Dear Africana Woman,
How are you my Darling? I have missed you so much. I feel like I walked through a furnace in October, figuratively and literally and by grace I survived. I am so excited to be back to normal. Well my normal hahahaha.
I have a gift for you. In the month of November, you can receive motivational messages delivered right to your phone first thing in the morning. To get in on this all you have to do is join my WhatsApp group called Good Morning Beautiful. Only I as the admin will be able to post, so fear not, you won’t be flooded with 1000's of messages, but you will get a reminder every day of just how amazing you are with some actionable tips to make your day productive. Join by clicking here. I cannot wait. This is something that I do with the ladies I coach and without fail it is the number one thing they love and miss the most. So if this isn’t your jam, that’s okay but tell someone else about it or post it on your social. Let’s share a little sunshine.
Alright, I need your help on this next one. Can I have a show of hands if you are tired of going to women’s networking events that are cute but the content is basic? I mean, have you been to events, where you are excited about the line up of prolific women speakers only to start listening to them speak and you think “I am way past that stage.” Or on the flip side are you always the one up on the stage speaking, always the one reaching behind to pull other women up, as you are breaking glass ceilings?
But … where do YOU go, to have your cup filled? Who inspires You? Who expands Your way of thinking? Who pushes the limits of Your thought process? Who do you sit down with to have the next level of conversations that are down to the nitty gritty? You are no longer floundering in your business and career; systems have been set up, in fact your eco-system is generating a profit. Therefore, the type of conversations you are yearning for address things like where to find the best talent, retention strategies, how to inject more capital in your business, what does it take to secure venture capital, what trends in the market are worth pursuing or letting pass as a phase, what strategies are effective in an African context and essentially how can you be disruptive enough that it can be felt at the global scale.
Essentially what is happening now is that as good intentioned as the women’s empowerment events/conferences/workshops/and seminars are, they are flawed because they plonk all the women in one space but deliver content at the beginner level. It is like chewing bubble gum; they get you hyped up with inspiration but the excitement dies very quickly after the event because they have not actually given you practical tools that you can take action on. Ultimately, there is no differentiation of the audiences actual needs and as a high performing woman you are subjected to a one size fits all treatment.
Yet I am convinced there is a group of women craving for more. I am not talking about a social club, which are a dime a dozen. You already have your circle of friends, which is great. To be honest, I imagine what you have right now is a group of maybe 5 women, if you are lucky, who you talk shop with. But how diverse is that conversation? I know the vision you have for your business is larger than life. And you can feel the greatness bubbling right under your skin but it has no incubator to nurture it at the rate you desire. What if there was a way to tap into a pool of knowledge and grow at an exponential rate?
I believe Africa is on the tipping point of exploding in the global market. As a people we have to decide who will be the major stakeholders of the most influential companies on our continent. We can decide whether they are home grown and tap into the vast market of the continent. Major international companies have began to pay more attention to us. They are aggressively researching how to effectively capture our market and are making huge investments to set up shop in Africa. The recent purchase of Nigerian fin-tech Paystack by Stripe in a deal valued at $200 million USD is a prime example of foreigners laying claim to our most valuable resource, our people.
So are you African, an entrepreneur and female? Then pause to take in the opportunity at hand. The world expects us to sit in a corner talking about fashion, hair and celebrity gossip. They expect us to be satisfied with small businesses and to line up for hand outs. They expect us to keep believing our continent is poor as they swoop in to take control. What they are not expecting is that we the women will come up with innovative solutions to our own problems which we will then maximise to a multinational level. These are our communities. We grew up here. We raised this generation. We know the problems on a deep intimate level. We have the potential to be disruptive to not only the international corporations but to the male fraternity too.
Yet we can only do that effectively if we work together. We need a strong network of entrepreneurial women leaders having higher level conversations about the future of the African continent. Women who are action takers. Women who are not satisfied with the status quo. Women who are renegades. Women who understand that collaboration takes you farther. Women with a wealth and abundance mindset.
Are you that woman?
I want you to know that your network is assembling right here and you do not want to miss out on this historic moment. Granted this is not for everyone. However, I hope you can help me find these women. I am looking for movers and shakers from all industries and from all our 54 African countries. If you know one or some, share this with them. Fill out this registration of interest, so as when we are ready to launch the network, you will be the first invited to the founders table.
Listen the next time you step into a room that is filled with mostly older, white men, you will hold your head high because you are certain that you may have come as one, but you stand as 10, 000 other female African entrepreneurial leaders who have your back. Envision the world we can build together.
Let me know what you thought in the comments. I love to hear your thoughts and insights. If you have any suggestions of women that I should reach out to please send me an email at africanawoman@gmail.com. You can also find me on Instagram @Chulu_bydesign. Sweetheart, I gotta run. Don’t forget to get in on the Good Morning Beautiful early morning pick me up. Make sure you look after yourself mind, body and soul. And remember I want you to love yourself flaws n all so as you attract the life that you truly desire.
Love
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