Female Entrepreneurs in Nairobi Garage Defying All Odds

Around 50 years ago, the idea of female entrepreneurs managing her own company would have seemed ambitious at best.

With discrimination and gender inequality being factors working against women, women entrepreneurs started their rise to fame.

As we continue celebrating International Women’s Month it is evident that women play a key role in society and now more than ever in the business space.

However, women are faced with a number of challenges and biases in business be it in securing funds or just running their businesses.

Despite the challenges, many women have started their own businesses in order to break free from social constraints. In the last 20 years, women entrepreneurs statistics have shown that the amount of female business owners has increased by 114%.

We have since created a list of female entrepreneurs across our spaces who have gone beyond to #breakthebiases and set up empires in the world of business through leading, innovating, and creating organizations that are carving a niche in their areas of expertise

Jennifer Nyambogo and Pauline Kariuki

Founders Mawu Africa

Africa’s cultural economy is one of the largest and most diverse sectors in the world.  

It however remains an informal sector that is wildly unorganized, decentralized and unregulated.

 As a result,  its growth and development are stifled leaving its main stakeholder- the artisan, poor and forced to abandon their craft to pursue other sources of income. 

For the consumer, access to handmade crafts has been a hassle as the artisans are only congregated in open-air markets. 

To address this, Jenniffer Nyambogo & Pauline Kariuki created Mawu Africa in 2020 set off on a quest to transform the lives of African artisans by creating the largest online marketplace for their crafts whilst providing them with tailored financial solutions.

One year later, the company was selected to join the Legends Jasiri Edition– a revolutionary platform conceptualized and implemented by the UK Kenya Tech Hub in conjunction with CIO East Africa.

You can watch and interview we did recently with Jeniffer and Pauline under #OnesToWatchout for segment here

Frida Wawira Ngari: 

Co-Founder and CEO, Firefly Edtech Solutions

Frida is the Co-founder and CEO of Firefly Edtech Solutions a platform that aims to lead in developing, creating, and informing on emerging technologies solutions for STEM and Higher Education across Sub-Saharan Africa.

The platform aims to become a center of educational technology pedagogical research and transformation in Kenya and across the continent. 

Currently, the platform is working on their flagship product called Ntemata, which is an exam assessment platform. The company will be rolling out soon into the market targeting schools across the country.

Mwende Morris

Managing Director at Tawi Travels

Mwende is the Founder and the Managing Director of Tawi Travel & Tours, a platform that provides a full range of strategic travel management services to a diverse client portfolio comprising of local and international corporate organizations, non-governmental organizations, and leisure travel. 

Founded in 2019, Tawi Travels brings you a modern, comfortable, and memorable travel experience is our highest priority. 

That’s why we continuously improve our services each time you book with us. All our service offerings are tailor-made to suit your specific organization or individual travel needs.

Mercy Kathuri: 

Founder and Creative Director Eden Events

Mercy is the Founder and Creative Director at Eden Event Planners, a wedding and event planning company offering a range of services to produce the perfect event for you and your guests to enjoy. 

Through her platform Mercy ensures that you experience a  planning process that is joyful, stress-free experience to allow you to focus on what’s really important in the lead-up to your event.

#IWD2019: Fierce Women at Nairobi Garage

Mercy is a professional and entrepreneur with a background in education, banking and event management. She is also experienced in business formation.

Patricia Warui

GoLive Interactive

Golive Interactive Ltd is a digital agency founded in the year 2012, specializing in website development and social media management.

Golive Interactive builds wonderful websites, beautiful brands, and delightful digital services. The main target audience is the NGO, Small Medium Enterprises, and other organizations.

Golive Interactive has bagged some big clients including firms like OXFAM International which is a global movement of people, working together to end the injustice of poverty.

Golive also has a  comprehensive hosting & support package as standard and also offer brand, tailored SEO, Analytics, and tracking support.

Faye Ekong

MD RavelWorks Africa 

Faye is Managing Director & Co-Founder of RavelWorks Africa, a platform that partners with organizations and their employees to co-create HR, Learning & Professional Development Programs that are adapted to the modern workplace, foster growth, and inspire great working atmospheres.

Celestine Ukpere

CEO Celestine Ukpere Consulting

Celestine is the founder and CEO of Celestine Ukpere Consulting and Glaxotech E-Learning an Ed-tech-based startup.  

Through her firm, she has consulted in various capacities for Google’s DSA program including Engagement Manager SSA and doing the community impact assessment and trainer development for  Facebook Digify PRO Skills program and Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in partnership with International Trade Centre (ITC) in implementing Refugee Employment & Skills Initiative (RESI) project in Dadaab.

She has also served as a GBG WomenWill Nairobi Lead (where previously in partnership with Ajuma Nasenyana Foundation in partnership with UNHCR/AAR-Japan/DRC Partnership been part of a Digital Skills training & WomenWill Women in Leadership Masterclass at Kakuma Refugee Camp in Turkana for the Beauty without Borders Project). 

She was a board member at the i-Hub Nairobi (2020), an expert on Education and Skills at the World Economic Forum, a member of the Facebook Community Leadership Circles Nairobi, CMX Connect Nairobi Led and Startup GrindX Kajiado Director.

With a career spanning across various industries in Telecommunication (Tecontra, Nairobi, Kenya), Retail (Woolworths, Lagos, Nigeria, Technology (Bozza.Mobi StartUp, (Cape Town, South Africa),

Conclusion

While this may just be a few women in across our spaces breaking the biases in entrepreneurship, there are still more phenomenal women excelling in different areas of expertise. 

As the world celebrates International Women’s Day, we celebrate these women’s achievements and tenaciously challenging bias. And the next time probably you are looking for mentors in business, you definitely know the space you should be in.

In the meantime, you can also sign-up for our upcoming event, #AfterOfficeHours with Mercy Kyallo. Join us and learn a few things around starting and running a business with global standards.