100 Lionesses Playbook / Digital Transformation by lionessesofafrica

100 Lionesses Playbook Digital Transformation

low-priority

24 leading African women entrepreneurs share their digital transformation playbooks for improving efficiency, building

resilience and speeding up recovery

Lioness Data A division of Lionesses of Africa Public Benefit Corporation

Supported by

contents Introduction ............................................ 3 Digital transformation explained .............. 8 Your digital transformation roadmap ....... 15 Digital transformation playbooks ............. 24 Conclusion ............................................. 101 Next steps .............................................. 102 Acknowledgements ................................ 103 About the partners .................................. 104

Introduction 3

About the

100 Lionesses Playbook

100 Lionesses Playbook Series provides practical business advice and insights delivered directly by leading African women entrepreneurs selected from the 100 Lionesses network. These experienced women entrepreneurs share their proven hacks, tactics and strategies for getting things done in business. Hard won, tried and tested business knowledge is presented in an easy to read format for you to learn from and apply in your own business. Relevant, agenda-free, pragmatic, advice and strategies that are sure to help drive successful change in your business and guide your personal journey as a woman entrepreneur.

100 Lionesses is a special Lionesses of Africa project that identifies and celebrates 100 leading African women entrepreneurs whose example serves to motivate and inspire a belief in all of us that we can pursue our personal entrepreneurial dreams and make them a reality.

Welcome The COVID-19 crisis has made businesses, large and small and across all industry sectors, start thinking about Digital Transformation as a priority, pushing it to the top of their agendas. However, for many women entrepreneurs in our Lionesses of Africa network, the challenge is knowing where to start, how to practically implement Digital Transformation in order to reap the business benefits.

Everyone is talking and writing about Digital Transformation, and it can quickly become overwhelming and confusing. How do we know which parts of our business strategies to change? How do we start moving our business to the cloud? What does our Digital Transformation roadmap look like for our employees? Should we hire a consultant? How much will all this cost and is it really worth it? There is so much to think about!

The question we most commonly hear: “Where to start?”

This 100 Lionesses Playbook is specifically designed to offer you key insights to aid your Digital Transformation journey. We have spoken to some of Africa’s leading women entrepreneurs to tap into their experience and provide you agenda-free, pragmatic, advice and approaches. You will find that it’s not necessarily the most expensive or complicated solutions that are making a difference. We hope it helps to shape your decision-making and thought processes as you embrace digital transformation in your business.

Linda Linda Zuze, Ph.D.

Research Director, Lioness Data

Lionesses of Africa

Sponsor Message The Covid-19 Pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges to women entrepreneurs and their

growth. At a blink of an eye, significant progress made on women’s entrepreneurship has been

loss. In Sub-Saharan Africa, women-owned and led SMEs have had to closed temporarily or

permanently, and their ability to access financing was significantly impacted as capital markets

shrunk thus reducing the availability of working capital for SMEs including women.

Digital transformation can be a game changer for women enterprises. It may even help accelerate

access to finance, markets, knowledge and innovation for a segment that until now has been

largely unserved. It may also lift unconscious biases which added to the access barriers women

entrepreneurs faced pre-Covid. However, it will be important to increase women entrepreneurs’

digital literacy and skills, and further improved their online presence.

The African Development Bank through its Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA)

is pleased to have supported Lioness of African with the 100 Lionesses Digital Transformation

Playbook which provides peer to peer insights for women enterprises to quickly start their digital

transformation journey. It is a tool that can also be used by financial institutions can use to help their

women entrepreneurs as they bounce back from the pandemic and reinvent themselves.

We look forward to hearing the great successes that will come out of the utilization of the playbook.

Marieme

Marieme Esther Dassanou

Manager

Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA)

African Development Bank Group

Featured Lionesses

1. Anabela Marcos, founder, Gestao Profissional (Angola)

2. Brenda Wilkinson, co-founder, Rio Largo Olive Oil (South Africa)

3. Christelle Kwizera, founder, Water Access Rwanda (Rwanda)

4. Claudia Castellanos, co-founder, Black Mamba Chilli (Eswatini)

5. Djamila De Sousa, co-founder, Karingana Wa Karingana (Mozambique)

6. Dorcas Muthoni, founder, OpenWorld (Kenya)

7. Ethel Cofie, founder, Edel Technology Consulting (Ghana)

8. Femi Olayebi, founder, Femi Handbags & My World of Bags (Nigeria)

9. Gércia Sequeira, founder, ITIS (Mozambique)

10. Itweva Nogueira, founder, I.N. Sociedade de Advogados (Angola)

11. Juliet Madamombe, founder, Global Edge Training Institute (Namibia)

12. Kevine Kagirimpundu, co-founder, Uzuri K & Y (Rwanda)

13. Kimberley & Priscilla Addison, co-founders, 57 Chocolate (Ghana)

14. Kulukaya Sadiki, founder, Glo-Ray Designs Sustainable Studio (Malawi)

15. Lynda Aphing-Kouassi, founder, Kaizene (Cote d’Ivoire)

16. Margaux Rusita, founder, Margaux Wong (Burundi)

17. Marie-Anne Assanvo-N’Guessan, founder, Myrhann Traductions SARL (Cote d’Ivoire)

18. Natalie Ellis, co-founder, The Joinery (South Africa)

19. Nisha Ligon, founder, Ubongo Kids (Tanzania)

20. Nkemdilim Uwaje Begho, founder, Future Software Resources (Nigeria)

21. Pam Snyman, founder, REDZetc (South Africa)

22.Pierra Ntayombya, Creative Director, Haute Baso (Rwanda)

23. Swaady Martin, founder, Yswara Group (South Africa)

24. Victorine Sarr, founder, Lyvv Cosmetics (Senegal)

Digital transformation explained 8

What is Digital Transformation and what does it mean for your business? Digital Transformation is the adoption of digital technology into every aspect of your business. It changes and enhances how you operate your business on a day-to-day basis, and delivers value to your customers, employees and other stakeholders. Digital transformation pushes you to think differently about the way you do things, it challenges your existing methods, and it requires you to learn new skills. Importantly, it also encourages experimentation and innovation in the business, empowering everyone to think out-of-the-box.

The benefits of digital transformation Save time and money

Streamline and simplify business processes

Improve productivity and efficiency

Connect with more customers locally and globally

Make better data-driven decisions, faster

Operate everything digitally and remotely

Enable flexible and remote work

Help employees be more effective

Personalize your customer experience

Develop collaboration and accountability as company culture

Build resilience and prepare your business for future disruption 10

“We had to sacrifice certain elements of the business to invest on the digital side. But I think the long term financial benefits of doing that really is something.”

“We already have everything we need to get us to that next level. Ask yourself: What do I have in my hands and how can I use it as a tool for growth?"

— Margaux Rusita

“You can combine people from different countries and make a team. They can enter a digital market, open a business, run a business…”

— Gércia Sequeira

— Natalie Ellis

“Make sure that you use tools that provide the possibility to be more productive and organized…”

— Anabela Marcos “I had already made the decision that everyone should have a laptop. When COVID-19 arrived, it was easy because they had everything in place to try to work from home.”

— Itweva Nogueira

What are Africa’s leading entrepreneurs saying?

— Brenda Wilkinson

“I really see incredible power for smaller, specialized businesses to compete with large established businesses via social media.”

— Claudia Castellanos

“We understood that we needed to speak to the local market via digital platforms.”

— Kevine Kagirimpundu

“In the digital space, you as the brand owner are very much in charge of how you want the product to be put to your consumer.”

“… if it's going to work now during a pandemic, then it's going to be even more successful during ordinary times.”

— Dr. Dorcas Muthoni

“If you don't do much or educate yourself about social media, your business will not grow as much.”

— Juliet Madamombe

Being digital used to be an aspiration. Now it’s your reality. The COVID-19 pandemic provided a powerful wake-up call for businesses, highlighting the need to make digital transformation a priority, not just a ‘nice to have’. As a result, businesses have had to become more agile, open to change, and flexible in order to deal with a changed marketplace. Although experts predict that the current crisis may start to recede by mid 2021, it’s vital for businesses to maintain their digital transformation journeys and keep improving their digital capabilities to adapt to a new reality.

Perhaps the most interesting shift in consumer habits is being seen by those people who began using digital channels for the first time during the pandemic and who intend to continue doing so for the foreseeable future. This trend sends a clear message to businesses that in order to stay competitive and relevant, they need to equip themselves for a digitally driven future that is led by consumer demand.

The future for business is now digital.

“As entrepreneurs, we have had to be agile and quick to respond to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic by fundamentally changing the way we do business. That means speeding up our digitization”

Digital Transformation and your people

Digital transformation is not just a matter of introducing new technologies, processes and infrastructure into your business - it’s also about how it enables your people to be more productive, more efficient, more engaged. When you take the decision to digitally transform your business, everyone has to buy-into the process, because it becomes part of the culture and structure of the business. The key to success for any digital transformation strategy is your people.

So how do you bring your people along with you on your digital transformation journey in the business? It starts with developing a vision of what you want to achieve; next comes your digital transformation strategy that gets everyone moving in the same direction to achieve one set of goals; and then it’s all about communicating that strategy to your people. Ensure everyone understands the vision and the part they are expected to play in achieving key goals. Importantly, invest in training for your people, ensuring

“Your people are key to the digital transformation of your business, and its ability to not just survive, but to thrive.”

they are all equipped with the tools they need to make your digital transformation strategy work.

Build your resilience in a digital world

Businesses need to build resilience during disruptive and turbulent times, and digital transformation is key to successfully navigating these challenges. Having essential digital infrastructure in place means having the ability to stay agile, to react quickly to both opportunities and threats. It can drive efficiency and productivity levels, reducing operating costs, whilst at the same time creating the tools to tap into new market opportunities.

Digital transformation creates the framework to support new workplaces, such as the introduction of remote working, and the need to help employees feel connected and engaged with the business wherever they are based. Digital transformation is key to future growth and providing sustainable competitive advantage. Businesses that invest in their digital transformation today, will be more competitive, more productive, and better equipped to withstand future shocks or challenges as they arise.

“Adopting and managing digital technologies is critical to business resilience and future-proofing your company.”

Your digital transformation roadmap 15

Create Your Digital Transformation Roadmap Creating a roadmap is a critical step on your digital transformation journey. Every roadmap will be unique and it’s wise to take an incremental approach to your company’s digital transformation. Prioritize those areas for improvement that will deliver the biggest impact, and move one step at a time towards fulfilling your objectives. We have identified 7 key business dimensions for you to assess. This approach will help keep your transformation on track, and minimize the chance of wasted investment or implementation failure.

