Ipeleng Kwadi – African Farming

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CATTLE
Ipeleng Kwadi, Brits, North West

Because it is now winter and the grass has dried off, cattle need a supplement to get sufficient nutrients. The fodder-flow plan has been in place from the beginning of May, in preparation for the dry season.

For our supplementary feed, we give the cows sufficient protein to increase their digestive potential. The cows are rotated rapidly through smaller camps so that they do not waste energy searching for food.

We feed yellow maize and molasses for energy. We also provide salt blocks and add a bit of salt to the licks to improve feed intake. Salt helps maintain appetite and body weight and increases feed consumption and weight gain in heifers and steers.

Because cattle do not like the taste of minerals like phosphorus and magnesium, which are bitter, or calcium, which dries out the mouth, adding salt to the minerals provides a better chance of sufficient intake.

It also provides minerals that are essential for muscle, nerve and immune system function, as well as healthy coats and reproductive ability.

Besides this, we must also ensure there is enough clean drinking water in all the camps. Cows in calves get extra feed to help them maintain good body condition while they are maintaining the unborn calves. We use Ivomec Gold to control ecto-and endoparasites.



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From WAH to the Stack: Charting Sharmadean Reid’s Girlboss Journey

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A shark in a vintage dress, Sharmadean Reid is a self-made entrepreneur who has dedicated her life to empowering women in the beauty space. Having founded nail art studio WAH Nails in 2009, Sharmadean went on to develop Beautystack, a digital beauty directory and social app connecting clients with service providers for beauty and wellness treatments, in 2018. 

@sharmadeanreid

The advent of the COVID-19 was a massive blow for beauty business and entrepreneurs who were forced to close their operations in accordance with national lockdown laws. Sharmadean campaigned tirelessly and lobbied the government to properly compensate and provide substantial support for beauty service providers, acutely aware of how heavily the loss of earnings was affecting their livelihoods and personal well-being.

The VC-backed launch of Beautystack was cut short by the pandemic, cutting off thousands of beauty entrepreneurs from a steady stream of income. This galvanized Reid to campaign to increase awareness to the UK Government on the lived experience of the average beauty professional. Alongside this, Reid used her platform to provide valuable content from business and professional webinars to mental health talks with a variety of people, across industries; further reinforcing the multiple intersections of the beauty industry and how pivotal it was to the collective good. She inspired people to realise that whilst COVID-19 had affected the industry physically, there were meaningful ways they could support their community in ways that transcended beauty and spoke to a much wider audience. 

In 2021, Reid pivoted once more, always inspired by her situation to do better, and created The Stack World. “Our tagline is that we have content, conversations and commerce,” says Reid. Developed to serve as an evolving ecosystem for women, driven by culture, content and conversation, The Stack World serves as a multi-purpose destination for the modern woman looking for a place to be inspired, supported and never forgetting Reid’s roots, beautified. 

Always one to roll with the punches, Reid has managed to combine her previous expertise and a powerful love for media into one promising business, backed by investors wanting to get in early on this venture. 

 

The startup is an online platform with a content vertical called ‘The Stack’ and will curate lots of events throughout the city for working women who need guidance, mentorship and provide valuable networking opportunities.The long-term goal is to add an e-commerce arm with The Stack Marketplace which will allow audiences to book external services relevant to The Stack’s articles or events, powered by a paid membership program which gives exclusive access to services and resources, be it aesthetic treatments, coaching or even legal advice.

Reid has championed the beauty industry in England and managed to transform her years of experience into a vehicle of change and empowerment for other women. By creating an ecosystem for “city-based women with a desire for change”, Reid is providing them with resources and opportunities to become their own bosses and take ownership of their careers, much like she did with hers.

 

Reid serves as an inspiration to many women who found themselves knocked back and their careers thrown off course by the pandemic. She’s an expert in the art of the pivot; a perfect example of a woman who has used her multitude of experience to build her own future, write her own narrative and create opportunity not just for herself but for thousands of other women. Often, the world girlboss gets thrown around and diluted in the process but with women like Reid, whose life’s work serves to uplift and empower others, what other word is there?





