News — Women Entrepreneurs

Vegan entrepreneur Babette Davis proves that anything is possible at any age. The 70-year-old chef has been a vegan for over twenty-five years. Davis uses her vegan lifestyle to share powerful self-love tips that help women around the world enjoy healthier lives.

On her birthday last year, Davis posted fitness photos on Instagram to “admire, inspire and realize how incredibly intelligent the human body is and how it will ALWAYS respond to self-care and LOVE!”

The Bathing Suit Photoshoot

Davis turned 70-years-old in December. To celebrate, she decided to do a black bathing suit photoshoot.

“Well, my daughter had sent some photos of she and myself. I must have been in my early forties, maybe late thirties and I noticed that I hadn’t really changed very much aesthetically,” Davis told Yahoo Life. “I thought, well, for my 70th birthday, I’m gonna do a photoshoot in a bathing suit.”

Davis engaged more than 100,000 followers on Instagram in her “Seven at Seventy” photo series. The overwhelming responses confirmed one thing: Davis is the definition of goals for women of all ages.

“I have so much to be grateful for. I am healthier now than I was when I was thirty and my lifestyle is conducive to maintaining health! My heart is filled with love and appreciation for LIFE ALL LIFE!” Babette shared on Instagram.

Transitioning to a Vegan Lifestyle

Davis is making major moves in her career and isn’t showing signs of slowing down. She’s a fitness expert, motivational speaker, and world-class chef. Davis is embracing every moment as a 70-year-old vegan entrepreneur.

“People get depressed about their age, but I’m so excited about every age I am. What’s the next thing I’m going to be able to do?” Babette shares. “Am I going to be able to defy some odds? What am I going to be able to do at 75? Retire?”

Davis gives credit to her vegan food choices for the life she enjoys today. After eating a meal made by her husband, she was instantly inspired to commit to vegan foods. Now, she helps others be more intentional about their food choices through her books, online recipes, and social media motivation.

Maintaining Healthy Habits

Numerous articles prove that successful people commit to a morning routine. Davis is no different. She often shares the benefits of having an active lifestyle.

Davis wakes up at 2 am and commits to frequent workouts around 3 am. Then she starts her day at her California-based restaurant, Stuff I Eat. This restaurant specializes in vegan, organic, and eco-friendly foods.

Davis has made health a part of her lifestyle by becoming a vegan entrepreneur. She started off selling vegan items on a cart outdoors. Her food was a hit, forcing her to expand to a physical restaurant location. Over twelve years later, her restaurant is still going strong even throughout the COVID-pandemic. The combination of her nutritional foods and motivational messages have kept customers tuned in.

“We want to look good for as long as possible, but we need to care for ourselves and we need to stop comparing ourselves to other people,” says Davis.

Detroit-based entrepreneur Alison Vaughn gifted young girls with “I Could Be Next” shirts. Her inspiration: the country’s historic inauguration.

On January 20th, Vaughn hosted an intimate party for a group of girls. They watched the momentous inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. At 78, Biden is the oldest President in the nation’s history. Kamala Harris was sworn in as the first woman Vice President. She’s also the first black and Asian-American person in this role.

“I want my daughter to know anything is possible,” says Vaughn in an email interview. “Whatever you want to be you can do it. And I wanted her to watch history in the making. To see a woman of color become the first Vice President of the United States proves that dreams can become reality”

Talk Show Host Shares Lessons with T-Shirts

Alison Vaughn is a mother on the move. She helps people realize the power of their dreams every day.

Vaughn is the host of the “Alison Vaughn Show: A Ministry for Busy Mothers.”  Every week, she spends her time sharing stories and offering Christ-centered teachings. Vaughn helps busy moms overcome daily challenges by using the pages of the Bible as a source of guidance. But on inauguration day, Vaughn was able to go deeper with her teachings and reach out to the next generation.

Vaughn instilled life lessons into the next generation of female leaders as they watched history in the making. She encouraged the young girls to see themselves in the Vice President’s shoes, accomplishing anything they want in life. Then, she gifted each girl with T-shirts. The “I Could Be Next” T-shirts were a symbol of hope and possibilities for black girls who haven’t always been recognized and appreciated in society. But now, the shirts are also a reminder of what the girls can achieve every day.

A Role Model Beyond the Inauguration

Vaughn’s daughter doesn’t have to search far for inspiration. Her mother is making major moves in Detroit and using her platform to make a national impact.