Cybersecurity

Leadership & Strategy

Financial Transactions

7 Key Dimensions Marketing & sales

Technology

Business Processes People

Leadership & strategy Your digital leadership is more necessary than ever as a women entrepreneur leading her company. To be effective you need to future-proof your company by adopting innovative technology sooner and reinvesting more frequently. You need to make smarter tech investment decisions that deliver innovation, process improvements, and maximum return on investment. Leadership

Strategy

Learn. Personally become more digitally-savvy and stay on top of new developments

Review. Undertake a comprehensive review of how all your company’s existing business processes work

Lead. Establish a team to give clear leadership to the project, or lead it from the front yourself

Plan. Develop a digital plan for what you want your business

Vision. Define clear drivers, goals and objectives for what you want to achieve with your digital transformation

Measure. Select metrics for measuring results and business impact e.g.

Empower. Bring everyone together and get buy-in for your digital transformation efforts

Skills. Create a training program to improve the digital skills of all your employees

Innovate. Be open to continually adopting new digital tactics and technologies, challenge the status quo, experiment, and get comfortable with failure

Outsource. If you do not have the necessary talent

to achieve online and how you are going to get there

revenue growth, new customers, productivity, improvements, efficiencies

in-house consider hiring a reliable technology provider

Agility. Leverage your agility as an entrepreneur to compete with larger, slower moving companies in your market

Budget. Set a realistic budget for your transformation,

and dedicate strategic funding to the effort

Technology

Identify and select the best transformative technology for your company

Evaluate. To find your best business technology solutions you need to evaluate your needs. Common areas for improvements in technology include: Accounting and Financing, Order Taking and Tracking, Database Management, Communication (both internal and with customers), HR Management

Research. Spend time researching all the technology options within your budget. Check what other businesses similar to yours are using

Scalability. Choose technology that can grow with your business

Simplicity. Keep it simple by using simpler technology strategies and simpler software. You can get the highest ROI by using simple yet effective technologies. Think in terms of need and not desire

Digitalization. Transform your manual or repeating business process into digital ones to increase efficiency

Cloud. Utilize cloud technologies that are cost-effective and tailor-made for SMEs, providing flexibility and scalability

Data. Engage with your customers in dynamic ways using new data tools

Remote work. Enable resilience and remote working by adopting digital collaboration and communication software

Integrate. Avoid the common mistake of implementing too many or multiple disparate systems. More is not always better

Training. You can have the best technology but if nobody knows how to use it effectively you will not achieve your digital transformation goals. Develop an ongoing training process so that your employees can benefit from and maximize your technology investments

Connectivity. Start by ensuring you have best possible business-grade broadband

Business Processes Use digital technology to simplify and reinvent your business processes

Digitize. Prioritize digitizing core administrative tasks your employees repeat often, to streamline tasks, reduce repetitive work, boost productivity and significantly save time and costs

Data. Convert as much of your company’s analog information into digital data to improve your data-driven business decision making

Remote work. Enable

your team to have the flexibility to work remotely but also have access to in-person time, like team meetings, internal communications, planning sessions, or company social events

Collaboration. Create a collaborative environment where your employees can operate collectively to improve customer support, or enhance productivity. This improves employee engagement, breaks down silos, and promotes more transparency

Cloud storage. When it comes to easily storing and sharing information, cloud solutions are best. It enables efficiency and mobility for your employees, and reduces the need for you to create systems to protect your data from intrusion and loss

Supplier and inventory management. Choose a cloud software solution that can help your company track its inventory and manage purchase orders, invoices, and supplier contracts more effectively

Track business expenses. Choose a software solution to track your expenses quickly and easily, and integrate this with your accounting software

Payroll solution. Select from a multitude of digital solutions for managing employee administration, and managing payroll

04 People

Use digital technology to build your organizational culture and to engage and educate your people

Change management. For many people change equals risk, which can result in employee resistance, fear, and finally, project failure. You need to keep your people positive and committed to your digital transformation journey

Employee enablement. Meetings and transactions traditionally conducted face-to-face, or physically in-store, have given way to on-screen meetings and eCommerce and online banking. Ensure your people are comfortable and have the necessary tools and skills to adjust and thrive in this new world of work

Organization culture. It is important to ensure your business culture aligns with the digital transformation. Build a storyline to help employees connect emotionally with your digital vision to gain their confidence and buy-in

Education. You need to educate your employees to understand the advantages of the new tools and technologies and work efficiently within the new technology environment

Marketing & Sales Attract new customers through digital transformation

Get found online. Get your business online and improve your digital presence. Your customers are online, so a strong online presence is mission critical, even if your business doesn't sell on the web. Learn ways to strengthen your online presence with easy-to-use digital tools

Expand your reach. Reach more customers in more places, locally or around the world. Whether you’re seeking to drive traffic to your website or through your door, discover where your potential customers are with free, or cost-effective online tools

Get social. Through social media technology, e.g. social media, SEO, online advertising, content marketing, your company can reach new customers and provide multiple new digital channels for engagement

Sell online. Make it easy for customers to shop with you on your website. Grow your sales by connecting with shoppers online, optimizing your e-commerce setup, and making it faster, easier, and more secure for customers to pay you online. Use third-party eCommerce platforms if you do not have your own site, and as a low-risk method for testing online sales

Know your customers. By improving customer experience through digital transformation, your company can collect and analyze critical customer information through tools such as data analytics, feedback collection, and marketing automation

Financial Transactions Financial technology to help your company scale and thrive

Payment processing. Consumers consistently rank digital payment methods and card payments as their preferred payment option. Other digital forms of payment, like mobile wallets, are also emerging to provide customers with alternatives to paying in cash. To make more sales, your company must expand to accept the latest digital payment options

Funding. Getting a business loan is simpler and quicker than ever thanks to fintech and online Crowdfunding platforms. Instead of having to walk into a bank, lugging in boxes of paperwork and going through an extensive review process that could result in rejection, online lenders make securing a business loan easy

Ecommerce. Setting up your own online shop, or using a third-party Ecommerce service has never been easier. Ecommerce sales across African countries are rapidly growing year-on-year, Internet Retailer reports. You have dozens of Ecommerce platforms with dedicated support to choose from

Accounting. You can save on accounting costs by using fintech solutions. Accounting fintech can help you keep track of personal and business taxes, expenses, payroll and supplier payments, deductions and more. The added advantage is these services are mobile and accessible from any device

Money transfer. International money transfer, overseas payment acceptance and foreign exchange services powered by fintech solutions, can speed up transactions and cut down bank fees 22

Cybersecurity

Prepare your company to be protected against cyber threats

Information security. Protect your physical and digital data from unauthorized access and manipulation, both on-site and through remote systems. Take regular backups of your important data, and use passwords to protect your data

Network security. Secure your internal networks against unauthorized access, with tools like remote access management and two-factor authentication

Malware protection. Prevent malicious software (also known as 'malware') from damaging your company. The most well-known form of malware is viruses, which are self-copying programs that infect legitimate software

User education. Teach your employees and customers best practices for recognizing and avoiding cyberthreats, such as malware and phishing attacks

Device security. Keeping your laptops, smartphones, and tablets safe and the information stored on them secure. Make sure your employees know to install software updates to avoid outdated apps with known vulnerabilities

Digital transformation playbooks 24

Real women entrepreneurs. Real-world business solutions. We love great business case studies, there is no better way of learning than from a fellow woman entrepreneur. You can read all the business theory you want, but an authentic case-study featuring a women entrepreneur who has been there, successfully built a business, and got the entrepreneur t-shirt, has the ability to impart real knowledge and wisdom like nothing else. We need to hear from experienced women entrepreneurs who have figured out effective strategies and solutions to solve real-world business challenges. Great case studies give voice to women entrepreneurs, and allow us to hear and learn from those who really know what they’re talking about.

Enjoy reading and learning from the 24 case studies we have compiled from our conversations with leading women entrepreneurs. We hope they inspire you as you embark on your own exciting digital transformation journey.

Melanie Melanie Hawken

Founder & CEO

Lionesses of Africa

Her challenge

Remote working that really works

Her solution

Using virtual productivity tools and a strong push into social media Anabela Marcos is the founder and Managing Director of Gestão Profissional, which helps Angolan companies to improve their talent management and get

Anabela Marcos

the best out of their people. The services include recruitment, training and career guidance. When the pandemic began, Anabela realised that her business faced two major problems, how to reach and provide services to clients and also how to run her own business remotely. If Gestão Profissional was not operating effectively, how could it provide services to other businesses?

Founder of Gestão Profissional, Angola www.gp.co.ao

With over 15 years of experience in Human Resources and

“Make sure that you use tools that provide the

Management, Anabela Marcos is Founder and General Director

possibility to be more productive and organized

of Gestão Profissional in Angola. Her areas of specialization

and then make sure to have a presence on

include People Management, Leadership, Career Management, Entrepreneurship, Talent Search and Development and Coaching.

social media.”

Before starting her business, Anabela had 10 years of experience in positions as an Advisor and HR Director in Angola and Brazil.

In March 2020, Anabela moved her business online before the official lockdown began. She needed to test how the business could operate when the employees were working at home. The experience showed that there were many solutions that enabled work from home. Documents were shared on DropBox and meetings held by Zoom. Anabela found a useful project management tool that the company had been using for years but ineffectually. In the lockdown, it became a vital tool for managing staff and financial management.

“Internal organization is key and we have a lot of tools that can easily help us to get to another level.” Anabela also had to get creative to overcome issues around the poor supply of electricity and the poor economic conditions of her staff. The company had to pay for employee’s Internet data to enable them to work. Employees have responded enthusiastically.

Once Anabela had the functioning of her own company well in hand, she focused on new ways to reach clients. Anabela made a strong move into social networking, using Facebook, WhatsApp, LinkedIn and Instagram. Facebook was particularly useful because of its wide reach in Angola. Knowing that all companies were unsure about how to carry out HR functions virtually, Anabela began developing templates and HR tools, and providing training sessions on Facebook.

“We save a lot of time by being organised and technology helped us a lot in terms of saving time and being more productive.” The training and templates were distributed free of charge, but they led to new revenue stream because they served as publicity and built credibility with potential clients. This was clearly a company that knew what it was doing.

Learn from Anabela Marcos’s Playbook

A workplace in the cloud Her challenge

Remote working that really works

Her solution

Using virtual productivity tools and a strong push into social media.

