#WomensMonth: Leadership lessons from local lady bosses

With #WomensMonth well underway, female leaders are getting the attention they deserve this month. One such event, taking place on Saturday, 6 August at the Fire & Ice Cape Town, is the ‘Being Boss' brunch, set to feature a host of lady bosses, or up-and-coming local ‘womentrepreneurs’ (yes, that's a real term), all fast making a name for themselves.

Think the likes of Busi Sizani, marketing manager at Uber Cape Town; Vuyo Dubese of Hashtag Radio, who will serve as MC for the event; Portia Masimula, founder of Karisani IT; Jess Mouneimne, author and director at Jam Media; Chyemenn Santos, author and director at SmartEdge; Nwabisa Mayema, executive director at nNfinity; and Mohale Mashigo, who is an author, singer and radio presenter.

They’ll talk us through topics like the ingredients for a successful business, implementing innovation and being disruptive, the power of storytelling, overcoming adversity in business and building winning teams.

Mouneimne, Mayema and Masimula share an exclusive excerpt of what ‘being boss’ is all about below…

Revealed: The essence of effective entrepreneurship

Mouneimne says good leadership lies in not being afraid of getting your hands dirty, being a good listener, and being brave enough to take risks. Mayema adds that humour, compassion and patience play a part, and Masimula says you also need to be visionary, courageous and self-confident.

It can be a tall order, especially if you’re looking to get a business off the ground in Cape Town. Mouneimne finds that Cape Town moves a little slower than Johannesburg, especially where on-boarding clients is concerned. Mayema says this is because Cape Town is incredibly relational, so more time is spent in establishing personal relationships that can lead to business. Masimula clarifies that Cape Town is one of the leading business hubs and is actually number one in the country due to its enabling environment that attracts the investments that in turn generate economic growth and job creation. She adds that Cape Town is well-served with great infrastructure and is cultural diverse, which makes it more exciting and easy to interact with different types of people.

That doesn’t make it any easier for females to break through as successful entrepreneurs, though. Mouneimne says you need both a thick skin and a willingness to speak your mind to do so. “It's not easy to be heard in a room full of men, so you need to ooze confidence, even if you fake it to start off with,” she confides. Masimula agrees that women need rise above their circumstances and be in charge of their destinies. Mayema, on the other hand, says we need to get over the "female" aspect of things as “an entrepreneur is an entrepreneur is an entrepreneur,” so your excellence in terms of product or service that you deliver must speak for itself and should be what people buy into.

Winning teams excel beyond expectations

That’s why Mouneimne will talk about building winning teams, as great leaders: “know exactly what buttons to push and when to push them. They are experts at activating the talent that surrounds them. They are equally as effective at matching unique areas of subject matter expertise and/or competencies to solve problems and seek new solutions.” So you need to invest the time to understand how your team is wired to think and what is required to motivate them to excel beyond what’s expected from them.

Masimula says, “Boss Lady doesn’t wait for people to do things for her. Instead, she goes out hard and makes things happen for herself. Boss Lady embraces her personal power without reducing anyone else’s power. Being a boss is about being willing to do the unexpected and at the same time not being afraid to take risks."

Mayema sums up the experience of ‘being boss’ as the most rewarding, insane and exhausting journey you'll ever embark on. If you are a ‘boss’ inside, it’s the only thing that you know to do.

Hear, hear. Watch for my post-event feedback early next week, and click here for more from Mouneimne.