Entrepreneurship is definitely not child’s play, but there are women who have delved into it taking up the reins of their careers and proving that anyone can run a business irrespective of gender or socioeconomic background. Here are 5 inspiring women all under the age of 40 whom you can learn from in your entrepreneurial journey.
Adaora Mbelu Dania
Adaora Mbelu Dania is a director at Trellis Group, a group of companies that elevates the branding experience for various brands across various industries. She is also the founder of ‘Socially Africa’, a foundation focused on improving the lives of young people through various brilliant initiatives. With her conspicuously high afro and overall tomboyish looks, it is not hard to see that Adaora means business. In more literal terms, she is a woman with a mission which can be evidently seen in the impact she has made through the projects she organises. Through Socially Africa, she has run code classes for teens where a total of 80 teens learned basic programming. In addition to her philanthropic attributes, Adaora has also shown her talent in managing projects for several brands such as Freemantle Licensed TV Freemantle Licensed TV Shows, Nigerian Idol and Nigeria’s Got Talent where she handled aspects relating to business, brand, and production. Adaora is indeed providing a framework for businesses and individuals.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ahdora.lumina/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ahdoralumina
Bidemi Zakariyau
Bidemi found her passion in PR while interning as a lawyer and discovering more about the Nigerian business landscape. She launched LSF|PR, one of the fastest growing PR agencies in Nigeria, while attending Law School. Since its launch, LSF|PR has evolved from just a fashion PR company to the go-to firm for agencies like Cointreau Africa, Laurent Perrier, Jack Daniels, Remy Martin, Hugo Boss, and Ventures Platform. Bidemi has proved to be diverse in her business as she has created more divisions under the umbrella of LSF|PR such as LSF|SME which is focused on small business enterprises and LSF|Digital which is the Digital Marketing Division of LSF|PR. She also launched The Luxe Digest, a firm which represents luxury brands, in 2017. For her huge achievements at a young age, she was recognized as one of the leading entrepreneurs under 25 by SME100. She also won The Future Awards Africa (TFAA) Prize for Media Enterprise in 2016.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bidemizakariyau/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BidemiZakariyau
Ijeoma Ndukwe-Egwuronu
According to a proverbial phrase, when life gives you lemons make lemonades. This statement aptly captures Ijeoma Ndukwe’s emancipation from being a debtor to becoming a business owner using the resources available to her. After suffering a major setback in her clothing business, Bubez Plaiz, Ijeoma found the inspiration to start a pap (Akamu) production business. She perceived the goldmine in this industry considering the fact that many Nigerian mothers feed their kids with pap and would eagerly subscribe to it being prepared under hygienic conditions. Today, her pap producing business, Bubez Foods, has over 30 vendors selling her products all over Nigeria. She prognosticates Bubez Food being a leader in the food processing industry with a huge export market in the coming years.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nwanyiakamu_global/
Arese Ugwu
Author of the bestselling book “The Smart Money Woman”, Arese Ugwu, inspires many to embrace financial freedom and live more fulfilling lives, a vision she got after splitting from her spouse and experiencing financial troubles. Today, her book, “The Smart Money Woman” holds true for many who aim to gain financial literacy and make smarter money decisions. Arese’s knowledge about finance comes from a place of practical experience in her field. She attended business school at the University College London and Aston Business School, Birmingham, where she obtained an MSc in Economic Development and BSc in Business and Management respectively. She went on to acquire more knowledge in the financial sector where she worked and keenly gained insight into how people spent their money and the importance of a financial management system. Her blog, “Smart Money Africa”, abounds with practical financial advice in the form of articles and interviews.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arese00/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/smartmoneyarese
Maya Horgan Famodu
Maya Horgan Famodu is a 26-year-old Nigerian-American, big on Venture Capitalism. She began her startup, Ingressive, to help foreign investors in Silicon Valley break into the African entrepreneur ecosystem. Through her experience of being raised as a child in an entrepreneurial family with US and Nigerian ties, she sought to create an avenue to channel resources from the US to Africa. She also gained valuable working experience in private equity research where she learned how businesses suffer in the absence of adequate infrastructure. As a result, she founded ‘Ingressive’, the middleman between western investors and African entrepreneurs. The idea behind Ingressive is to provide African startups with the support they need to achieve a high level of development on the continent and gain access to innovation through investments.Featured Image source: The Guardian
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mayanator/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mayahorgan
Featured Image source: The Guardian