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Vaccinate and educate to manage risks – African Farming

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For Lindiwe Sithole, host of African Farming Season 2, visiting the Eastern Cape in all its splendour is only the beginning of an insightful journey. She gets the opportunity to see the large farming enterprise that Mandla Mandlendoda and his brother, Johnston, runs in the province. 

Dr Thapelo Makae, a veterinarian with Elanco, was just an impressed with the job the two brothers are doing. “We discussed the role of leaders in a community and how they can contribute to the agricultural community by sharing their knowledge.” 

Sithole says the brothers not only look after their own animals but also assist in educating their neighbours about the importance of vaccinations.

“They also help other farmers in their community to  vaccinate their animals.” This all forms part of a comprehensive biosecurity plan to stop the spread of diseases.

“There are various risks associated with diseases that can spread from one farm to another. We salute Mandla and Johnston for the extraordinary  role they play in their community and reducing these risks. They are true leaders,” Dr Makae says. 

A herd health management plan is vital to running a profitable livestock farming operation. However,  some producers unfortunately do not vaccinate until they incur a loss. Dr Makae says biosecurity starts with the efforts a farmer puts in to prevent the spread of diseases. This includes looking after the animals by implementing a primary animal health programme. 

Vaccination forms an important part of such a programme. “Vaccination is all about preventing the outbreak of seasonal diseases that affect livestock,” says Dr Makae.

Farmers also need to support the health and immunity of their herds with other treatments, including nutritional products and parasiticides, which further aid in disease prevention. 

Supplementing feed with nutritional products can support the health of the herd during winter, when the quality of feed tends to deteriorate. Your herd’s treatment programme should include various elements such as vaccinations, parasite control and nutritional supplementation in order to ensure that your animals are in the best possible health.

Elanco™ helpline: 0861 777 735



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Here’s what you can expect in African Farming this week!

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This week on African Farming, Lindiwe Sithole spends time with award-winning livestock and sheep farmer Aviwe Gxotiwe. Tune in this Thursday at 18:30 on Mzansi Wethu (DStv channel 163).



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Managing fodder feed flow successfully – African Farming

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An excited Lindiwe Sithole, host of African Farming Season 2, travels to the beautiful Eastern Cape to visit the large farming enterprise of Mandla and Johnston Mandlendoda. The brothers take her on a tour of their farmlands, showing her the various wildlife species that call it home. Running such a multifaceted enterprise takes a lot of hard work and dedication, which the Mandlendodas have in abundance.

On a farm like this, where livestock and wildlife are the primary income, the dominant variable is always the supply of sufficient feed. If planning is poor, aggravated by inefficient production practices and adverse weather conditions, feed supplies can easily be eradicated or inadequate. Mandla says running a game farm along with livestock is no small feat.

“The flat areas are usually allocated to the livestock for grazing while the game graze on the mountainous and bush areas.”

Sithole sits down with Dr Francois van de Vyver, the National Technical Manager at Voermol Feeds, to talk about some of the key aspects of feeding thousands of animals sufficiently. “When you are responsible for feeding various animals in different stages of production, a sound fodder flow program is crucial,” he explains.

“There might be animals that are pregnant, lactating, or being weaned on the same farm – they would all have different nutritional needs. A farmer has to have a plan that caters for all the various needs of these animals, as well as those of the different species. If the animals develop deficiencies due to inadequate feed or nutrients, their development and reproduction rate will suffer.”

According to Dr Van de Vyver, a lot of effort is required to plan for various factors that can have an impact on the availability of feed.

“One has to consider difficult years, like periods of drought, and prepare for all possible scenarios by having a fodder bank on the farm.”

The goal of a fodder bank is to maintain the health of productive animals, especially in trying times. Such a facility can be utilised all year but is designed to bridge the forage scarcity during dry seasons.



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How to identify an entrepreneurial idea? — Lionesses of Africa

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by Deyzes Pereira, founder of Startups Consulting, Mozambique

In the scope of the work that I have been developing, many people ask me, “But how can I identify a business idea?” My first answer to that question is, “What are your skills?” and then secondly,  “How can you make money from them?”. When I talk about skills, I mean what you like and know how to do. Note that this need not be complicated or scientific – it can range from cooking, decoration, data analysis, painting, photography, dance, sports, sales, among others. Many people make the mistake of focusing only on the scope of their academic training, and end up not exploring different things and as a result, end up completely distant from their desired horizon.