To run a company virtually you need:

Project management — A virtual platform to track time, goals and finances

Social media — Create awareness through presence and activity

Connection — Give clients many ways to reach you, so they can use the channel they are most comfortable with

Her challenge

How to sell your product when your customers all close down at once

Her solution

Using social media to sell to the public directly

Brenda Wilkinson

Co-owner of Rio Largo Olive Estate, South Africa www.riolargo.co.za

Brenda Wilkinson is the co-owner of Rio Largo Olive Estate, a multi-award winning business situated in the Scherpenheuwel valley in South Africa. The business comprises olive orchards, vines, an olive specific nursery, and a state-of-the-art OLIOMIO olive processing and bottling plant, producing award-winning olive oil.

Brenda Wilkinson is the co-owner and Marketing Manager of Rio Largo, an award-winning olive oil producer in South Africa. The business had an established presence supplying to restaurants and hotels, but not to the general public. Suddenly in March 2020, hotels and restaurants were forced to close and Rio Largo had to find a new market immediately, even as the olives were being harvested. Reaching consumers directly via social media was key. Brenda did not have any experience with marketing on social media so she enrolled in a six week course offered online. To say the least, the course produced results.

“We didn't have the enough personnel to deal with all these orders. We would stop the Instagram posts for a couple of days for everybody to breathe a little bit.” 29

Brenda began to market Rio Largo online, especially on Instagram. Instagram enabled Rio Largo to reach individual consumers, delis and shops across the country. This resulted in a large increase in sales. While companies were retrenching workers all over the country, Rio Largo had to hire new employees to deal with the rush of new orders. At times they did not have enough capacity to process the new sales being generated.

It actually turned the business around completely for us as we supplied to our general consumers right across the country. We had to employ extra people to fulfil the orders.

Brenda appreciated that Instagram was a completely different way of marketing than the old model. Rio Largo have beautifully designed bottles and canisters. This, combined with awards for quality, meant that Rio Largo could be marketed as a luxury brand and attract a higher markup. Instagram gives much more power to the product owner as they control what the consumer sees. In physical retail, it is the retailer, not the brand owner who decides how products will be marketed.

In the digital space, you as the brand owner are very much in charge of how you want the product to be put to your consumer.

Besides Instagram, Brenda also takes part in online seminars and olive oil tastings on Zoom. These help the customer become more discerning about quality olive oils and inform them about the health benefits. This was a big drawcard during the pandemic as consumers became more health-aware. It also helped to build greater awareness of the brand and the product range directly with consumers.

Learn from Brenda Wilkinson’s Playbook

Moving sales online Her challenge

Losing all of her customers in a single week

Her solution

Using technology to reach a whole new market, ultimately leading to more sales.

To succeed in reaching customers online you need to do something different:

Design — Rio Largo is sold in beautifully designed canisters, which work well on Instagram

Educate — Inform customers about why your high-quality product is worth paying extra for

Quality — Rio Largo wins awards often, proof of quality, especially to consumers who cannot taste the product prior to buying

Her challenge

Providing water services to underserved communities within the lockdown environment

Her solution

Overcome organisational challenges with an employee management system

Christelle Kwizera

The Covid-19 pandemic has made access to reliable water and sanitation services more urgent than ever. To continue providing safe water services to underserved communities, Christelle Kwizera used technology. She automated as many administrative steps as possible for new applicants, so that staff would have a contract ready for signature when arriving on a site and spend less time in the field.

Founder of Water Access, Rwanda www.warwanda.com

“Now we do it all over the phone and then we go to Christelle Kwizera is the founder of Water Access Rwanda, a

the site everything is ready to be signed at once.”

social enterprise that is providing simple, affordable and durable water solutions in East Africa. Christelle is a Rwandan activist and social entrepreneur and a Mechanical Engineer graduate from Oklahoma Christian University. Christelle works to promote youth-led initiatives and help young people achieve their full potential.

With travel restrictions in place, it has become harder to raise awareness

Christelle used to have a company WhatsApp group but she found that it

about water and sanitation amongst consumers in local communities.

put a strain on work-life balance because people used WhatsApp for

Christelle relies on social media and involves her staff in keeping her

personal communication as well. If something was posted on the

platforms active. Members of her team can sign up for an hour each day

company WhatsApp group after hours, it interfered with personal time

and take charge of updating a specific social media platform.

and created friction.

“It’s more of getting that daily habit of

It’s hard to establish boundaries in the digital

checking in. It’s a new software. It takes some

world. It was important for us as a company to

getting used to.”

come in and establish those boundaries.

The company covers the connection charges for staff working from home. The costs of masks and sanitisers for on-site staff are also a company expense. After the first lock down, Christelle introduced an HR software for appraisals and daily check ins. Staff who are working from

She decided to close the company WhatsApp group and instead they rely on a chat feature within their task management software. This ensures a clear separation between work and personal time using such apps.

the office can use the software to submit documents for working in the office and bringing visitors to the office.

Learn from Christelle Kwizera’s Playbook

Managing your team digitally Her challenge

Providing water services to underserved communities within the lockdown environment

Her solution

Overcome organisational challenges with an employee management system

Managing remote teams with the right tools can save time and improve productivity:

Invest for the future — Factor company growth into your digital platform choices

Establish digital boundaries — Make it easier for staff to create a digital work-life-balance while working remotely

Digital appraisals — Use HR tools to manage hybrid workspaces

Her challenge

Managing a business during uncertain times

Her solution

Claudia Castellanos

Founder and Managing Director, Black Mamba Foods, Eswatini www.blackmambachilli.com Claudia Castellanos is the founder and MD of Black Mamba Foods, a social business and growing fair trade brand based in Eswatini that manufactures and distributes gourmet chilli products. She is passionate about developing the continent through sustainable projects that uplift women, include grassroots communities, and protect the environment.

Adapting a marketing strategy to the changing business environment The beginning of lockdown triggered a period of extreme uncertainty for many businesses. Claudia immediately increased her customer engagement on social media. She discovered that the demand for recipes to cook at home had increased sharply because of lockdown. Claudia started to post recipes that were easy for people to cook but that were built around the Black Mamba Chilli product line. The posts immediately took off. Not only was Claudia strengthening relationships with her customers, but she was offering practical help as well, while demonstrating the versatility of Black Mamba Chilli.

“We actually saw a very positive reaction from people towards those messages.”

Black Mamba’s sales strategy relies on distributors in several countries.

To make the most out of social media marketing, Claudia advises

Globally, the number of third-party sellers is increasing because of a

business owners to start off by being clear about what makes their

recent boom in online shopping and Black Mamba has benefited from

brand different and better than their competitors. It’s also important

the expansion in the number of e-commerce platforms. Claudia used

for business women to define their target market because it’s

social media to remind customers that they could literally obtain Black

impossible to appeal to everybody. Be very clear about what sort of

Mamba products anywhere in the world. During the worst part of the

person loves what you’re selling.

pandemic, new clients came on board, and this was directly because of enhanced marketing efforts on social media.

Try to make people laugh. Try to make them feel like you identify with what they're going through.

I really see incredible power for smaller, specialized businesses to compete with large

Make sure that whatever you post is adding value to your brand and to your consumer.

established businesses via social media. Claudia is now taking new digital marketing learnings created by the pandemic and is applying them to the development of a dedicated Black Mamba e-commerce platform. The new platform will launch in South Africa initially, with the aim of growing it into other key markets. She believes this approach to marketing speciality food brands represents an exciting new platform to be tapped into.

Learn from Claudia Castellanos’s Playbook

Adapting the Marketing Plan Her challenge

Managing a business during uncertain times

Her solution

Adapting a marketing strategy to the changing business environment

To reach customers using social media instead of traditional marketing and communication techniques requires a new digital plan:

Be integrated — Define your selling points and be consistent with how you communicate them

Be engaged — Aim to educate, inspire or entertain your consumer

Be selective — Sometimes less is more. Post less often but more meaningfully

Her challenge

How to sustain a social enterprise during a pandemic

Her solution

Thinking out-of-the box and building capacity for the future

Djamila de Sousa

Social enterprises have not been spared from the economic impact of COVID-19. If anything, there’s an added urgency to helping communities to get through the crisis. Djamila De Sousa has been using her company’s expertise in designing custom African prints and textiles to supply a sought-after product. She partnered with local tailors to meet the growing demand for fabric masks during the pandemic. To ramp up production, her company remodelled the production process. Tailors were supplied with pre-cut fabrics and plastics. This innovation improved the speed and consistency of the end product.

Co-founder of Karingana wa Karingana, Mozambique www.facebook.com/karinganatextiles

Djamila de Sousa is a Mozambican designer based in Maputo, Mozambique, and the co-founder of Karingana wa Karingana, together with Wacy Zacarias. Karingana wa Karingana is a Mozambican textile research design and development brand founded in 2015. It’s vision is to change the narrative of the African textile market through visual textile story telling.

So when the market picks up again, we'll have a bigger range of products to offer, different techniques and great artisans from different parts of the country.

Djamila has started to run projects to develop and enhance skills among talented artisans within the community. Her company has expanded this training model to different parts of the country.

The first thing you need to do is ask what are the new needs of the market and the priorities of your customers, and then align that with your brand DNA and go from there. The last year has created space for Djamila and her co-founder to work on repositioning their textile and accessories brand so that each more clearly capture the company’s vision and commitment to sustainable practices. They understand the importance of brand consistency and are in the process of developing a new website but are already tapping into social media.

Djamila believes that the pandemic gave them time to slow down and to revive great ideas. For example, they are experimenting with natural dyes and local produce, while strengthening local skills.

Every time we have a chance with internal events or international events, we speak. To increase brand visibility, her company participates at events or creates pop-up shops whenever possible. She and her business partner participate in local and international events to maintain visibility for their brand. They grab every opportunity to encourage conversations about sustainability. Ever aware of their international following, the pair makes sure that their social media platform is available in both English and Portuguese to ensure maximum audience reach.

Learn from Djamila De Sousa’s Playbook

Social innovation Her challenge

How to sustain a social enterprise

How savvy social entrepreneurs are remaining financially sustainable:

Innovation is key — Be creative and relevant so that you meet the current needs of your customers

Remain visible — Grab every opportunity to speak about your social focus

Her solution

Thinking out-of-the box and building capacity for the future

Plan ahead — Use the extra time to plan for a productive future

Her challenge

Remaining productive within a changing workplace culture

Her solution

Adopting collaborative technologies to maintain professional standards

Dr. Dorcas Muthoni Founder, Openworld, Kenya

www.openbusiness.co.ke

Dr Dorcas Muthoni is a leading Kenyan entrepreneur, computer scientist, CEO and founder of OPENWORLD and Open Business Africa. The company she founded at the age of 24 is now a leading e-Government and Business Software Services firm in East Africa. Dorcas was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame.