Vaughn is an entrepreneur, author, blogger, and community advocate. In 2000, she founded Jackets for Jobs, Inc. The nonprofit provides professional etiquette and career training to individuals who are seeking employment opportunities. Her organization has helped over 30,000 women secure jobs.

Vaughn has spoken at the World Islamic Economic Forum in Dubai, UAE, and has shared insights on advocacy at numerous events. She served as the co-chair of the 56th Annual Detroit NAACP Fight for Freedom Dinner, drawing over 10,000 attendees.

Vaughn wears many hats in her career. But her shirts make it clear what items are at the top of her priority list: empowering girls and women to dream big.

Black women are often praised and revered for their hair. The texture of black hair is suitable for forming unique styles from the afro to braids.  Even mainstream media often imitate styles invented and catered to women with Afrocentric hair without a mention of appreciation.

Nevertheless, there was a time when black women weren’t allowed to display their hair in public. Keep reading to learn about the Tignon Laws and how it was used to fuel racial tensions in the United States.

A tignon (tiyon) is a headdress used to conceal hair.  It was adorned by free and slave Creole women of African ancestry in Louisiana in 1786.  The sumptuary law was enacted under Governor Esteban Rodriguez Miró.  The regulation was meant as a means to regulate the style of dress and appearance for people of color.  Black women’s features often attracted male white, French, and Spanish suitors and their beauty was a perceived threat to white women. The tignon law was a tactic used to combat the men pursuing and engaging in affairs with Creole women. Simply put, black women competed too openly with white women by dressing elegantly and possessing note-worth beauty.

Nonetheless, black women did not despair. Instead, they abided by the rule and turned it into fashion. The women used unique colors, jewels, ribbons, and wrapping styles which accentuated their gorgeousness even more. Out of this bore the various head ties seen today on women of color using unique materials, patterns, and flair.

Tignons have been worn by women in the Caribbean islands of Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Dominica which included hidden messages. They used Madras – a popular fabric amongst slaves and free women to achieve their head ties.

Tignon law eventually went out of effect in the 1800’s yet, black women worldwide continue to use head wraps as wardrobe staples paying homage to their culture, signifying their pride, and looking stunning while doing so.

The cigar industry has traditionally been dominated by men, specifically White men. The sector has seen little participation of women. However, two Cuban sisters are changing the narrative on the participation of women in the sector.

The twin Cuban sisters, Yvonne and Yvette Rodriguez, founded their cigar line called Tres Lindas Cubanas Cigars in 2014, making them owners of Miami’s first Afro-Cuban, woman-owned cigar company in the United States. They have straddled between African-American and Cuban culture since their childhood.

Born to a Cuban mother and Black Cuban father, the twin sisters grew up around their cigar-smoking grandmother, according to Miami New Times. Their signature Cigar includes “La Clarita” — which means fair-skinned — and is light-medium bodied; “La Mulata,” which means mixed black/white as is medium-full; and “La Negrita”, which means black, their strongest, full-bodied cigar.

Making cigars was not the first career path of the two sisters. After obtaining their degrees in journalism from the University of Florida, they parted ways in Miami. While Yvette took a job reporting for Channel 7, Yvonne began producing and editing programming for Telemundo. Yvette would later leave Channel 7 to create a PR firm while her boisterous twin sister continued her work with Telemundo.

The idea to go into cigar making occurred to Yvonne in a daydream. She then pitched the idea with Yvette, who found the idea intriguing. On a vacation in Costa Rica, Yvette met a Miami Cuban who owned a tobacco farm in Nicaragua.

By 2014, Yvonne and Yvette started creating their own cigar brand. “As women in a male-driven industry, it was more of a shock to the men when we would walk into a cigar shop,” Yvette told the Miami New Times. “I embrace the shock.”

Their business has since grown steadily. Their cigar brands, which have become quite popular among the Black community in Atlanta, are now sold in major shops in cities such as Chicago, Baltimore, Atlanta, among others.

Their journey in the cigar industry has not been smooth sailing. To date, some shop owners and colleagues try to discourage them. Their male counterparts even go to the extent of asking them whether they know what’s in their own cigars.

“Even to this day, they don’t think we smoke cigars, so imagine I’m trying to sell it,” Yvonne said. “We were starting not even at level zero; we were starting at level negative-five.”