Taking as an example, I started my professional career in line with my academic training, and today I managed to create a wide range of complementary skills to complement this, but things that I never imagined myself doing. And in addition, I identified a skill that was hidden, and that is completely different from my academic background. And the good thing is that I earn some money from each of these skills.

After this reflection, I recommend people to take some time and analyze what they think is missing in their area, city or country. And after having some entrepreneurial ideas or not, I recommend that they talk informally with people in those areas and ask them what they miss in terms of products or services and how much they would be willing to pay for them. In case you have an idea of your own, I recommend that you validate the acceptance of your idea with potential customers, and again about how much they would be willing to pay.

If we are talking about a person who already has a business, I recommend they understand what their customers have demanded, and to analyze how they can diversify in the current business or create a complementary or completely different business. Another valid way is to team up with a partner who has already identified an idea, or who can create it with you, or who can help you develop your own business idea. They will be able to share skills, human and financial resources and grow together in the business. The skill can be something born or developed over time. The human being has the ability to develop various skills, so don’t just stay in your comfort zone for one skill! Explore, investigate, be curious, experiment and above all challenge yourself!



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In the thick of it – why women are such exceptional leaders during a crisis — Lionesses of Africa

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by Linda Zuze (PhD)

When your company is in free fall, or when painful retrenchment discussions are underway, and when productivity is at an all-time low, who would you put in charge? Well, it turns out that women are considered better leaders during complex times. That’s right. Opportunities for promotion actually improve for women when things are going horribly wrong in a business and when the risk of failure is high. This happens far more often than most of us realize (think Carly Fiorina at Hewlett-Packard or Carol Bartz at Yahoo). Researchers have coined the term glass cliff to describe women breaking through a glass ceiling and into senior positions during an organisational crisis. 

The pandemic is stretching even the most seasoned of leaders to the limits. Are there differences in how men and women chart a course through a crisis of this magnitude? This question is bound to be debated for many years to come but early indications are that women’s leadership skills stack up better. According to a study reported in the Harvard Business Review, women were rated as more effective leaders than men and the gap in favour of women leaders actually widened during the pandemic. What seems to be driving these favourable ratings is how women leaders build relationships, show empathy, prioritise the welfare and development of employees, and motivate the team to work towards a common goal. Some studies go further to argue that countries that are led by women have responded better to the pandemic compared to countries where men were in positions of leadership. 

These results certainly don’t imply that all female leaders display exceptional qualities. Nor am I suggesting that every male leader has failed in his position, but there are increasing signs that when women are tasked with leading during difficult times, they tend to do so in such a way that the organisation is in a better position when the storm eventually passes.

Lioness Data, the research and insights unit of Lionesses of Africa, recently published the results of the South African Women Entrepreneurs Job Creators Survey. This was an online study that took place between November 2020 and April 2021 and involved 913 women entrepreneurs who belong to the South African Lionesses of Africa network. Some interesting findings emerged. Seventy-six percent of respondents had children in their households. We now know that even as the economy has started to re-open in South Africa, women are experiencing a slower recovery than men, while at the same time dealing with additional domestic responsibilities. To cope with COVID-related disruptions, many businesses have been forced to lay off staff or reduce staff wages. Remarkably, 70% of respondents in the job creators survey chose to lead by example. They either reduced or cut their own pay first. Nearly two-thirds found a way to protect and retain jobs during the pandemic.

Over and above protecting jobs, South African businesswomen are optimistic about the future. Almost three-quarters are confident that their businesses will create jobs. They firmly believe that being a business owner comes with a responsibility to create jobs in the broader community. Where local businesses intentionally support other local businesses for the services that they need, the local economy has a chance to grow . Of course, when the number of economically active individuals in an area increases, the demand for local goods and services also goes up, ultimately leading to improvements in standards of living. With unemployment currently at record high levels and over 7 million South Africans without jobs, this is a leadership mindset that really needs to be recognized. 

