These powerful businesswomen have founded companies whose activities they have diversified over the years, making them benchmark companies in their fields. We put the spotlight on these influential and creative businesswomen who stand out on the African entrepreneurial scene
Akiko Seyoum Ambaye, Founder and CEO of Construction Orchid Business Group PLC (Ethiopia)
Akiko Seyoum Ambaye is one of Ethiopia’s foremost female entrepreneurs. She is the founder of construction company Orchid Business Group PLC which operates primarily in infrastructure, construction and logistics. The company has developed its expertise over the past fifteen years and is also operational in other sectors. Orchid specialises in the construction of roads, highways, bridges, airstrips, earthwork and pavements for railways and dams. The construction of multi-purpose buildings and remote camps are also among the company’s specialties.
Orchid Business Group holds government contracts for a variety of very lucrative activities, such as participation in the construction of the Ethiopian Renaissance Grand Dam (GERD) and the construction of the Awash / Kombolcha / Woldiya railway, a standard railway gauge currently under construction, which will serve as an extension to the north of Ethiopia’s new national rail network.
Orchid Business Group PLC has several subsidiaries: Orchid Transit, Bodywise, Wonderwheel Business, Nile Spring Water PLC, S&S Farms, Real Salon, Rainbow Flower & Gifts, Sportsfield, Metrolux Flowers and Café Pannini.
In 2015, Orchid Business Group PLC purchased a seat on the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) for just over €400,000, 12 times the original price of the seat sold by ECX. Permanent membership seats are auctioned off at an average of US$75,000 per seat, which gives the member the right to trade goods. In total, the Ethiopian Stock Exchange has 346 members, including 33 agricultural cooperatives, of which 7 percent are merchant members.
In 2017, Italian multinational Enel Green Power, one of Europe’s leading renewable energy developers, partnered with Orchid Business Group to develop renewable energy resources in Ethiopia. In addition, Enel Green Power chose Orchid Business to develop a 100 Megawatt solar power plant.
Akiko Seyoum received worldwide recognition at the IWEC (International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge) Awards 2014 in Stockholm. She has been honoured as one of the inspiring African women entrepreneurs who have succeeded and excel in business in Ethiopia.
In 2018, she was honoured by the Evaluation Institute of the Confederation of Governance (COGAI), in collaboration with the Office of Research on Governance, Commerce and Administration (BORGCA) for her commitment, relentless work and dedication as an entrepreneur. She received the title of “Noble Lady Akiko Seyoum Ambaye”. She also became a member of the Pan African Heroes Foundation, created by COGAI / BORGCA.
Esther Muchemi, Founder and CEO of Samchi group of companies (Kenya)
Esther Muchemi built the Samchi Empire which spans the telecommunications, microfinance, real estate and hospitality sectors. She has established herself as one of Africa’s greatest female entrepreneurs and in 2017 received the Global Inspirational Women Leadership Award for her outstanding efforts and achievements. That same year, she was inducted into the Amazon 100 Women World Leaders Hall of Fame. Her boldness, resilience, and unwavering faith in God have taken her to unimaginable heights.
Born in Kenya, Esther Muchemi graduated from the University of Nairobi with a Bachelor of Commerce degree. She then trained as an accountant and is now also a Chartered Accountant with the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya.
After working for 16 years as an accountant, she quit her job in 2000 and opened a retail store in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, selling Safaricom SIM cards and airtime. Over the years, she has transformed her company into a group comprising nearly a dozen companies including four companies in telecommunications. Samchi Telecommunications Limited, specialises in providing M-PESA services, sale of modems, wholesale and distribution of Plug and Play USB modems for PC / laptop, and mobile phones. Samchi Telecom has twice been voted best M-PESA reseller by Safaricom Limited (2009 & 2010) and by Computer Society of Kenya (CSK). The other three are Jumbo Communications Limited, Forward Airtime Limited and Mergut Limited.