In many families, individuals work two or three jobs to bring enough money home to cater for expenses such as food, fees and other bills. Mostly, side hustle jobs are pursued to complement monies made from one’s permanent job.

However, there is a growing trend where people are now turning their side hustles into their permanent jobs due to the money they are making from it and also the fulfillment it brings. Such is the story of Tiffany Grant, who was formally employed and managed side businesses.

Tiffany studied business administration and management at the university and aspired to get a good corporate job and work towards being the executive assistant to the CEO of a Fortune 500 company after university. Her first job was a receptionist but she soon found out that she had little interest in what she was doing.

It was during this period that the idea of being her own boss occurred to her. Tiffany hadn’t accumulated enough resources to start her own business and so made a shift in career path, this time, going into human resource.

“I started at a new company and I loved my work in HR, being able to tackle new challenges every day and help employees at all levels of the company make the most of their benefits. I even got to put on my financial education hat every so often,” Tiffany told grow.acorns.com.

In 2017, she decided to become a ‘dual-preneur’ by starting a side hustle while in formal employment. She started with Money Talk With Tiff, a financial education and coaching service. Today she runs five other businesses with her husband.

They include DanJai’s Natural Products, a homemade soap company, a custom tie-dye apparel company, a video production firm, and a logistics and shipping business and a rental company. Tiffany has now turned her side hustles into a full-time job which now bring in $10,000 each month.

The transition from working a full-time job to turning side hustles into a full-time job had not been easy. For the first year in business, Tiffany ran things part-time and spent more money than she earned. “I was fortunate to have my day job to fall back on and to help me cover some business basics like a web domain, tools, and software,” she says.

Tiffany says when she left the corporate world to focus on her businesses, she had saved up four months’ worth of expenses.” It was a slow start, and I ended up having to use some of those savings to cover the shortfall,” she says

However, three months in she was making enough from working with clients that she didn’t need to rely on the emergency fund.

Tiffany advises aspiring entrepreneurs not to be motivated by money alone but should have a strong foundation for why they want to start an enterprise.

“If money is your only motivation, my best advice is to not take the leap. For most entrepreneurs, cash flow is going to be rough in the early days of your business. You have to have a cause outside of the money that motivates you

“Find your ‘why’ and make sure it is a strong foundation because odds are things will get shaky. My ‘why’ is the lives and financial trajectories I have been able to help change. I personally live with anxiety and depression, and some days are harder than others,” she says.

A move by Kenyan authorities to improve the country’s tourism numbers has resulted in a backlash. Kenya’s tourism sector has taken a nosedive following the spread of the COVID-19 and lockdown measures to contain the spread of the virus.

According to a report by Kenya’s Tourism Research Institute, tourists numbers have fallen by 72% between January and October last year. “The sector hence lost over 110bn Kenyan shillings [$1bn, £738m] of direct international tourists’ revenue due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” the report noted.

To reverse the downward spiral, Kenya’s Tourism and Wildlife Ministry appointed British supermodel Naomi Campbell to become an ambassador for the industry. The 50-year-old model has 10 million followers on Instagram and Kenya is seeking to leverage this mass to revive its tourism sector.

“Supermodel Naomi Campbell has agreed to be Magical Kenya International Tourism Ambassador. She will help promote the marketing of Kenya as an ideal tourism and travel destination to the world,” a statement from the ministry read.

The agreement was reportedly reached over the weekend when the supermodel visited the East African nation. “We welcome the exciting news that Naomi Campbell will advocate for tourism and travel internationally for the magical Kenya brand,” said Najib Balala, the head of the ministry.

The appointment of Naomi Campbell has however caused an uproar that is playing out on social media. On Twitter, many Kenyans were outraged by the appointment of Campbell, saying there are Kenya celebrities who could be appointed to become ambassadors.

One Twitter user wrote: “Let’s address this because it’s clear it’s time for @tunajibu to retire..so Apparently Naomi Campbell is to become #Magicalkenya International Ambassador. #Kenya has International celebrities like Lupita, Debra Sanaipei, Christine Wawira, but he picked a Non Kenyan for this? How?”