OpenBusiness Africa is in the business of digitisation. Its founder, Dr. Dorcas Muthoni, is passionate about helping small businesses to improve how they operate by adopting digital solutions. OpenBusiness Africa introduced a field service that sent out technicians to provide customer support quickly and directly. This service required additional staff and Dorcas managed the recruitment process online.

“Independent workers fare better in these remote working environments but people who feel like the flexibility creates options for them can be a challenge.”

Dorcas had sufficient infrastructure to shift into remote working mode. The challenge came with how to inspire her staff to get used to a different work culture and maintain the high standards that her clients had become accustomed to. She found that some people responded to remote working better than others.

Real time reports helped Dorcas to give staff feedback about how they were engaging with clients.

Because if it's going to work now during a pandemic, then it's going to be even more successful during ordinary times. Dorcas took the bold step of introducing an online demo centre so that prospective customers could test her company’s platforms. The demos were also a useful way for customers to pose questions and have them addressed. It might have seemed risky to launch a new service in the middle of a pandemic but she believed that the difficult COVID environment was a great testing ground.

Dorcas encourages women entrepreneurs to embrace technology, to get help when they need it and to test out different tools so that they feel confident in the digital environment. Something as simple as an Internet search can be the first step towards unlocking resources and finding a community of supportive, like-minded professionals.

Because even if COVID is managed, the truth is that consumers have changed. Meaning that you still have to be part of this change. Dorcas also adapted her company’s own digital strategy to find new customers during the pandemic. She realized that a greater focus on quality content engagement was required to reach those all important customers. New digital marketing tools were adopted to maximize the company’s online presence and engagement levels, plus a greater focus on social media advertising and posting was also introduced. Keeping up to speed on new digital platforms for marketing opportunities was also a priority for Dorcas and her team.

Learn from Dr. Dorcas Muthoni’s Playbook

Collaborative technologies Her challenge

Her solution

Remaining productive within a changing workplace culture

Adopting collaborative technologies to maintain professional standards

Helping your staff to maximise the available technology so that they can respond to customer needs

Provide more guidance — This is especially important for new staff and at the beginning of a project

Discipline and boundaries — Communicate expectations about remote working

Online communities — Tap into webinars, masterclasses, podcasts and other tools to improve your digital readiness

Her challenge

Finding the right solution for clients to continue operating during lockdowns

Her solution

A closer connection to clients to understand their businesses better and craft the best solution for them Ethel Cofie is CEO and Founder of EDEL Technology Consulting, an IT business based in Ghana and operating throughout the West African region and the UK.

Ethel Cofie CEO and Founder of EDEL Technology Consulting, Ghana

www.edelitconsult.com Ethel Cofie is CEO and Founder of EDEL Technology Consulting

Ethel also started Women in Tech Africa, a group with members from more than 30 countries, and Women in Tech Week, an online conference which had over 10,000 participants. EDEL IT consulting provides IT audits and then advises clients on solutions, based on the clients’ strategy. As an IT service provider, EDEL Consulting was well placed to not only survive during the COVID pandemic, but to thrive.

“Our clients had a more acute awareness of

in Ghana, an IT Consulting Company in West Africa and Europe

technology in order to survive as a business, and

which was recently named IT Consulting Firm of the Year by the

continuity planning.”

Telecoms and IT Industry. Ethel is also the Founder of Women in Tech Africa and an industry influencer.

EDEL Consulting was close to operating on a virtual basis before the pandemic, with employees often working from home. The big change that the pandemic brought was that clients’ needs were not about strategy but became more focused on how to help their businesses survive and how to continue providing services under lockdown.

“We had to understand what the need is. What is the core of the business? Who are the type of clients served? That dictates the IT solution.” Ethel’s response was to understand her clients’ businesses better, try to understand their strategic direction and who their clients were. A deeper understanding of the clients’ context led to IT solutions that better served their needs. Once these large questions were answered, the operational aspect of implementation became straightforward.

Ethel has an interesting view on the lack of infrastructure which can make doing business in Africa difficult. There are some basics which need to be in place, especially internet access. However, once that is present, other infrastructure gaps create an opportunity for creative solutions and for new businesses to emerge.

“We have a huge fintech industry across Africa because people are building technologies to bridge the gaps in banking.” Financial technology is a great example. Many people in Africa do not have access to conventional banking. But the emergence of mobile phone technology has enabled mobile money and a number of new fintech start-ups, that provide financial services better suited to African conditions. Infrastructure gaps can be a problem, but they can also be the seed of a new industry.

Learn from Ethel Cofie’s Playbook

Understanding client needs Her challenge

Finding the right solution for clients to continue operating during lockdowns

Her solution

A closer connection to clients to understand their businesses better and craft the best solution for them

Ethel offers some key points on how to find the right solutions for your clients:

Be positive — Problems and barriers also offer opportunities to create value and new businesses

Communicate — Obtain a better, deeper understanding of your clients’ context and needs

Be proactive — When events move in your favour, be proactive in order to maximise the benefits

Her challenge

Using technology to reflect the quality, vision and values of Femi Handbags

Her solution

Femi Olayebi

Founder of Femi Handbags & My World of Bags, Nigeria

www.femihandbags.com Femi Olayebi is a self-taught handbag and accessories designer and the creative force behind the luxury Femi Handbags brand in Nigeria. A translator turned award-winning designer and manufacturer, Femi consistently pushes design boundaries, emerging as a leader in the Nigerian leather space and renowned for her colour-drenched accessories.

Digital content that combines the sophistication of the brand with a user-friendly design As more and more of her customers turned to online shopping, Femi Olayebi focused on providing the best possible online shopping experience. The visual representation of her brand was essential. It needed to reflect the products’ elegance and sophistication while channeling her commitment to local fashion and artistry. Accessibility was another factor to consider so that the site would remain user-friendly and easy to navigate. Femi has experienced a dramatic increase in online sales. In fact, during lockdown, customers were prepared to pre-order and wait for courier companies to re-open so that orders could be shipped.

“We knew we had to work hard at building something and remain relevant.”

Femi successfully created a virtual version of the highly successful Lagos

It’s not always possible to move your entire operation online. Safety

Leather Fair (LLF); an event that she introduced to support and

protocols and socially distancing are strictly maintained for staff who are

strengthen the local industry. The virtual event (called LLF Digital) was no

working on site. Femi is also using technology to manage her expanding

match for the energy and vibrancy of the in-person activity but Femi and

operations and to support her vision to see the growth of the Nigerian

her design team successfully built a sophisticated 3D digital virtual

leather industry. For direct to customer brands like Femi Handbags,

platform that allowed visitors to explore the entire exhibition space from

using an integrated platform is an effective way to track sales, stocks and

the comfort of their home.

revenues.

“It just showed us that if you don't give it a shot, you will never know if it will work.” Globally renowned speakers from the design world were invited to participate via Zoom and YouTube and the event was an unparalleled success. Through the LLF Digital, 24 local designers gained visibility and exposure, which was so crucial at this time for Africa’s leather design community.

“So even though you will still need some level of in-person training, you can actually learn some of the basics online.” Femi has already achieved international acclaim for her mentoring role. She continues to break new ground for young designers. She has plans to provide in-person and online training so that the next generation of designers can benefit from her vast skills and experience.

Learn from Femi Olayebi’s Playbook

Visual appeal & functionality Her challenge

Her solution

Using technology to reflect the quality, vision and values of Femi Handbags

Digital content that combines the sophistication of the brand with a user-friendly design

To develop a solid digital footprint, you will need to be consistent about your brand both online and offline:

Be intentional about being visible — Recreate the in-store customer experience online with quality visuals and easy navigation

Virtual events — Use high profile digital events to strengthen networks and brand engagement

Invest in inventory management solutions — Simplify operations and improve decision making by using suitable business management software that will grow with your business

Her challenge

Expanding digital literacy and virtual training environments

Her solution

Improving on existing innovations

Gércia Sequeira

CEO and Co-founder of Instituto de Tecnologias, Inovação e Serviços – ITIS

www.itis.ac.mz/en/home Gércia Sequeira is a leading techpreneur and the CEO and co-founder of ITIS in Mozambique, a business that helps organizations and people improve their internal processes by using locally-based technology solutions. An influential tech voice in the country, Gércia is also the President of the ICT Association at Mozambique (AMPETIC).

As the threat of COVID engulfed Mozambique, Gércia immediately set out to prepare her staff for remote work. Her approach was systematic. She and her team prepared a plan of how each of the office-based activities could be done remotely. To help her staff with the transition, she encouraged them to take any office furniture that they needed to their homes so that they could set up a well-equipped home office. Working from home was so successful that Gércia closed her brick-and-mortar office and cancelled the rental contract.

“So we closed our offices and we started to work from home from that time up to now, and we are already at least a year working from home.”

Training is a big part of ITIS’s operations. Their platforms are used in more than 15 universities across Mozambique, and they have even developed training material for children.

You can combine people from different countries and make a team. They can enter a digital market, open a business, run a business, and simulate all of the processes of running a business in Mozambique. The company has launched simulation tools to help young people to prepare for the business environment. During the pandemic, Gércia expanded these services to clients in other African countries so that groups of people could collaborate and simulate what it takes to run a business in a particular context.

Gércia believes that more needs to be done to improve digital literacy in Mozambique, especially when it comes to users protecting themselves from cyber threats. She works with young people to raise awareness about some of the dangers of being online.

Do a diagnostic and see what’s out there to improve your business. Gércia encourages all business owners to run a diagnostic of their digital presence and their technology requirements. Before spending money on a package that might not be a good fit, she encourages entrepreneurs to, instead, explore options that are free and easily accessible.

Learn from Gércia Sequeira’s Playbook

Expanding digital learning Her challenge

Expanding digital literacy and virtual training environments

Her solution

Improving on existing innovations

Now is not the time to cut training budgets, but to improve digital readiness:

Create engaging material — Be clear about what you are aiming to do through training and keep it interesting

A culture of learning — Keep looking for ways to improve the skills of your employees and the organisation as a whole

Measure digital readiness — Determine where you are, how you want to grow and what you need to get there

Her challenge

Managing your team remotely

Her solution

Offer support and develop a structure to promote team cohesion

Itweva Nogueira

The outbreak of Covid-19 forced many legal professionals to switch from office to remote work. For Itweva and her team, the practical side of the transition was fairly easy. Prior to the pandemic, she had wisely invested in the necessary equipment and software. Her team each had laptops, a timesheet programme and a digital platform with the required level of security for legal documentation.

