and with time she gained experience. These experiences have in the long run, taught her to be a better entrepreneur.

Her biggest satisfaction as a food entrepreneur is her client’s happiness when they taste her food, and the thoughtful feedback she gets from her customers.

She advises young women to trust in themselves, be faithful, believe in their dreams, and fight for them no matter your age. In her words, “be strong and fight for your business, do not let anyone put you down. Believe in your potential and in the potential of your company. Hear the voice of your heart and make your way from it. I am sure that in the future, you will have the professional satisfaction you deserve!”

In Inspiration August 2, 2021 By Women of Rubies

Chipo Aaron, Botswanan Entrepreneur and Owner of Cutikles Skincare Brand

The journey into the world of entrepreneurship begins with a single step. For some, that single step can be passion to meet a need, quest to solve a problem or just the need to have an extra source of income. For Chipo Aaron, a Botswanan entrepreneur, frustration was her own push into the world of entrepreneurship.

Constantly frustrated by the chemical-intensive, highly synthetic formulas which have dominated the skincare market for too long, Chipo Aaron felt it was time to change the situation by launching her own skincare company, Cutikles to create high quality spa products that harness the healing power of Africa’s indigenous oils.

Chipo Aaron is the founder of Cutikles, a cosmetic manufacturing brand located in Gaborone, Botswana. She also doubles as an interior designer at Ca Concepts, an interior design firm that designs bespoke residential and corporate spaces.
Cutikles brand produces high quality spa products blended with raw African indigenous oils for both the African and international market. The business also has a spa that serves as a research and development centre that gives clients a foretaste of Cutikles products before release to the general public. Cutikles cosmetic brand exists to help the users of the products improve the overall health of their skin and their general appearance as a whole.

Some days are better than others but we cannot give up because the dreams that we have are valid.

Chipo believes quality and safety must not be compromised at any point which is why she ensures Cutikles spa products are locally produced using natural plant extracts and pure essential oils that have been well researched, packaged and delivered.

Chipo has an entrepreneurial background that has helped her succeed in her business. She was raised by two entrepreneurs who owners clothing retail stores and a logistics company. She learned from an early age that building a brand requires patience, hard work and resilience. She started cutikles after the birth of her first son and in her words, “I have always known that I wanted to be an entrepreneur and once I found the cosmetic world, I knew that is where I belong. I continued with interior design side jobs as I needed the funds to be pushed into Cutikles. The business continues to surprise me every day by the way we are changing lives through our products and services. Some days are better than others but we cannot give up because the dreams that we have are valid.”

She describes her journey so far using these words “being an entrepreneur has given me liberty in following and building my dreams and also providing others with better work environments. I have worked in harsh environments and I don’t wish for anyone to experience such. It is liberating to see someone smile because of the way you respect them and that makes me happy. The freedom of being an entrepreneur is for me a winner and sometimes the several wins and lessons that come with the package are also a game changer.”

Chipo Aaron is a firm believer that women are diamonds that can just change the world. Which is why she enjoins women to follow the idea in that has been lingering in their head.
Imagine the lives that you could change by just developing what you think would have never worked, the jobs you could create, and the happiness that you could create in a household!

Believe in yourself and jump! Go for it.

In Inspiration July 29, 2021 By Women of Rubies

Naike Moshi Is Promoting Women Visibility Through Her Women In Management Initiative

For the African continent to experience lasting positive socio-economic change, two things need to happen:

First, it the gender gap between male and female leaders must be closed.
Next, women leaders in various sectors in Africa need to work on promoting their visibility.

Everyone has a role to play in order to make this happen and this is why Naike Moshi, Tanzanian founder of Women in Management is playing her part in promoting women visibility through her work in business management and human resources.

Naike Moshi is the founder of Women in Management Africa, an initiative that closes the gender gap that promotes visibility for Women Leaders by honouring and recognizing them for their achievements.
Naike is a strategic, innovative leader with a proven track record of building and creating successful business products and services and with a strong academic background, creative problem-solving skills, and an innovative mind. She has more than 10 years’ experience in the area of business management and human resources. Her expertise includes building businesses from the ground up, women and youths’ empowerment, coming up with innovative ideas, executive search and employer branding.

Don’t be scared to start, Nothing will ever happen until you start and put action on your dreams. Even if you fail, know that at least you dared greatly and take lessons from it. Be patient, persevere….

Her initiative, Women in Management is one that closes the gender gap by honouring and recognizing women leaders for their career achievements. They also provide mentorship, encouragement and develop emerging talented female professionals to be inspired in their careers and to be role models to them. They empower women by organizing education and training workshops that are designed by women for women and to help them address gender disparity issues in their work environments.

