Sofia Maquile, an entrepreneur and digital influencer in Mozambique building an AV production company — Lionesses of Africa

What inspired you to start your company?

My country is, like most of our African countries, poor – not in resources, but in mentality. I’ve always dreamed of becoming famous and having HD pictures and videos of myself, I’ve always felt like a superstar. So when I was 12, I started to become more worried about my future but I didn’t have that much hope in school because most of the graduates in my country are starving to death and cannot make it in life. Also, every modelling/photo agency I applied to rejected me, every adult person I thought that would help me just used me, and all of these factors plus other events made me very frustrated. Combining these factors, I realized that I had to stop looking for help and understand that I can work with what I had in order to produce more and invest in myself and my bigger vision.

Why should anyone use your service or product?

Smaqs is a company that reflects my personality, and I love growth and development. So our services are not here to make money, money is just a consequence that helps us sustain the business. Our services are here to help people grow, explore their passions and achieve their dreams. We help, especially women, in terms of their self-esteem and personal growth, showing that it’s possible to come from a very reluctant and insecure personality to becoming the complete opposite. Besides our HD quality, artistic pictures/videos and very affordable prices, another feature that makes our services unique is that we, unlike other photography companies, deliver the photos very fast (in 2 days or less) and if our client is not satisfied, we also offer guarantees, either in money terms or with a free photoshoot.

Tell us a little about your team

I launched a vacancy notice at the end of 2021 for people that normally the government and companies run away from, that is, those who, due to lack of both financial and psychological conditions, had to stop studying but still want to learn and do something productive out of life. The team is made up of me, Sofia Maquile, the CEO, I have a General Manager, an Executive Secretary, an Accountant and Administrative Manager, an HR manager, a Creative Director, a Marketing Director, two Photographers who work with videography as well, and a Graphic Designer, all of them being between 18-22 years old.