-Podcast5
Journey continues
Season Two
Zainab Ashadu: Founder & Creative Director, Zashadu – The Business of Self Care: From Handcrafted Leather Goods to Holistic Wellness
On this weeks episode, I chat Zainab Ashadu, Founder and Creative Director of Zashadu a leading sustainable luxury brand that specializes in handcrafted leather pieces all designed and manufactured in Lagos Nigeria. We talk about starting her career as an actor, how...
First installment
Season one
Petua & Joseline Kateeba: Crest Foam Limited – Second Generation Business, A Successful Succession Story
On the show I interview a mother-daughter duo. Petra and Joseline Kateeba. We talk about executing an effective succession, bouncing back from loss and what scaling means to a second generation Ugandan business.
Mrs Petua Kateeba is the Co-founder and a shareholder in Crest Foam Limited. She trained as a midwife and co-founded the company with her late husband in 1984. Following her husband’s death in 1992, she stepped into the leadership role and led Crest Foam from a small market player to a #1/#2 market leader. During her tenure, Crest Foam was named one of the Top 50 Brands in Uganda by Private Sector Foundation in its Proudly Ugandan campaign; she also won the Entrepreneur of the Year Award from UWEAL. In 2015, she handed over the reigns to her daughter Joseline.
Flora Mutahi: Founder & CEO Melvin Marsh International – Creating a Niche in the Kenyan Tea Market
Flora Mutahi is the Founder & CEO of Melvin March International owners of Kenya’s largest flavored tea brand. In 1995, Flora heard about the planned deregulation of the tea industry in Kenya. She saw this as an opportunity and with very little industry knowledge and resources, she decided to go into the tea business. While enjoying a cup of tea one day, she had a light bulb moment and discovered a gap in the market. This led her to create Kenya’s first flavored tea brand – Melvins Teas. Today, the product range has expanded to include not only flavored teas but herbal and fruit infusions.
Yoadan Tilahun: Founder & CEO, Flawless Events – When Passion Meets Opportunity, Turning a Side Hustle into a Business
Yoadan Tilahun is the founder & CEO of Flawless Events. A corporate events company based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Yoadan went to the United States for college and for 15 years did not visit her home country. On a family trip to Addis in 2007, she felt so at home she never went back. A friend knowing she did events as a side business in the United States, asked her to help organize a conference and Flawless Addis Ababa was born!
Amal Hassan: Founder & CEO, Outsource Global – A Techpreneur’s Story of Failing Forward in Business
Amal Hassan is the Founder and CEO of Outsource Global. A leading business process outsourcing company based in Nigeria and serving countries in Africa, the United States, UK and Japan. Her passion to unlock Nigeria’s development potential through technology-driven innovation and value addition led her to build, capitalize and restructure a series of technology-related businesses that succeed in developing talents and creating employment for young Nigerians.
Valerie Traore: Founder & Executive Director, Niyel – The Business of Social and Political Advocacy
Valerie wanted to do things differently. She told herself she was young, didn’t have the funds and needed more experience. Passion said no! So she quite her job, sold everything she owned raising $10,000. With that seed money she started Niyel, a campaigns and advocacy firm based in Dakar, Senegal. It’s been 12 years since she took that leap and we explore the journey so far.
Monica Musonda: Founder & CEO Java Foods – Building and Scaling a Household Food Brand
Monica Musonda is CEO & Founder of Java Foods, a Zambian based food processing company. Java Foods first product was “eeZee Instant Noodles”, which has become Zambia’s leading instant noodle brand. Java Foods also manufactures and distributes eeZee Supa Cereal (a fortified instant cereal/porridge).
Her experience working with one of Africa’s most successful entrepreneurs gave her the impetus to start her own business and in 2012, she moved back to Zambia and set up Java Foods. In a country where the landscape is dominated by foreign multinationals, Java Foods is a Zambian business run by a Zambian woman. Monica is one of a few Zambian women involved in manufacturing/agro-processing at a scalable level.