Naike was inspired to launch the Women in Management initiative when she found out through research that in order to apply for a job women feel they need to meet 100% of the criteria while men usually apply after meeting about 60%. She saw a huge gap in senior level women applying for senior level roles and even low placement rates for Senior Women. And to combat this disparity, she founded the initiative known as Women in Management to promote and increase visibility for Senior-Level Women in Management.

Naike Moshi describes her initiative as successful and in her own words, “The impact of this initiative has been tremendous. Most women leaders in the corporate spaces have been forgotten and are never recognized for their career achievements. I have seen many young female leaders being inspired to follow certain careers and they have found quality role models to look at. We are touching lives.”

Naike Moshi is proud of how far her initiative has come. Women in Management initiative is one of the SDGs that captures gender equality. It’s a universal problem that affects many nations and with their expertise in Talent Management/Acquisition, they were able to tap into their network and acquire very strong female leaders. The service and this initiative are very scalable and they have great plans to go to other African countries.

In Inspiration July 27, 2021 By Women of Rubies

Two South African Entrepreneurs, Dinah Kgeledi And Lesego Seloane, Are Making Environmental Impact Through Landscaping

You never can tell how far your passion for a thing can take you until you immerse yourself in it and allow yourself to be consumed by that passion. Lesego and Dinah gave themselves away to their passion for landscaping and now, it has led them to founding and building a thriving landscaping business in South Africa.

Ronewa Creations Ltd co-founded by both entrepreneurs is a family business between a niece and her aunt, respectively.

Lesego has a background in Botany, having completed her studies in Biochemistry and Botany at the University of Johannesburg. While Dinah has a background in the corporate world, working in the IT field using her Diploma in IT. She worked for various companies before resigning from her corporate career to fully pursue landscaping as her passion.

The passion they have for plants comes from Lesego’ s gran, Dinah’s Mother, who has an eclectic small garden in Soweto. They have seen her tend her garden and as such, sparked up an interest in landscaping in them.

Their company is a landscaping business specialized in horticulture and botany. They also offer garden maintenance solutions for all our clients and are a strong advocate for the environment with the tag “Love your Surroundings.”

Dinah and Lesego had the urge to start the business after learning so much about the biodiversity of their country, South Africa. They realised that most people don’t know how to tend their gardens and make them functional.

They also discovered people needed to learn how to preserve ecosystems by not taking down trees. These relatives turned business partners wanted to ensure that people can enjoy the outdoors, and in turn they felt this will strongly lead them towards the direction of a developed country.

Their business has received several awards and recognitions including Forbes Africa Women Magazine Feature, Sowetan Article, and Best Green Female entrepreneur (Lesego Seloane).

Lesego and Dinah are a firm believer that women have so much to give to this world, and they desire to see more representatives of women in the world of business.

Their advice to women who want to launch any business is simple, “With a determined spirit you can tackle any type of business!”

In Food July 25, 2021 By Women of Rubies

Kátia Agy, A Mozambican Entrepreneur Making Edible Bouquets Out of Fruits And Chocolates

It is interesting how you can build a business out of the most basic things you do in your personal life. For Kátia, her idea to earn a living by making edible bouquets came when she first made one to encourage her eldest daughter to eat more fruits. And just like most of us, Kátia decided to take a photo of of it before her daughter started eating and shared with her friend who posted the picture on Facebook. People became interested in it and asked who made it and that very day, Kátia got her very first order and customer for her edible bouquets. And like they say, the rest is history.

Kátia Agy, known as a singer and TV presenter, and now, the founder of Food Lounge Mz. Her business is focused on making edible bouquets using fresh fruits and chocolates. For the past 7 years, this business has been the main source of income for Kátia, and now also her three employees.

What inspired Kátia to begin this business was the desire to become independent, and to be able to work from home to be close to her daughters. She was also inspired by the love she has for making, creating and decorating food, especially for being able to transform a plate of fruit or a simple chocolate into something interesting that grabs the attention of those who are going to eat it.

Kátia simple turned her passion into business.

She gets maximum pleasure with each bouquet creation. Indeed, The Food Lounge Mz has found a way to make people eat fruits and chocolates and get maximum pleasure and happiness from doing it. Making a bouquet to be devoured by someone is a huge responsibility and the amazement and satisfaction on the face of the recipients are constant sources of celebration. They simply sell happiness through their explosion and mixture of flavors!

For Kátia, her satisfaction as an entrepreneur comes from having more control of her time, freedom to imagine and create a concept. Also, being able to help her clients get the best gift for their loved ones and lastly, seeing her clients recommend her to other people.