The other companies within the group are Samchi Credit Limited, a microfinance company; Samchi Heights Limited, a real estate development company; After 40 Hotel Limited, a gallery in Nairobi; Heavenly Wings Limited, a restaurant, and Space International Limited which offers offices, meeting rooms, studios and virtual and serviced office solutions aimed at the SME market e.g. startups, professionals and business consultants. In 2018, the Samchi Group employed a total of 560 people.
Esther Muchemi wrote her biography “Give Me My Mountain” to inspire a new generation of entrepreneurs, male and female.
Joana Gyan, Gold Queen of Ghana and CEO of 15 other companies (Ghana)
Joana Gyan is the first and only female CEO in the totally male-dominated gold industry. The only female gold exporter in Ghana, she is the Founder and CEO of Golden Empire Legacy Ltd (GELL), one of the largest gold companies in Ghana which sources gold from local miners and exports it worldwide. Indeed, the company is the holder of a gold export licence as well as a gold purchase licence granted by the Ghana Minerals Commission to allow it to purchase responsible gold from certified suppliers in Ghana for export to the international market. “I just wanted to offer pure gold at the best price available by buying from local miners in my country and exporting it to buyers around the world,” she said in an interview.
She has gone from being an artisanal miner to being a licensed gold miner, licensed gold seller, licensed gold buyer, licensed gold exporter, investor, entrepreneur, philanthropist and businesswoman.
Global Empire Legacy claims an annual turnover of US$300 million, since the launch of its operations in 2016. During this period, the company professes to have carried out quality, reliable and durable business transactions for more than 200 clients, created more than 500 long-term jobs and provided 250 working small-scale miners and families with the finance and equipment to upgrade their workforce and expand their operations.
Joana Gyan owns more than 15 companies including Golden Empire Legacy Ltd; GEM multimedia Ghana ltd; Colossus Minerals Ltd; Joana TV Ltd; GEM Rhythms Ltd; The GEM Ltd pub; KESSE music Ltd; GELL Golden page Ltd; GELL Farms Ltd; GELL Petroleum Ltd; GELL Real Estate Ltd; KBA Mining Ltd; Joana Gyan Foundation; GELL Timber Ltd; ZEMA Ghana Jewelry and Fashion School, Ltd and Royalsekt Ghana Limited.
GELL supported the Ghana-Spain Tourism and Hospitality expo, which took place from 12th to 14th September 2019 in Las Palmas De Gran Canarias. The company provided financial support for the exhibition with the aim of promoting Ghana’s tourism industry and generating investment to boost the economy.
Joana Gyan received the honorary award “The grand order of the noble hand”, alongside high level dignitaries such as Rebecca Akufo-Addo, First Lady of the Republic of Ghana. The award was received on the sidelines of the PALDEC Child Summit & Awards on 11th September 2019 in Accra, under the auspices of the United Nations and the African Union.
Joana Gyan Cudjoe also holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Cambodia. She also received an honorary award at the Ghana Outstanding Women Awards ceremony held in Accra on 12th November 2019.
Salwa Idrissi Akhannouch (Morocco), founder and CEO of the Aksal-Morocco Mall commercial group
Salwa Idriss Akhannouch is one of Morocco’s most powerful businesswomen and one of Africa’s richest women entrepreneurs. She is the founder and general manager of the Aksal group, Moroccan leader in luxury products, department stores and shopping centres. The group has 30 subsidiaries, 45 brands, 1,130 employees and 34,000 square metres of store area.
The Aksal Group attracts 15 million visitors each year and generates an estimated turnover of over US$500 million. Aksal owns a 50% stake in the Morocco Mall, one of Africa’s largest shopping centres, built at a cost of over US$240 million in 2007.
The conglomerate also owns the exclusive franchise of several major brands in Morocco, including Fendi, Gucci, Ralph Lauren, Zara, Banana Republic, Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear and Gap.
Salwa Idriss Akhannouch inherited her wealth from her grandfather, Haj Ahmed Benlafkih, who made his fortune in the tea trade in the 1960s. She is also the wife of Aziz Akhannouch, a wealthy Moroccan businessman who has been Morocco’s Minister of Agriculture since 2007.