Founder of I. N sociedade de Advogados, Angola

I had already made the decision that everyone

www.inlawfirm.co.ao/

should have a laptop. When Covid arrived, it was

Itweva Nogueira is a lawyer and the founding partner of I. N.

easy because they had everything in place to try to

Sociedade de Advogados in Angola. She has major

work from home.

experience in commercial law, as well in labour, tax and investment law. She works with upstream and downstream oil industry clients on commercial and employment matters, as well as advising non-oil industry corporations.

What proved to be a greater challenge was maintaining levels of productivity among staff who had competing demands on their time at home. Maintaining regular communication with her team helped to clarify expectations, especially when personal issues proved to be overwhelming.

The majority of people understood that they first needed to reorganize their families and their houses because suddenly it was everyone back at the house 24/7. Itweva used her extensive experience in the legal profession to select the best digital platforms for her practice. While she was familiar with some, she still had to do some research. It was very important that the platforms comply with data privacy requirements. She believes that investing in the right set of digital tools has made all the difference for her business.

Itweva has found that improving digital readiness has made the process of managing people remotely much easier for everyone. Implementing digital systems and processes that allow for more effective project tracking, timesheet management, invoicing programme management, has proved a good investment.

It might be expensive at some point, but it's worth it because it makes life easier. The additional benefit is around data loss prevention, with better digital readiness meaning improved data backups to deal with any remote working equipment failure. Itweva believes that any initial cost investment in improving digital readiness, particularly in effectively managing a remote working environment, is justified in order to mitigate against data loss.

Learn from Itweva Nogueira’s Playbook

Coping with the challenges of remote work Her challenge

Managing your team remotely

Her solution

Offer support and develop a structure to promote team cohesion

To create an effective remote working environment, invest in your technology and processes:

Be flexible — even high-performing staff need time to set up remote working routines

Schedule your day — include dedicated time for meetings, phone calls and appointments

Invest in the right tools — make sure that you select tools that comply with the standards of your profession.

Her challenge

The main method to supply her service was no longer possible

Her solution

Use online solutions to deliver services to clients

Juliet Madamombe Co-founder of Global Edge Training Institute, Namibia www.globalinsti.com Juliet Madamombe is the founder of Global Edge Training Institute in Namibia, a specialist business offering a comprehensive portfolio of professional courses, customized work-based training, academic support programs, and employability skills. Juliet has more than 15 years’ experience in areas such as Banking, Financial Management, Accounting, and Business Coaching.

Juliet Madamombe is the founder of Global Edge Training Institute in Namibia, which offers professional training courses, customised work-based training and academic support programmes. The Institute has campuses in three Namibian cities and in Johannesburg, South Africa. The target market is school leavers and young professionals. Before the pandemic, the majority of courses were offered face-to-face on campus. COVID made that impossible. Juliet needed to find a new way to offer capacity building, for the company to pivot and thrive.

“If you don't do much or educate yourself about social media, your business will not grow as much.”

Juliet found that there were online platforms available, configured to provide training. Global Edge Training Institute soon began using one such platform. Not all students were on board at first. Juliet and her team had to sell the students on the added functionality for them, that they could register and attend courses from home.

But after COVID, we realized that we're actually going to lose business. So we had to introduce the e-learning portal. Not all students could attend classes at the set times so a flexible functionality was offered that lectures could be downloaded after the fact. This was useful to students who had poor internet connectivity, as they could download the videos when they had access to stronger signal.

What started as a response to COVID soon began to have wider impacts. The Institute could now offer courses to students all over Namibia, not just those who could physically attend classes in person. And why stop at Namibia?

We realized that we need to really make use of the portal, not just to get to Namibia. So we are now working on targeting also other countries. Juliet realised that the e-portal was not just a gateway for her students to access their courses, but a gateway to providing training courses to students all over the world. This is the strategy that Global Edge Training Institute will be pursuing in the near future.

Learn from Juliet Madamombe’s Playbook

Pivoting into new markets Her challenge

The main method to supply her service was no longer possible

Her solution

Use online solutions to deliver services to clients

Tech solutions can deliver much more than you hope for:

Be flexible — Leverage the power of existing partnerships and the strength of your relationships to get things done

Be creative — Technology can work differently in different contexts, so try creative solutions to new problems

Find experts — There are usually better technological solutions out there than you aware of, but an expert will know what’s best

Her challenge

Scaling up online marketing and sales

Her solution

Adapting her operating model to cope with increasing online sales

Kevine Kagirimpundu CEO & co-founder of UZURI K&Y, Rwanda www.shop.uzuriky.com/ Kevine Kagirimpundu is the co-founder, together with Ysolde Shimwe, of Uzuri K&Y in Rwanda, a company creating beautiful handcrafted shoes with a unique Rwandan aesthetic. These two former college classmates shared a passion and desire to start a business venture that would create much needed jobs for their community.

With beautiful eco-friendly designs and a firm commitment to job creation, it’s no wonder that UZURI K&Y is getting noticed locally and internationally. The brand was named Best Made Rwanda Enterprise of 2018. When the pandemic first hit Rwanda in March 2020, Kevine had just launched a new store. The company already had an existing e-commerce platform, but Kevine believed that the company should be doing more. Kevine decided to join an international e-commerce platform to increase her customer base and to intensify the company’s social media campaign. Everybody was involved in reaching out to customers on social media. True to the brand’s commitment to social impact, the company donated shoes to front-line workers, which in turn, sparked conversations on social media about the dedication of medical workers.

“We understood that we needed to speak to the local market via digital platforms. We grew really fast because we reached out to everyone who was interested in learning about us.”

Kevine has invested a lot of time and effort into reaching out to staff on an

In 2019, Kevine had the opportunity to visit the Alibaba company and to

individual basis and she believes that her team have benefited from these

get a close-up view of an e-commerce success story. Her

interactions. Empowering her staff is a top priority and during the last

forward-thinking attitude contributed to the development of UZURI K&Y’s

year, she and other team members have attended virtual accelerator

website, well before the start of the pandemic.

programmes to strengthen their business skills.

“Invest your profits into the digital growth of “For me, learning is the key to running a business.” She believes that there is a lot support available for young entrepreneurs. To keep up to date with potential opportunities, her HR and marketing

your company in every way possible, because this is going to be key to its survival in the next 25 or 30 years.”

staff work together. If they find a course that could be useful, they share the information on Slack and WhatsApp. Kevine has seen first-hand how

Kevine believes that in the digital era today, transitioning from analog to

important it is to keep investing in digital development.

digital in any business environment is a necessity and has to be taken seriously. Her approach is that everything you do in business, find a way to

Prior to the lockdown, she also purchased a small delivery system. This

improve it through digitization, from production through to the day-to-day

has proven to be an indispensable resource as online sales continue to

running of the company. By investing in the digital growth of the business in

grow.

every way possible, including in the necessary equipment needed to meet the needs of this new digital operating environment, it will help the company to thrive into the future.

Learn from Kevine Kagirimpundu’s Playbook

Adapting your business model Her challenge

Scaling up online marketing and sales

Her solution

Adapting her operating model to cope with increasing online sales

Digital readiness works best when the entire organisation is on board:

Empower your staff — Provide suitable training for your staff and nurture a learning culture in your company

Keep a customer-centric focus — Understand what your customers’ expectations are and that these expectations can change

Encourage collaboration — Get the entire team involved in digital transformation, address their concerns and harness their ideas

Her challenge

Managing and motivating your team during lockdown

Her solution

Getting back to the basics during tough times

Kimberly Addison + Priscilla Addison Co-Founders of ’57 Chocolate, Ghana www.57chocolategh.com Kimberly Addison and Priscilla Addison are co-founders of ‘57 Chocolate in Ghana, a pioneering artisanal bean to bar chocolate manufacturing business founded in 2016. These two pioneering sisters wanted to show that quality chocolate can be made in Ghana. The name ‘57 is short for 1957—the year of Ghana’s independence.

Kimberly and Priscilla Addison’s Ghana-based bean to bar chocolate company has been online from the very beginning. During the pandemic, they continued to take orders for their chocolate products via email, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram just as they had always done. When Ghana’s lockdown kept their workers at home, they turned to WhatsApp to remain in contact with their team, their designers, and with each other. They focused on the creative elements of their business and have come up with brand new designs for artwork and packaging – all through working with their artists and graphic designers on WhatsApp.

“WhatsApp has been an indispensable tool for us. We give our artist ideas, and we make several iterations and that’s how we’re able to collaborate.”

Kimberly and Priscilla are developing an e-commerce site and hope to

Should the entrepreneur leave technology to the experts or get involved?

launch it within the next two months. As the e-commerce site comes to

Kim and Priscilla support a hands-on approach. They have built a highly

life the sisters are paying attention to every detail - the quality of the

successful, proudly Ghanaian chocolate brand from the ground up. It’s a

visuals, the terminology, the look and feel of the site, and how easy it is to

continuous learning process. This is also how they view technology in

understand how each product is put together.

their business.

Kim and I, we always say that you need to be

It's important to test it out, make mistakes, get

nimble, right? We're ready to change if it's

familiar with it, get comfortable with it. Don't

what's good for our team and the business.

only hire somebody to do it for you but learn how to do it as well.

Reaching out to their global network of supporters for feedback on the design has added value to the development process. They believe that it's better to be open to changing a design if it ultimately benefits the customers, the team, and the business as a whole.

Being part of the process means that you are always learning. It also guarantees that you’re infusing your brand and your values into how the digital tools are set up. It might take longer but the final product will speak to who you are and what you represent.

Learn from Kimberly and Priscilla Addison’s Playbook

Taking time to regroup Her challenge

Managing and motivating your team during lockdown

Her solution

Getting back to the basics during challenging times

Coming up with a turnaround strategy can be difficult. To maximise your business’s downtime, consider the following:

Take a step back — Use the extra time to think about what’s working in your business and what needs to change

Maintain standards — It might take longer to get things done, but don’t compromise on quality

Stay connected — Schedule virtual check-ins and meetings just as if you were in the office

Her challenge

How to meet with clients during the pandemic

Her solution

Focusing on convenience in your marketing strategy

Kulukaya Sadiki

founder of Glo-Ray Designs Sustainable Studio in Malawi

www.facebook.com/Gloraydesigns/ Kulukaya Sadiki is the founder of Glo-Ray Designs Sustainable Studio in Malawi, a business that believes in fashion for humanity, a safe environment, and fair profit. Kulukaya was selected as a Young African Leader for the ‘Leadership in Business’ cohort by the Mandela Washington Fellowship, a USA program in 2020.

Kulukaya’s sustainable fashion business typically involves regular meetings with clients. In the past, it was only necessary to use technology for advertising on social media and communicating with clients. At the beginning of the pandemic, it became clear that Kulukaya would need to market her business differently. With fewer events, the demand for her designs fell. Undeterred, she shifted her focus to learning more about digital marketing. She discovered that when she connected more often with clients on social media, their understanding of the value of digital tools as a way to reach her also increased.