For women who wish to, or are already starting a business, her advice is: Do not stop! Do what you have to do, trembling, afraid, but don’t give up. Cultivate your dreams with the same claw that is characteristic of women in all other aspects of life! Do not listen to those who consider your business without wings to fly, because even the eagle had several falls before it managed to fly high. Remember to pray, believe, work with discipline, stay focused and make it happen. It is in your hands.

In Inspiration July 22, 2021 By Women of Rubies

Amanda Obidike A Nigerian STEM Innovator and Founder of STEMi Makers Africa

STEM has a capacity to make huge impacts in the lives of young people, particularly women and girls, on the African continent cannot be underestimated.

STEMi Makers Africa, founded by Amanda Obidike, addresses the existing unemployment gap, the underrepresentation of young women and girls in STEM and the fragmented education system by training teachers and students in STEM Education.

Amanda Obidike is a multi-award winning social innovator, technologist and scientist. She is the Founding Curator of the WEF Global Shapers, Ozubulu Hub and Executive Director of STEMi Makers Africa. Her role in this position is to provide leadership, strategy management and oversee the design and implementation of sustainable Community projects and STEM Education across 19 Sub-Saharan countries by preparing the next generation of Africans with STEM lucrative skills for Africa’s workforce.
In addition to STEM, she addresses thematic topics on Social Innovation, Data Science, Youth Development, Entrepreneurship and socio-economic policies. In 2020, Amanda received several awards including the Global Award for Achievement by TechWomen 100 and 30 Under 30 Inspiring Leaders of Africa.

The lucrative jobs of the future required technical competence and 21st century skills that she didn’t have. Nigeria began to transfer major Resources and job opportunities to skilled professionals and expatriates due to a lack of competent and domestic STEM workforce. Seeing this economic disparity, she began to research on new labour market skills that youths like her can successfully thrive in. She got an opportunity to be trained by IBM in Business Intelligence/Analytics after 8 months. Upon completion, she took the initiative to serve as a knowledge panel in preparing Africans with 21st-century skills and future-focused options for an emerging workforce.
This was her inspiration, her driving force to starting STEMi Makers Africa.

Her advice to women is for them to be open to learning from women’s stories. Shared experiences from women who have existing businesses and start-ups can pave a lasting way for women who are about to launch their businesses in learning business ethics and challenges encountered.

Amanda urges women to not focus only on hearing the success sides or accomplishments of others but strive to know the challenges, setbacks and hurdles they encountered. As this can help them overcome futuristic and business tendencies to failure.

She encourages women to feel free to network, attend business seminars (virtually or in-person), and most importantly, get a business mentor who is accessible. Someone they can always feel free to ask questions or give them that business support or counsel they may need.

Amanda Obidike serves as a Mentor in the New York Academy of Science, Cherie Blair Foundation, the 1 million Women in Tech, Global thinkers for Women where she lends her voice, knowledge, and serve as a role model to girls in Africa.

She currently serves on the Leadership Team of the 500 Women Scientists, USA and Trustee Board of the MAI Foundation.

In Inspiration July 22, 2021 By Women of Rubies

Nicole Magerman From Mozambique Is Making Social Impact Through Her Non-Profit Organization

Nicole Magerman founded Girl Spectrum, her non-profit organization at the age of 25. She started running it as a labour of love and devotion for gender equality. Girl Spectrum was founded in 2021 and has a global vision of creating awareness around not only women empowerment but also building confidence in our women of today.

Self-Care is Health Care.

Girl Spectrum is a women empowerment, mental health and self-care forum founded as a movement that embraces and celebrates the feminine essence. The objective of the initiative is to promote and sustain gender equality, confidence building and eliminate limitations set for women based on their gender. Through this project, it is expected that women from different socio-economic backgrounds come together to support and empower each other personally and professionally.

They offer programs like Love School (Relationship Forum), Girl Boss (Entrepreneurial Forum), “All About I” (Confidence Building Program), as well as the Steal the Show Program (Artistic Forum).

Nicole was inspired to start the Girl Spectrum organization because of the everyday battle in a “Man´s World”.
gender equality and gender awareness are very important factors that drive her to keep fighting for woman rights. After all, woman rights are human rights. Early marriage, gender-based violence, inequality in the workplace and pre-defined gender roles all created a drive for change and a new era definition. Girl Spectrum has programs that build the female leaders of tomorrow and restructures the female leaders of today.

Nicole is currently pursuing a career in banking and finance.

Nicole Magerman believes hesitation is a dream killer. She says don´t wait on money or making time to kick start your journey.

Start now and fuel your goals on the way!

Connect with us

Inspiration