Eghogho Adoghe-Sanomi, Founder and CEO of Midel Group (Nigeria)
Eghogho Adoghe-Sanomi began her career at the Bureau of Public Enterprises Nigeria in 2000. She graduated in Economics and Statistics from the University of Benin, a Nigerian public university located in Edo State. She has also completed courses in Business Management at the London School of Economics, the Centre for Strategy and Communication London and the London School of Marketing. After obtaining a certificate from the British Institute of Facilities Management, she founded Midel Management Ltd in 2008, where she worked as Managing Director until 2012. Midel Management is focused on the provision of residential facilities management services.
With the aim of promoting Nigeria as a good place for doing business in West Africa, she led a service outsourcing team to allow entrepreneurs to focus on their business activities, while her company manages their other auxiliary services.
After obtaining her certificate in Entrepreneurial Management at Pan-Atlantic University (Lagos State) in 2012, she expanded and diversified Midel Management Ltd by creating Midel Group which includes Midel Management Ltd (a facility and property management organisation), The Midel Center and Midel Media.
The Midel Center, the flagship project of the Midel Group, was opened to the public in June 2013 after several years of conceptualisation and planning. It is home to a rental office complex, housing several small and medium-sized businesses, all of which enjoy the privilege of an active networked business community with state-of-the-art facilities, supported by management professionals to meet the needs of their customer base.
Six months after the launch of the Midel Center, seventy percent of the offices had been leased. Eghogho Adoghe-Sanomi had chosen to build the Center in the Gudu district of Abuja, a relatively new district, not yet sufficiently developed. According to her, it was a huge gamble to build the Center in a new commercial district which had only a few buildings and little infrastructure, but she considers this decision part of the success of the Center and a huge achievement.
Eghogho Adoghe-Sanomi launched Midel Media in 2014, an online business newsletter and forum that serves as a platform for entrepreneurs, not only to keep abreast of business news but also as a continuous source of information on business ethics alongside other inspiring articles.
The Midel Group, it is explained, is more than a group of companies in the field of real estate and facilities management; it is a hub of business communities. The core value of the company is “excellence”. On this subject Eghogho Adoghe –Sanomi said this during an interview with a newspaper from Nigeria: “It’s not so much the packaged services that we offer; It’s the little things people take for granted, which might go unnoticed, that define excellence. The Midel Group recognises that achieving such standards in Nigeria requires more attention to detail. The company is committed to creating high standards of living and working environments that any customer can relate to globally. As facility managers managing tangible real estate assets and providing installation services, part of the company’s goal is to ensure the smooth running of all aspects of the Group in order to create a healthy environment, safe and cost-effective, in which occupants can operate”.
Eghogho Adoghe-Sanomi sits on the board of directors of Village Weavers’s Network, a non-profit organisation which educates and provides technical support to less privileged women in Abuja, Nigeria, teaching them how to weave mats for sale. The women financially support and educate their families from the proceeds of these sales. She is also a Trustee of the Dickens Sanomi Foundation whose ultimate goal is to alleviate socio-economic challenges across Nigeria – with a particular focus on promoting access to education and support for children and young people from vulnerable backgrounds.
Eghogho Adoghe-Sanomi is also a champion of the GreenDel program, an environmentally friendly awareness campaign aimed at the Abuja business sector.
She received the African Female Leadership Impact Award and was inducted into the Global Female Leadership Hall of Fame in November 2014.
Patricia Poku-Diaby, the richest woman in Ghana
Considered the richest woman in Ghana, with an estimated net worth of over US$700 million, Patricia Poku-Diaby started out in the family business (trade and transport) before creating Plot Enterprise Group in Ivory Coast, a precursor to Plot Enterprise Ghana which is an entirely Ghanaian cocoa processing company.
The group is present in the market in Asia and West Africa and includes Plot Commodities (registered with the Dubai Metal and Commodities Centre in Dubai), Plot Enterprise in Ivory Coast and Plot Enterprise Ghana.