I must add that there is a hidden danger lurking behind placing too much emphasis on phrases like ‘glass ceilings’ and ‘glass cliffs’. Used incorrectly, these expressions could imply that women professionals are too naïve to recognize the risks that come with leading a company through a crisis. Or, worse still, that they are so helpless that they simply don’t have any other path to progress. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, many women step into these roles, fully aware of the risks and ready to face down the challenges. If there is one thing that the pandemic has taught us, it’s that crises can unfold unexpectedly, when executives are already at the helm of companies. 

It is by no means plain sailing for women in senior positions. Executive ambitions are quickly cut short when women are unable to salvage a sinking ship. Company culture can leave female managers feeling isolated and unsupported. Why women leaders are standing out during the pandemic is mainly because of their steadfast response to the impossible – both, at an organisational and an individual level. It is their relentless ability to fix their gaze on a promising future, despite the current circumstances.   



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Business forecasting exists to make fortune-telling look good — Lionesses of Africa

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By Lionesses of Africa Operations Department 

Back in March of this year we begged all to keep focus, that we were not out of the woods yet, that in spite of Africa as a whole having had a relatively ‘good’ Covid war (and there is nothing good obviously about any deaths or business failure, but it was significantly below the horrific expectations for Africa, thankfully) in our Weekender article (here) entitled “Now is the time to focus!” we urged all to not relax – it’s not over by a long shot.

Sadly we were proved correct as the Delta Variant started to rip through the Northern Hemisphere. Countries that had left vaccination to the last minute or simply could not get hold of any, started to suffer terribly and there was a realization that there had been ‘far too much talk and no trousers’ when it came to finding enough vaccine for Africa. However many times people said that we are not safe until everyone is safe, yet again it was all too easy to forget Africa.

Following on from last week’s letter (here) showing the terrifying disruption caused by the rioting and looting in South Africa, we turned to a survey by the global giant in trade credit insurance and a recognized specialist in the areas of surety, debt collection, fraud insurance, structured trade credit and political risk, Euler Hermes. If anyone knows what is going on in the world, it is Euler Hermes and their clients.

So what were the most feared risks these giants of trade had at the top of their list in their ‘Global Supply Chain Survey – In search of post-Covid-19 resilience’ (here)?

Interestingly the top three fears stand at 41%, 40% and 40% of those surveyed (before anyone jumps on us – those surveyed could choose a top 3, so yes, this adds up to a bit more than 100% – well noticed!) and in the spirit of the Olympics that is just opening in Covid ravaged Tokyo, we would certainly call that a photo finish! 

So with a Gold medal (just) at 41% we find Business Interruption causing supply chain disruptions in 1st place. How many times have we talked about major companies now looking to find local supply or ensuring that their own supply chain has resilience through paying early, on time and with a smile. This is real, all companies (worth their Salt) are pushing this aggressively. As we have said, reach out to your customers to see how you can work closer with them, if there are some large multi-national companies or large international companies nearby – pay them a visit and offer your products – what’s the worst that could happen? It’s worth a shot!

In joint Silver medal place with 40% each comes Cyber Incidents and the Pandemic. There is no doubt that Cyber Incidents (Cybercrime, IT failure/outage, data breaches, fines and penalties) are feared risks. 

We mentioned last week, how massive Cybercrime, hacking and malware is becoming a huge problem, not only for large firms, but any that appear for whatever reason in the cross-hairs of these criminals. Losing your website, or even your internal systems must be every business leader’s worst nightmare. Before it becomes a real nightmare, work out what you would do. Where do you keep your backup? Is it ring fenced from the latest backup? A bug in today’s backup could very well infect yesterday’s and so on – so even if you had planned everything correctly, you would still end with egg on your face. 

How well protected are your CRM and ERP systems, and will you still have access to this should your own systems crash? These are serious issues that only a ‘war-game’, as we mentioned last week, or a dry run will expose. 

There is no way that you can forecast these, but you can call your staff in on a weekend and shut your systems off for a few hours and watch what happens. It is only having watched the ‘Rabbits caught in the headlamps’ or the ‘Headless Chickens’ running around that all will begin to realize just how serious this is. Obviously you need security of your data (so we suggest you don’t email your customer list or financials to everyone on your payroll and ask them to keep it safe!), but you do need to find some way of ensuring you can unlock and retrieve this when the lights go out. Plus of course resilience of your systems and backups, but when a malware does hit or your systems go down, at least you have a Plan B that can then kick in.