“I used that period to carry out research to find out what would be best for my staff and what would be best for my for my client base.”

Kulukaya got creative during her virtual meetings with clients. She persuaded them to take their measurements and send them to her. She even arranged drop-off and pick-up points to save them time. She made the design process fun and her clients soon caught onto the new system. These innovations are likely to remain.

“I think you need to get into your clients’ minds to show them that change is ok.” Certain parts of her business will be more difficult to digitise. Kulukaya still purchases fabrics directly because suppliers in Malawi do not make deliveries. The only difference now is that she tends to make bulk purchases to reduce her store visits.

Kulukaya is looking forward to growing her business with the help of technology. She wants to see the entire fashion industry in Malawi moving in that direction as well. She sees many ways that this can happen – through providing tailors with digital tools and training, learning more about digital marketing, or discovering practical ways for suppliers to deliver fabrics to designers.

“You need to create your own unique selling point. You need to create your own value proposition. You have to be different.” However much her business transforms digitally, Kulukaya believes that some features should remain unchanged. She will always strive to be consistent in how she connects with her customers, whether it’s in person or on social media.

Learn from Kulukaya Sadiki’s Playbook

Enhancing customer experience Her challenge

How to meet with clients during the pandemic

Her solution

Focusing on convenience in your marketing strategy

To stay in touch with customers during the pandemic, consider the following:

Get creative — Test new ways to overcome supply chain disruptions

Stress the convenience — Make it easier for your customers to get in touch and ask how you can assist them

Be authentic — Show the personality behind whatever you are creating

Her challenge

Rapidly moving her own business and the services she provides online

Her solution

Use of virtual platforms to manage staff and to reach clients Lynda Aphing-Kouassi had a thriving career in banking in Europe before deciding

Lynda Aphing-Kouassi Founder of Kaizene, Cote d’Ivoire

www.kaizene.org Lynda Aphing-Kouassi is the founder of the international Kaizene Firm based in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire and London. This human capital development business defines itself as a catalyst, allowing public and private companies, micro-businesses and SMEs to optimize their human capital, improve their services and their quality approach.

to return to Africa to start her company, Kaizene. The company provides training and capacity building, coaching and mentoring and also organises annual conferences on topics around economic development in Africa. Most of the training was provided at their offices in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.

“It's making them understand it's the new way of life. And if we want to stay afloat and want to survive, we have to be as rigorous as when we're in the office.”

Kaizene had a significant advantage over its competitors heading into the

It has not been all smooth sailing. The process of configuring the training

lockdown as it already had a virtual training platform, thanks to a

platform was exhausting, as was the pressure of always being online and

collaboration with Siemens. But because the staff preferred training face

stressed about the future of the business. Managing a team in a virtual

to face, this had hardly been used. The early days of the pandemic were

environment was also difficult and Lynda noticed that tasks were not

devoted to getting the platform up and running and making sure it had

being performed as quickly or as well as they should have been.

the features needed to host the training courses.

The solution was a digital project management platform which assigned tasks and could monitor working hours, alongside some training on how

We also had to ensure that communication

to work more effectively and efficiently from home. There was some initial

kept flowing because training was no longer

resistance but eventually productivity improved.

as important as keeping any companies afloat.

Training became obsolete.

“We had to revamp our platform, make it more informative and pushing our clients to the right

Lynda also had to improve her social media presence to more

direction, supporting them.”

effectively communicate directly with clients. The goal was to remind them that training was still important, even though at that time most companies were only worried about survival.

A better functioning staff and e-learning platform allowed Lynda to change strategies. The next goal is to start training clients in other countries.

Learn from Lynda Aphing-Kouassi’s Playbook

Running a virtual office Her challenge

Rapidly moving her own business and the service she provided online.

Her solution

Use of virtual platforms to manage staff and to reach clients.

Running a business virtually requires different skills and tools than managing a physical office:

Technology — Use it deliver to clients, but also to help manage your team

Training — Any change goes smoother if staff are trained on how to cope with new systems

Social media — Use it to keep in contact with clients and drum up new business

Her challenge

Surviving lockdown when your retail store is closed

Her solution

Professional development during COVID and getting back to basics Before the pandemic, Margaux frequently connected with her customers at exhibitions in Africa, Europe and the United States but with travel restrictions in place, she could no longer build client relationships directly. Margaux experienced the financial impact of the pandemic because she has a retail

Margaux Rusita Founder & Creative Director, Margaux Wong, Burundi www.margauxwong.com

store at a hotel in Bujumbura.

The good news for Margaux was that the start of the pandemic coincided with an invitation to join a prestigious designer accelerator programme that is hosted by the Ethical Fashion Initiative (EFI). EFI launches the most talented local designers onto the global stage. Through EFI’s mentorship, Margaux has developed a strategy to grow her business.

Margaux Rusita is a Guyanese/Burundian luxury jewellery designer based in Burundi, East Africa. She is the founder of Margaux Wong, an innovative sustainable brand which practices the amazing transformation of rare cow horn and brass into luxurious, beautiful wearable art. Margaux Wong represents unmatched African opulence in today’s world of fast fashion.

I was actually relieved that I had that extra time on my hands to get the real work done. I call it the real work because it’s prepared me for now and for the years to come.

The foundational work that Margaux achieved in 2020, such as compiling

Margaux’s advice to other creatives is to be consistent about

a catalogue of her current collection, has prepared her for the world of

documenting their work, as well as anything that is interesting or inspiring

online sales. The original plan was for her to travel to Italy to launch her

for future reflection. Artists and designers can use a phone to take the

current collection, but she ended up doing an online launch instead.

photos, if that is what is available. What’s important is that they capture and store their ideas and their work.

With the support of EFI, Margaux had access to a team of stylists, photographers, and makeup-artists, to prepare for the online launch, consisting of a digital fashion show and a virtual marketplace. More than ever, Margaux appreciates the value of a strong team to grow and scale her business.

We already have everything we need to get us to that next level. Ask yourself, "What do I have in my hands and how can I use it as a tool for growth?"

The virtual marketplace and the marketing campaign prior to the launch

When opportunities arise, these records are the perfect way to share

has grown and diversified her customer base.

their work and how it has evolved over time. Margaux credits the images that she has been archiving since she first started designing in 2000, as contributing to her success with EFI.

“I think as an artist and I really like to touch and feel and to see and smell and taste, but I definitely see the benefits of the virtual market.”

Learn from Margaux Rusita’s Playbook

Getting back to basics Her challenge

Surviving lockdown when your retail store is closed

Her solution

Professional development during COVID. Getting back to business basics.

Collect visual resources that can inspire future creativity and help build your digital presence:

Document – Your ideas, inspirations, designs, future plans and dreams

Start with a simple website — Even simple, well crafted, website is useful for sharing your work and receiving feedback

Study social media — learn what works visually and how to improve your interactive skills online

Her challenge

New Ways to Carry out Her Business

Her solution

Tech solutions and a flexible workforce Marie-Anne Assanvo is the owner of Myrhann Translations in Cote d’Ivoire, which provides translation services and specializes in translation of legal and financial documents. Marie-Anne also provides translations in the Abidjan Court of Appeals.

Marie-Anne Assanvo-N’Guessan Founder of Myrhann Traductions SARL, Cote d’Ivoire www.myrtrad.com Marie-Anne Assanvo-N’Guessan is the founder of Myrhann Translations SARL in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. She is a highly experienced Sworn French-English Translator at the Abidjan Court of Appeal, and has been a specialist Conference Interpreter since 2013. Marie-Anne is a Mandela Washington Fellow in Business and Entrepreneurship.

Marie-Anne had started using online tools before the pandemic, as a way of differentiating herself from other translators, with Facebook being the main tool. She had a platform developed that allowed clients to get a digital quote on a translation, track progress, make a mobile money payment and have the translation delivered.

“What is the best tool to use to have a unique selling point of the services you are rendering?”

Because clients preferred to conduct business face to face, the platform was not being used much. When the pandemic hit and lockdowns were enforced, the development of the platform was accelerated. The ultimate vision is for the platform to be used by translators from the whole West African region. Essentially it will be an online marketplace for translators, enabling translators to find clients and vice versa.

I would like to offer the best translation, the best interpretation services. I need to move from being a translation and an interpretation business to being an online marketplace Because most business had to be conducted virtually during the pandemic, habits have changed. Marie-Anne believes that experiences during the pandemic have made businesses used to operating online, and they would like to continue to work this way in future, even once the pandemic is over.

Unfortunately, the business was not able to operate with the same model as before, and Marie-Anne had to retrench the 21 translators that she had on staff. However, these translators still work for Myrhann Translations, but now on a contract basis. Marie-Anne also outsourced financial and marketing services in order to reduce fixed costs.

“New communication tools are important, but entrepreneurs need to use all the specialised professional communication tools available to make themselves known.” Marie-Anne adjusted her business model and as a result, the company become more responsive and agile to deal with a rapidly changing marketplace. The adoption of digital processes and technologies to create a Unique Selling Point and market differentiator also helped to find and tap into new market opportunities. She sees the harnessing of digital technology in her business and her industry sector as the way forward to future growth opportunities.

Learn from Marie-Anne Assanvo’s Playbook

Rethinking the business model Her challenge

New Ways to Carry out Her Business

Her solution

Tech solutions and a flexible workforce

To make your business more flexible and resilient, you need to focus on three skills:

Vision — Technology opens up new opportunities, but it takes vision to realise and grasp these

Flexibility — Maximining use of outsourced services can ensure survival of your business

Awareness — Habits and culture are constantly changing how we do business. Keep an eye out for changes that will benefit your business

Her challenge

The usual markets closed and new opportunities needed to be found

Her solution

A big move to online

Natalie Ellis Co-owner of The Joinery, South Africa www.thejoinery.co.za

Natalie Ellis is co-founder of The Joinery in South Africa, together with sister Kim. Both are part of a vanguard of innovating entrepreneurs focused on building sustainable and ethical businesses that turn plastic waste into products not problems. The Joinery finds solutions to environmental and community issues through design.

Natalie Ellis is the co-owner of The Joinery, a product design brand focusing on the use of recycled material, especially plastic bottles. The Joinery has prevented 500,000 plastic bottles from going to landfills. The main customers before the pandemic were corporates, particularly for corporate gifting, hotels and the travel industry. These markets disappeared overnight. The problem for the Joinery was how to find new markets and how to reach new consumers.

