The second annual Women’s Entrepreneurship Day (Wed) celebration on 14 November held at the Saxon Hotel honoured successful, dynamic women.
This celebration of women is an entrepreneurial and financial empowerment initiative dedicated to celebrating, supporting and empowering women worldwide.
Wed encourages four billion women worldwide to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams, with the goal of bringing hope and alleviating poverty.
In conjunction with the entrepreneurship day is the Choose Women Wednesday also known as #ChooseWOMEN. This is a social media movement aimed at inspiring women and men globally to pledge their support to women-owned businesses or causes.
One of the ambassadors for this prestigious day is the group head of corporate communications at CNBC Africa, Nola Mashaba. She said, “[I] couldn’t agree more with the Wed global initiative because when you empower a woman, you empower a nation. By women coming together, marking the global celebration and observance of Wed serves as a launch pad for ideas and business opportunities for the community as a whole.”
She said during this year’s celebrations, women came together as a network to achieve success to help and support women entrepreneurs in South Africa.
Last year’s awards, presented by Forbes Woman Africa, were awarded to four women in business. Wendy Luhabe was named Social Entrepreneur of the Year; Linda Olagunju was lauded as Emerging Entrepreneur; Lebo Selloane was recognised as Innovator of the Year; and Ipeleng Mkhari was awarded Pioneer Woman Entrepreneur of the Year.
The founder and president of Wed, Wendy Diamond said, “It’s inspiring to see women across the globe unite for a single cause. By donating their time, effort and resources to Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, they are not only celebrating, supporting and empowering women in business in over 100 countries but also contributing to global unification.”
This year, four successful women were acknowledged for their efforts in the business world. Stephanie Cowper won the award for TechPreneur of the Year; Tryphosa Ramano was announced as the Pioneer of the Year; Nandi Mngoma won the Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year award; and Thato Kgatlhanye was awarded for being the Innovator of the Year.