“It will never happen to me”, yet who thought that British Airways, HSBC and also AirBnB would be hit, not by malware, not by hacking, but by an old fashioned mistake by their content providers (see here). The entire internet was hit recently when Fastly a Content Distribution Network (‘CDN’ see here) went down, closing for a while Amazon, eBay and many others. A CDN holds details of all websites locally, so you don’t have to ‘fetch’ the information from say, the USA (which even at the speed of light, takes time), but can pick up the information far quicker locally. If that goes down your browser has no idea where to look!

All these things are happening daily, it’s no longer something that happens in NY, London or Tokyo and does not effect us.

Looking at the other Silver Medalist, the Covid Pandemic. In our discussions with Lionesses across Africa the first part of our conversation is always about Covid (not a surprise, this is the start of all conversations across the globe). Sadly the Delta Variant is ripping through Africa as well and in a non vaccinated continent, tragically there are no walls or firebreaks.

So what can we possibly do?

Herd immunity carries with it huge death and risks, so is something that we would hope is not being trialed by many countries, but we fear is happening.

One of the people who kindly worked with us at the Lionesses of Africa/Harvard conference entitled: “Women and the Changing Face of Entrepreneurship in Africa” (here) is a globally recognised expert in large real estate. His name is John Macomber and is part of the Harvard Business School, when not involved in his day job of advising on and investing in the construction of huge and safe buildings. He was recently part of The Lancet Covid-19 Commission and the Safe Work, Safe School, and Safe Travel Task Force that looked into how we could keep our schools and other large buildings containing many people milling around, coming in and out, safe. He recently alerted us via LinkedIn to the full reports which can be found here, but what we found most interesting was not just the results of their investigations on buildings, but also how these impacted the people within. 

The reports states:

“Buildings play a critical role in minimizing, or conversely exacerbating, the spread of airborne infectious diseases. COVID-19 outbreaks occur indoors, and within-room long-range transmission beyond two meters (six feet) has been well- documented in conditions with no masking and low ventilation rates. However, the relationship between building systems and airborne infectious disease transmission predates SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Building-related interventions have been shown to reduce the spread of many other airborne infectious diseases, including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), tuberculosis, measles, and influenza.”

Yikes – that’s the last time we walk into a factory without a Hazmat suit!

But this is serious, for all of us who have factories, one infected person can quickly wipe out all or most of our workers. Recently won that large contract that will require your loyal employees to work overtime? One cough and it’s all over.

So what can we do.

Rule no.1 and in Gold position is Open the windows! 

Opening windows works extremely well and is probably the Gold medal winner. Our Lionesses in Johannesburg with temperatures currently “Feeling Like” -6 degrees centigrade (according to a weather screenshot sent to us) will not be thanking us – sorry!

In Silver position is air conditioning/ventilation machines, but please have them taking air from the outside, a restaurant is mentioned in the report that simply recycled the air from within. This is the map of the air, that recycled the air from one sick person (see here full report):



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Lioness Launch / Female-founded African startup and legal technology company, life.file launches to help people handle the legal parts of life and death — Lionesses of Africa

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life.file is a female-founded African startup and legal technology company launched by Claire Keet and Sinal Govender. They are on a simple mission to reimagine the way that people experience the legal parts of life and death. The law is a guest at life’s best and worst moments – like starting a business, beginning or ending a marriage, or burying loved ones. These experiences are universal. Claire and Sinal believe in using intuitive, people focused design and normal-people-speak to create a user experience of the law that is simple, educational and friendly. Their team works where law, design and technology meet and they have picked the best bits of all three to create life.file.