We had to sacrifice certain elements of the business to invest on the digital side. But I think the long term financial benefits of doing that really is something.

The Joinery had to find a new way of linking to customers and it turned out that it already had the answer. The Joinery had an e-commerce website but it was little used because the other

The second was that making masks brought The Joinery positive publicity, which in turn could be directed to their social media presence, directing traffic to the ecommerce site.

marketing links were working so well. When the lockdown began, the website became the only link to customers. The problem was

Do your research thoroughly. The last thing you

that consumers, even the Joinery’s existing customers, did not

want is to invest in platforms that don't give you

know that they even had a website. Social media, twitter,

all the tools you need to get what you want out

Instagram, was used to market and promote the ecommerce site.

of e-commerce.

During COVID, it all came crashing down. So, then we then had to pivot pretty quickly.

But it has not all been plain sailing. Natalie cautions that getting e-commerce right can be difficult and costly – but still worth it in the long run. The Joinery has used a number of off-the-shelf solutions but found that they do not have the functionality required. Natalie suggested that

Another shift was the introduction of a new product: masks. This

entrepreneurs should be careful to invest enough capital in the right

served two purposes. Obviously, masks were a product that

solution. Even though costs might be higher, the return on this

would generate revenue.

investment makes it worthwhile.

Learn from Natalie Ellis’s Playbook

Pivot to online marketplaces Her challenge

The usual distribution networks closing

Her solution

Go direct to the public and focus on marketing through social networks

To be able to respond to challenges quickly, follow these principles:

Relationships —Especially in business-to-business organisations

Agile marketing — stay agile, build agility into your business DNA, and create an internal business culture where staying agile in response to new business challenges becomes the norm

E-commerce goals — Clearly define your goals and don’t overlook low-cost marketing strategies

Her challenge

How to modify distribution channels for edutainment material

Her solution

Keeping your customers at the centre of your digital strategy

Nisha Ligon

Co-Founder and CEO of Ubongo Kids, Tanzania www.ubongo.org/ Nisha Ligon is Co-Founder and CEO of Ubongo, Africa’s leading kids’ edutainment company. Nisha is a social entrepreneur with a background in media and science, and a passion for education. Over 17 million kids across Africa learn with Ubongo’s popular animated TV and radio programs, ‘Akili and Me’ and ‘Ubongo Kids’.

When you combine fun, cost-effective content, a committed team and the power of mobile technology, you can provide millions of African children with learning material that they can really get excited about. This is exactly what Ubongo and its CEO, Nisha Ligon, are doing. For Nisha and her team, the pandemic challenge wasn’t how to move from a bricks-and-mortar office to remote working because she and her team were already working remotely. They needed to digitally transform the way that they worked with partners, broadcasters and other organisations. The first problem to solve was making content available online as quickly as possible. Nisha believes in using tools that solve the problem and sometimes, the best choices are the simplest.

“Start with the question and then try to find a tool to fit, rather than saying, what's all the technology out there, then how can I use it.”

Ubongo’s digital transformation took place in phases. Because of the

Simpler tech solutions are often better. To meet the requirements of

urgency brought on by the pandemic, the team began with the easiest

customers who can’t access an online platform, the team created

digital tools. They chose Google Drive, because it was familiar. They

WhatsApp groups and sent material to radio stations to download and

released all of their content under a Creative Commons license, put

play. Content was also loaded onto USB drives and distributed widely.

together packages and folders online with some guidance materials and started sharing these folders with their partners.

“We built platforms for people who have access to the technology and used WhatsApp and USB

“Whatever you're already using is maybe the

sticks for those who couldn’t.”

first step. To be able to learn from that and to grow really quickly.”

Mail Chimp has turned out to be useful for keeping the community informed about new content. Newsletters are sent out to their lists of

While this was happening, they built and tested a more advanced platform where users could register, provide their details, agree to

broadcasters more frequently than before, containing information about available content and links to material.

Learn from Nisha Ligon’s Playbook

Customer

centric solutions Her challenge

How to modify distribution channels for edutainment materials

Her solution

Keeping your customers at the centre of your digital strategy

When changing the way you share content, keep in mind how your customers access material:

Build consensus — Involve your team and your partners in the process of selecting a technology and using it

Customer-centric choices — Use the right technology to meet the needs of your customers

Build on what you have — While developing a new platform, make the best use of the tools that are available and affordable

Her challenge

Unlocking additional revenue to offset client discounts during lockdown

Her solution

Offering free online content to expand her client base

Nkemdilim Uwaje Begho

Founder and Managing Director of Future Software Resources Limited, Nigeria

www.futuresoft-ng.com Nkemdilim Begho is the Founder and Managing Director of Futuresoft, a digital agency and IT Solutions company based in Nigeria. She is one of only a handful of women to make her mark in the Nigerian IT industry. For over a decade, Futuresoft has been providing online solutions that allow businesses, across a variety of industries, to grow and scale.

During the lockdown, many retail businesses in Nigeria that relied on direct sales, were forced to close their doors. It soon became clear that keeping up with payments for IT services would be difficult, if not impossible. Nkemdilim chose to support her clients through this tough period. She continued to provide them with the same level of service as before, but at a reduced fee so that they could use any available income to stay afloat.

“It was really important to support our long-term clients.”

She drew on her extensive knowledge of IT solutions to provide free online masterclasses via Zoom. She educated business owners about how to use technology for growth, but she also drew attention to the company’s wide range of services. Some of the participants in the virtual platforms would go on to become new clients.

“It's been really interesting for us to see how digital tools that are very basic can actually lead to very innovative changes within the organisation.” Keeping her team connected has been challenging during the pandemic. With some of her staff at the office and others at home, Nkemdilim used Zoom to record internal training exercises for members of her team who were working remotely. She didn’t stop there. She quickly realised that this content would be useful to a wider audience. So, she made the recordings freely available on YouTube and used social media to promote the service.

Futuresoft partnered with a public relations agency to launch a highly successful personal branding service that has, in turn, led to the creation of a personal branding course, to be launched soon.

Futuresoft has generated a lot of opportunities through creating and sharing content. For example, the masterclass series caught the attention of a financial services group and led to an invitation to deliver an executive training course for the company’s board.

“A lot of really good things have come out of a situation that simply wasn't good. A big part of that is the mindset that you have when you're going through a difficult situation.”

By using technology to remain accessible and relevant, the year of the pandemic turned out to be one of the most successful for Nkemdilim’s business.

Learn from Nkemdilim Begho’s Playbook

Pivot to stay relevant Her challenge

Unlocking additional revenue to offset client discounts during lockdown

Her solution

Offering free online content to expand her client base

Technology can be the key to strengthening customer relationship management:

Marketing your content — Make content available to reach new customers, while building brand loyalty with existing ones

Enhancing customer experience — Maintain a strong social media presence for customers to use in decision making

Training and development — Explore virtual alternatives for your personal development and for engaging with your staff

Her challenge

Selling real estate when COVID prevented operating in the usual way

Her solution

Finding new ways to do a business that has been done the same way for decades

Pam Snyman Founder of REDZetc, South Africa

The COVID pandemic made life difficult for some industries but made it impossible for others. Real estate falls into the impossible category. Buyers could no longer travel to view property and estate agents were unable to meet the seller or the buyer. Pam Snyman realised this meant that estate agents had to shift their entire business online, in a hurry. The key breakthrough was allowing sellers to film their own walkthrough of the property, making the show day and appointment to view, obsolete.

www.redzproperties.co.za Pam Snyman is the founder of REDZetc in South Africa, an innovative real estate business. Pam has been actively involved in real estate for more than 34 years, is recognised as a true doyenne of the sector, and has a wealth of industry experience. Her unique business model supports entrepreneurial estate agents.

“We don't sell property. We get people to buy from us. So we build relationships. And by being digitally aware, you could actually do that.” 86

REDZetc was already moving in the direction of greater use of technology before the pandemic struck. For example, the platform already had the capability to allow virtual tours, but this was not used. The start of the lockdown forced a radical rethink about how to make the most of current technologies while cutting costs.

Number one is connectivity. If you can connect to your clients, you've got it, you've made it. It's about the people. Pam’s agency is now fully online. Agents work from home and are assisted by a virtual office that handles administration, marketing and compliance. Having no physical office means fewer overheads. Pam passes reduced costs onto her agents as higher commission percentages, which motivates them to provide better service to their clients and to sell more.

Another aspect was concentrating on delivery of a service, rather than selling of a product. When the aim is service delivery, the client becomes the focus, rather than the property. Pam’s agents eventually found that they were able to service their clients better through digital communication than when meeting them physically. Part of this was an emphasis on speed as something that differentiated REDZetc from its competitors. Responding to clients quickly builds relationships and demonstrates a culture of service to clients. Speed is also applied to marketing, trying to be the first agency to place ads on specific properties.

It's very important to be first getting the information to clients, by responding immediately when they require information. The end result is surprising: the COVID pandemic resulted in REDZetc’s turnover increasing, even as the majority of the property market fell.

Learn from Pam Snyman’s Playbook

Finding new ways of working Her challenge

Her solution

Selling real estate when COVID prevented operating the same old way

Finding new ways to do a business that has been done the same way for decades

Pam emphasises using technology to link agents more closely to sellers and buyers:

Connectivity — Connection is easier, tech allows quick and effective communication

Speed — Respond to your clients as quickly as possible. Pam had to train older agents on how to do this

Real-time data — Get the information to clients so that they can see that you are informed and are acting in their best interest

Her challenge

Lockdown interrupted deliveries

Her solution

Experiment with different distribution channels

Pierra Ntayombya CEO of Haute Baso, Rwanda www.hautebaso.com

Pierra Ntayombya is the ceo of Haute Baso in Rwanda, an ethical fashion brand for the modern individual looking for thoughtful, simple and functional designs. The business uses fashion as a vehicle for positive change towards the empowerment of women and youth, while contributing to the preservation of culture in Rwanda.

Kigali-based fashion label Haute Baso, is led by its acclaimed CEO, Pierra Ntayombya. It’s an ethical fashion brand that combines functionality with vibrant African designs. Pierra responded to the strict lockdown rules in an unusual way. While many businesses were downsizing, Pierra expanded her operating premises. With borders closed and limited travel, some of her core clientele were spending more time in Rwanda than usual.

“So we took the risk to expand our business and we actually also opened a cafe as a way to engage with people more frequently.”

Pierra believes that there are enormous opportunities to serve her clients better by using data. Social media is a great way to get to know your clients. Haute Baso also has a loyalty programme that captures information at point of sale and helps to track trends and customer behaviour.