Plot Enterprise Ghana is registered in Ghana as a free zone company. The company has its own cocoa processing plant which was completed at the end of 2009. This state-of-the-art grinding facility, located in Takoradi, is currently valued at US$90 million and processes 32,000 tons of cocoa annually. Project implementation started in 2006 and testing began in November 2009. The plant was fully commissioned in January 2010.
The company has more than 200 employees and had annual sales of US$100 million in 2014. Plot Enterprise Ghana exports to the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East.
For its part, Plot Commodities sells cotton and cocoa and is registered with the Cocoa Merchants Association of America.
Plot Enterprise in Ivory Coast specialises in trading cocoa, cashew nuts and wood products.
Grace Amey-Obeng, Founder and CEO of FC Beauty Group Limited
FC Beauty Group Limited is a company established over 30 years ago and the very first of its kind to be established in Ghana. It has 6 subsidiaries in the beauty and cosmetics sector in Ghana: FC Beauty College; FC Skin and Beauty Klinik; FC cosmetics industries; FC Perfumery and Cosmetics; Salon Equipment and Beauty Supplies, and Grace Amey-Obeng Foundation International (GAOFI). The company manufactures and produces the “Forever Clair” brand and some of Ghana’s finest skin products: Forever Clair Skin Care, Hair Care, FC Spa Collection, FC Make-Up Line and FC Rose Professional Line.
FC Beauty College is the premier aesthetic therapy training institute in Ghana and West Africa and has trained over 6,000 students since its inception, most of whom are now either employed or self-employed.
The College offers beauty, spa and cosmetology courses. Specialised courses are also available for professional aesthetic therapists. The institute is registered with the Ghana Education Service on the Computer Selection Programme as a Professional Institute of Beauty programme and accredited by the Council for Professional Technical Education and Training (COTVET) as a Beauty training institute.
For its part, FC Skin & Beauty Klinik is a solution centre for the treatment of complex skin and beauty needs, using state-of-the-art equipment with well-qualified beauticians and cosmetology specialists recruited from FC Beauty College.
FC Cosmetics Industries Ltd is the manufacturing wing of the FC Beauty Group which manufactures Forever Clair branded products in a state-of-the-art, fully automated production facility. The products are distributed in various salons, cosmetic stores, shopping malls and pharmacies.
FC Perfumery and Cosmetics is the distribution point of FC Cosmetics Industries. However, the company also stocks other exotic and high-quality beauty products such as perfumes and other skin care lines.
Salon Equipment and Beauty Supplies largely focuses on creating professional training packages for students of FC Beauty College. SEBS also imports and wholesales quality beauty and hairdressing equipment to meet local demand from hairdressers, salons, associations, schools, etc.
Grace Amey-Obeng Foundation International aims to help young girls who engage in illicit activities such as prostitution, armed robbery, etc. to find other financial means to cover their daily needs. The Foundation’s goal is to equip these young girls with skills to help them avoid certain social threats like teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, abuse, etc. They are also trained to use these competencies as social assets in society.
GAOFI also aims to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women, support the fight against extreme hunger and poverty, and fight HIV / AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
Leelai Kpukuyou, influential businesswoman from Liberia
Leelai Kpukuyou is one of the actors in the post-war economic recovery in Liberia. Since 2009, she is the founder and CEO of Mini Mall Incorporated based in Monrovia and chair of the board of Sanoyea Realty Inc., a subsidiary of Mini Mall Inc. Both companies operate in real estate, petroleum supply, retail stores, general trade and business consultation services. Leelai Kpukuyou is in the process of adding technological innovation and tourism to her business portfolio.
She is the Secretary General of the Liberian Business Association, responsible in particular for the empowerment of young people and women through entrepreneurship. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Management and Sociology obtained from the African Methodist Episcopal University (Liberia) in 2010.
She also holds a diploma in International Business Negotiation, obtained in 2012 from the Academy for International Business Officials in Beijing (China).