In June 2021, life.file was officially launched. It is a web app that helps people create, store and share a life.file of all the legal life stuff their loved ones will need one day when they’re not around. It’s a bit like “Dropbox for death” but so much more. life.file is a subscription web app that costs users R29 / month paid annually at R348 or R49 / month paid monthly. life.file guides users through the creation of a life.file containing all the legal life things they should have sorted out. life.file’s colourful, intuitive interface suggests all of the more obvious legal things like wills and living wills – plus all of the things that users probably aren’t thinking of. Like “what happens to my pets when I’m six feet under?” or “what happens to the domestic worker I employ when I die?”

life.file’s document builder allows users to create their own bespoke wills in minutes – with new legal documents like a living will and power of attorney launching soon. Users are guided through all the important questions to consider, with friendly educational pop-up resources along the way that explain complicated legal jargon in normal-people-speak. Once a user creates their life.file, it is stored in life.file’s encrypted digital vaults. Security is very important to life.file, which is why the company has adopted,, industry best practices to keep user documents safe. Users are encouraged to share their life.files with a few trusted people in their lives – like a family members or their spouses – for “one day when…”. life.file helps users make sure that the people in their lives who’ll be left behind one day have what they need to wrap up their estate. Without the unnecessary admin. And heartache. And guessing at passwords.

What makes life.file different is that it helps people to reimagine the way they experience the legal parts of life and death. People don’t like to think about and plan for life’s worst moments – like dying or getting really sick. 70% of South Africans don’t even have a will. Getting your affairs in order is confronting, costly, time consuming and overwhelming. But worse, dying without your legal “ducks in a row” causes immense stress for the people you leave behind. Having your legal life stuff organised is more than being on top of your admin for “just in case”. It’s an empowering way of living your best life – reduce stress, avoiding disaster and looking after the people you love most when things go pear shaped. Traditionally, creating a life.file has been a time consuming, costly and confronting exercise. All to the benefit of financial institutions, law firms and insurance companies. Because death is the single universal certainty for every person on the planet, we are passionate about breaking down the traditional barriers to entry and making the experience of getting “your ducks in a row” easier, friendlier and more affordable.

life.file officially launched on 17 June 2021. All things Covid considered, Claire and Sinal  didn’t host an in-person launch event. Instead, they did their first public showcasing of life.file along with three other legal tech startups on the South African Legal Technology (SALT) Network. The two founders have big aspirations! Their goal is to have 1M+ life.file users across five legal jurisdictions in five years – starting with South Africa. They aim to achieve this vision by leveraging the very best and most disruptive combination of human centric design, AI, gamification, education, and systems engineering to inspire people to create, maintain, store and share a life.file of their legal life content. By completely reimagining the way that people experience and engage with the legal and administrative aspects of life and death, their aim is to create greater access to justice and help people live happier lives. Users can create, store and share their life.files at www.lifefile.co.za.

Speaking about the launch of life.file, co-founder Claire Keet says, “Despite the legal parts of life and death being a universal certainty, no one was helping any of us get prepared. Not in the affordable, user friendly way we want to be helped anyway. life.file is our solution to a problem we couldn’t find a good enough solution for.”

Sinal Govender, life.file’s other co-founder says, “Making legal resources available in ways that are friendly, accessible and affordable seem like obvious choices, but they’re rule breaking, opening up an industry that normally makes legal life stuff intimidating, overwhelming and costly.” 

To find out more about life.file, send an email to hello@lifefile.co.za or visit the company’s website http://www.lifefile.co.za or Instagram: @mylifefile



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Faraja Nyalandu, a Tanzanian social entrepreneur passionate about education — Lionesses of Africa

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 In 2013, Faraja established Shule Direct, a thriving organisation providing comprehensive web and mobile educational platforms offering national curriculum based learning content across multiple subjects to over a million in and out of school youth. The enterprise now hosts Tanzania’s 1st Start up incubator for young women entrepreneurs for their personal and professional development and developing a digital platform for young entrepreneurs to learn, network and grow their businesses. 

She is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network after serving on the Global Future Council for Education, Gender and Work. Faraja is a Teaching and Learning Thematic Lead for the Regional Educational Learning Initiative (RELI) where she focuses on teachers’ pre and in service professional development. An education enthusiast, she has also served on the Board of Ubongo Learning, READ and a technical adviser for Institutions for Inclusive Development that helped Tanzanian institutions innovate and scale systemic solutions to big development problems. 