“Having that database was really informative to be able to know what we should be focusing on and where we shouldn’t be taking too many risks.” Deliveries were not permitted during lockdown, but production continued. When stores re-opened, Pierra had no difficulties restocking quickly.

With so much uncertainty about the length of the lockdown, how did she assure clients that they would receive their orders? Communicating and giving frequent updates is essential because clients don’t feel like they have been forgotten.

“Even now, we notice the difference when we're not posting and then when we are posting. So having a strong social media presence is really important.” Social media is very useful for her business and continues to drive sales but Pierra stresses the importance of respecting each customer’s digital comfort levels. Staff always ask customers how they prefer to be contacted or if they don’t want to be contacted at all. They also make every effort to find out how new clients found out about them to see which digital tools are working best.

Learn from Pierra Ntayombya’s Playbook

Setting high customer service standards Her challenge

Lockdown interrupted deliveries

Her solution

Experiment with different distribution channels

Get to know your customer so that you can find better ways to serve them:

Digital engagement — Use email, messages and social media to stay in touch with your clients

Loyalty tools — Reward your customers and learn more about them at the same time

Research — Know your customers and recognise that their needs can change, so you can respond more effectively to meet those needs

Her challenge

How to respond when COVID restrictions shut down your business Her solution

Develop bespoke products for existing clients and start a new business

Swaady Martin

Founder of Yswara, South Africa

www.yswara.com Swaady Martin is the founder of African luxury brand Yswara, creating an elegant, high-end product range centred around exquisite teas sourced from across Africa, all produced by African artisans. Swaady aims to capture a true spirit of African luxury by reviving Africa’s endangered cultural heritage and unique ancestral craftsmanship.

Swaady Martin runs a number of businesses, including a quality tea brand which is sold at luxury hotels and high-end retail stores. COVID effectively shut down these outlets. Another problem was that Yswara Tea gained a lot of media exposure through interviews and articles in the media, but as the media become almost solely focused on COVID, this free marketing ground to a halt. Swaady made two big changes. The strategy for Yswara Tea was changed, with a move towards making bespoke products. And Swaady started a publishing house, LovingKindness Boma, that produces children’s books that celebrate diversity.

Instead of thinking, when are we going to go back to normal, I'm thinking if this happens again tomorrow, how resilient is my business?

Swaady’s new strategy has its roots in a focus on quality and excellence. This approach has always been central to Yswara since it was founded in 2013, and it paid dividends during the pandemic. Because clients trusted Yswara to deliver quality products, they were receptive to the new bespoke products that the Yswara team developed during the lockdown.

We've been committed to deliver excellence and quality to our clients and it’s paying off because in these times they're really supporting us and endorsing us. While the pandemic was a tough time for the tea business, there were some positives. Lockdown gave Swaady the time and space to move in a completely different creative direction: children’s publishing. The values that LovingKindness Boma promotes are a part of all of Swaady’s businesses.

Developing your people can be almost as important as developing clients. The pandemic provided impetus for the staff to more closely align with the values of the business, as it became clear that Yswara would remain in operation. Staff appreciated the security of employment and worked harder to display the company’s values, much more so than was the case before the pandemic.

You know, the kindness, the love, the way of treating people was not necessarily trickling down with some of my team members, but now it is. Swaady remains focused on the future and big ideas. The next step is an Instagram shop to increase the direct reach of her products to consumers.

Learn from Swaady Martin’s Playbook

Get creative with channels Her challenge

How to respond when Covid-19 restrictions shut down your business

Her solution

Develop bespoke products for existing clients and start a new business

Respond to adversity with creative thinking:

Quality — A reputation for quality products leads to better relationships with clients

Values — Instilling values in employees leads to better quality products and interactions with clients

Creativity — By starting a brand new business line, Swaady was able to tap into markets less affected by the pandemic

H er ch a l l en g e

Finding creative marketing strategies to grow her online business

H er so l u t i o n

Tapping into influencer marketing

Victorine Sarr

Founder of Lyvv Cosmetics, Senegal www.lyvvcosmetics.com Victorine Sarr is the founder of Lyvv Cosmetics, an organic beauty brand for women of colour in Senegal. The brand became well known for its lip line that is 100% organic. All products are paraben and cruelty free, hypoallergenic, and ophthalmologist tested because products can also be used as eye make-up.

When the Covid-19 crisis hit Senegal, Victorine Sarr already had a website for her organic beauty brand. It was not yet an e-commerce website, but she had started working on integrating online sales functionality. She was forced to speed up the process so that by March 2020, her customers could buy cosmetics online. Upgrading her site in time meant that she could remain in business and pay her employees throughout the lockdown period. Finding the right fit with a digital marketing agency is not always easy to do. Developers need to be clear about your goals, your time frames and how involved you want to be. The wrong choice can cost time money. After a few false starts, Victorine found an agency that understood her brand.

“And we were lucky to find a good agency that understood our vision and what we wanted to accomplish.”

Influencers were not part of Victorine’s marketing strategy before the

Bringing influencers on board has led positive feedback on social media

pandemic. Her business-to-business model along with partnerships with

and new customers using Lyvv Cosmetics.

distributors and retailers ensured that her products were available in six

countries in Europe, Africa and North America. Victorine didn’t want to

“They could have left or found something else to

simply hire someone to talk about how good the cosmetics were. She

do but they wanted to keep working together

wanted to partner with influencers who believed in her products and in

and find a solution.”

the company’s values. She was looking for a natural fit.

It hasn’t all been straightforward for her company. An eight-week closure

“We selected a few people who aligned with

took its toll on the business and although none of her employees were laid

off, they did receive salary cuts. Victorine believes that being transparent

our vision, our core values. If you like the with your team is important. Her team stuck with the company and she

products, you will be motivated to work believes that this period has brought them closer together.

towards a common goal.”

To test the waters, she sent out samples and asked people to try them

out and to give feedback. She used this process to build relationships

with influencers who liked her brand and enjoyed using them.

Learn from Victorine Sarr’s Playbook

Growing your business with influencers Her challenge

Finding creative marketing strategies to grow her online business

Her solution

The value of influencer marketing

Your online business can benefit from influencer marketing but as a business owner, you can drive the process:

Influencer marketing — It’s possible to align with influencers who endorse your company’s core values

Risk mitigation — Use a digital agency who understands your vision and be clear about your expectations

Transparency — Be honest with your staff about your business’s financial outlook. You will be surprised by their loyalty and support

It seems as though everywhere you turn, digital transformation is

happening. COVID-19 has also accelerated this need for many women

entrepreneurs across Africa as they adapt and pivot their digital

strategies in response to the effects of pandemic on their businesses.

Adapting existing business practices to new digital approaches to

increase efficiency and keep up with rapidly-changing market demands

Conclusion

can, however, be daunting. We hope this Playbook, featuring the

insights and experiences of some of Africa’s leading women

entrepreneurs, has helped you better understand what digital

transformation means for your business, and what the implications are

for your people, business processes, and technology.

The bottom-line is this: digital transformation is no longer a plan for the

future. It is a reality today and an essential requirement for your

business. We wish you luck on your personal digital transformation

journey and we looking forward to hearing about your success.

Here are 10 steps to get you started with digital transformation:

Prioritize your business goals

Develop your digital transformation plan

Next Steps

Prepare your staff for digital transformation

Test and pilot your digital transformation

Start adopting new technology

Identify quick wins and drive implementation

Accelerate your digital transformation process

Treat COVID-19 as an opportunity to innovate with new technology

Measure success against your key business indicators

Keep investing, learning and growing

Acknowledgements The Lionesses Business Confidence Index and the 100 Lionesses Playbook Series represents a collaboration between Lionesses of Africa Public Benefit Corporation and African Development Bank’s AFAWA programme. We are grateful to them for their funding support in making the production of the Index and the Playbook series possible and for our teams to advance our respective missions to empower women entrepreneurs across the African continent.

We would like to express our gratitude to each of the 24 women entrepreneurs from the Lionesses of Africa community who so graciously participated in the production of this Playbook. They contributed their valuable time, shared their considerable insights, and gave us the benefit of their years of experience, all of which was gratefully received and so important to the success of this project. Thank you to our Lionesses, Anabela Marcos, Brenda Wilkinson, Christelle Kwizera, Claudia Castellanos, Djamila De Sousa, Dorcas Muthoni, Ethel Cofie, Femi Olayebi, Gércia Sequeira, Itweva Nogueira, Juliet Madamombe, Kevine Kagirimpundu, Kimberley & Priscilla Addison, Kulukaya Sadiki, Lynda Aphing-Kouassi, Margaux Rusita, Marie-Anne Assanvo-N’Guessan, Natalie Ellis, Nisha Ligon, Nkemdilim Uwaje Begho, Pam Snyman, Pierra Ntayombya, Swaady Martin, Victorine Sarr.

Lionesses of Africa also benefited from the assistance and participation of many people inside and outside the organization in the production of this Playbook, from the research and survey development, to recording, transcription and editing of interviews, through to final design, production, and distribution. We are grateful to Linda Zuze, Natalie Irwin, and Stephanie Hawken for their invaluable contribution to this project. We would also like to extend our sincere thanks for the continuing support of the AFAWA team led by Esther Marieme Dassanou, and including Rosine Cathy Ijimbere, Benard Chitunga, and Mikaila Issa Abramane.

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About the partners lioness data

African Development Bank’s AFAWA Programme

Lioness Data is the research and insights unit of Lionesses of Africa Public Benefit Corporation, a social enterprise advancing Africa’s women entrepreneurs. Lioness Data taps into a growing network of over 1.3 million women entrepreneurs across Africa to extract actionable insights that help investors, policy makers, and development agencies make faster and better data-driven decisions. Lionesses of Africa builds and delivers development programmes, business tools, community platforms, digital media, networking events and information resources that women entrepreneurs need—connecting them with key global markets for growth. Lionesses of Africa’s community stretches across 54 African countries and thousands of users in the Diaspora in Europe and North America.

African Development Bank’s AFAWA Programme (Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa) is a pan-African initiative to bridge the $42 billion financing gap facing women in Africa. AFAWA adopts a holistic approach through three pillars. AFAWA finance leverages the African Development Bank’s financial instruments and has two innovative solutions to drastically transform the banking and financial landscape in Africa and to create incentives for lending to women in business. AFAWA technical assistance provides advisory services to financial institutions to ensure successful implementation of their product portfolios for women, and strengthens the capacity of women entrepreneurs through training to enhance business productivity and growth. AFAWA enabling environment engages with African governments and other key stakeholders to support legal, policy and regulatory reforms and strike down the structural barriers impeding women in business.

For further information about Lionesses of Africa, visit www.lionessesofafrica.com

For further information about AFAWA, visit www.afdb.org

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