Last year, the World Economic Forum appointed her as a Young Global Leader Class of 2020, a tenure for 5 years. Prior to that she has been recognized as a Leading Woman in Technology in Africa award for her work with Shule Direct, Tanzania Leadership Awards’ Hall of Fame Woman of the Year Award and a System Innovator award by Segal Family Foundation for systemic change in digital learning in Secondary School education in Tanzania. Africa Youth Awards has named Faraja among 100 Most Influential Young Africans.

An avid reader who has authored two youth empowerment books written in Kiswahili, Tanzania’s national language, to reach underserved young people and catalyse their dreams. Faraja is a qualified Lawyer with an LLB and LLM (Master of Laws) in Human Rights and Migration.

Lioness Weekender spoke to the truly inspirational Faraja Nyalandu to learn more about her unique entrepreneurial journey and to find out about her plans for the future.

What does your company do?

Shule Direct’s goal is to provide local and accessible digital educational content for young learners across Tanzania and Africa to improve their learning outcomes. We are working with qualified teachers to create digitized learning notes, tutorials, quizzes, and multimedia content and developing technological solutions to deliver comprehensive curriculums on web and mobile solutions.

What inspired you to start your company?

I stumbled upon the potential of technology in supporting learning when I was a young mother with two children while studying for my Law degree. I could not be a typical student because of my family responsibilities. E-learning enabled me to connect with my peers, lecturers, and online resources when I could not be physically present at University.

A few years later, now a trained lawyer, Tanzania had the worst Secondary School results in its history. There were a number of challenges leading to the failure but memories of my own experience in accessing learning resources in circumstances where it could have been hard, made me work on the same. To make qualified educational resources accessible to all students regardless of their personal, academic, or social challenges. Mobilizing qualified teachers and leveraging technology to make every student access them.

The inspiration is to address a learning need, supporting people to overcome their challenges and fulfill their potential. I know from my own personal experience, when quality education is accessible, anytime, and anywhere, people are able to realize their dreams.

Why should anyone use your service or product?

Local Content: Shule Direct learning platforms develop and provide local content that is addressing market needs and filling an existing gap in the education sector. We develop learning content in consultation with the users and the stakeholders involved in the ecosystem. This enables us to always be in demand and retaining users as much as gathering new ones.

Contextual user experience: Shule Direct’s interfaces are simple and easy to use. Emphasis is placed on having a user experience that takes into account the digital skills level of the users and provision of content in formats that can support access such as the HTML text based content. We grow with our particular users and their technology advances and not just market technology advances. We engage in user testing, always designing with them and incorporate ongoing feedback. Our agility and commitment to be market responsive makes us very special.

Repository technology: Shule Direct’s educational content repository and its Application Programmer’s Interface (API) enables organization and management of potentially massive amounts of information and resources. Content can be added, amended, and restructured without messing with the user interface (UI). The initial work in the API positions us to be a learning content powerhouse in Africa.

Tell us a little about your team

Our team is made of diverse people from different backgrounds, expertise, and experiences. We work with teachers for content creation and coordination, technical developers for both front end and back end programming, monitoring and evaluation data scientists for research and analysis, finance and administration for fundraising, fund management and Human Resources management and Strategy for advocacy, communications, stakeholders’ management, and strategic alignment.

Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?

My mother was a teacher, and my father was a General in the Military. They were not particularly entrepreneurial even though they had small business ventures.

What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?

Each of Shule Direct learning platforms is designed for scalability and can be replicated easily in other countries with desired content. We have now expanded beyond Secondary School education, entering the Primary School market. We also testing and developing our e-learning platform for Kenya, with plans to also scale into Rwanda by 2022. Our technology can easily be applied to diverse education and learning needs. Entering these other learning levels and markets will position Shule Direct as a premier provider of relevant digital educational content in Africa.

What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?

To be able to create innovative solutions that support a person to fulfill their learning needs.

What’s the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?

Just start. There will never be the right time, the right circumstances, or the right people. You just have to start, keep your eyes on the prize and enjoy the journey taking you there.

To find out more about Faraja’s work and her business, Shule Direct, send an email to: faraja@shuledirect.co.tz or visit the company’s website and social media platforms:

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM





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