Another user posted: “Ministry of Tourism taps Naomi Campbell, a tired model who has lost her mojo to be the Magical Kenya international Brand Ambassador and is to market Kenya as a tourism and travel destination. Why not @Lupita_Nyongo or one of our daughters of international repute? Lol”

“Lupita Nyong’o would have made a better Magical Kenya International Ambassador compared to Naomi Campbell. Well, It’s just what I think,” another Twitter user posted.

Many Twitter users did also express shock at the uproar that greeted the appointment of Campbell, particularly, comparing her with Kenyan model Lupita Nyongo.

“Look at Kenya’s International arrivals, the USA is first, contributing 12.9% followed closely by Italy with 12.0%. the UK comes in 3rd with a share of 9.5%, followed by Germany with 7.2%. Naomi Campbell appeals more to their citizens than Lupita Nyong’o does.”

“Kenyans should understand that these two top models Naomi Campbell and Lupita Nyongo pose and commands quite different niche markets when it comes to sponsor different entities,here the CS @tunajibu has something unique why he’s targeting Naomi Campbell and not otherwise!”

For her works in the creative industry, the education and training of young poets and writers, and her many other contributions towards improving the industry in Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Poet Laureate Commission, which operates under the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters, has named Dasha Kelly Hamilton as the 2021-2022 Wisconsin Poet Laureate.

Hamilton makes history as the first Black woman to hold the title of Wisconsin Poet Laureate in the 20 years since the award was instituted, TMJ4 reports.  She will hold the title for a period of two years with a $2,500 stipend and a week-long residency at Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts in Mineral Point.

The main objective for the titleholder is to serve as state ambassador who encourages poetry throughout their tenure. A commemorative broadside and other recognition opportunities come with being the Poet Laureate of Wisconsin, including organizing and attending literary events each year.

The Milwaukee native is the ninth Wisconsin Poet Laureate, taking over from Margaret “Peggy” Rozga, the eighth Wisconsin Poet Laureate. From the inception of the award, the tenure for each Poet Laureate was four years. In 2008, it became two years after the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters took over the scheme.

Nick Demske, Chair of the Wisconsin Poet Laureate Commission, spoke about Hamilton’s appointment.  

“Dasha Kelly Hamilton’s infectious energy and demonstrated history of transforming lives through the written and spoken word make her the perfect ambassador for poetry in the state of Wisconsin. Her reputation precedes her, and we know that Wisconsin residents will benefit in many ways from this outstanding poet.”

Hamilton is a poet, performer, novelist who was named artist of the year in 2016 by the Milwaukee Arts Board. She has also been part of the arts envoy for the US Embassy that teaches, performs, and facilitates community-building initiatives with people from different backgrounds under the umbrella of the creative arts. She has been working on cultural exchange programs in Mauritius, Toronto, Botswana, and Beirut.

Not only is she the Poet Laureate for Wisconsin, but Hamilton was also made the Poet Laureate for Milwaukee getting to the end of 2019. This makes her the second person to ever hold both positions after Marilyn L. Taylor.

Speaking of her appointment, Hamilton said, “My practice as a writer and cultural organizer connects me to a spectrum of conversations and communities. For twenty years, I’ve invited folks to lean into the experience of creating and sharing poems as entry points for reflection, for discovery, for celebrating truth.

Her nonprofit, Still Waters Collective, introduced literary arts programming for 20 years, building platforms for many otherwise unheard voices to be honored and heard. The work she does through her organization allows for partnerships on projects and manages a creative leadership fellowship.

“I’ve seen communities built and individuals fortified through poems and spoken word. I’m honored to continue building community across the state as Wisconsin Poet Laureate, and look forward to establishing a poetry exchange between traditional residents and writer residents in Wisconsin prisons,” she added.

Hamilton holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University and an MA in Marketing Communications from Roosevelt University and has been an assistant professor at Mount Mary University, Alverno College, Bryant & Stratton, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Ayanna Williams-Jones is a serial entrepreneur who is making moves in Detroit despite the global pandemic.

The mother of six children is the owner of a nail salon, podcast host, and business consultant. Soon, she’ll be releasing her new book, Detroit Madam, under her own publishing company. 

“My children are the reason I do everything that I do,” Williams-Jones told serial podcaster Tracy Hazzard during an interview. “It’s all for them to have generational wealth.”

After Williams-Jones noticed the lack of Black-owned nail salons in Detroit, she decided to take matters into her own hands.

“I just got tired of going to places where I felt like my dollar wasn’t appreciated and it wasn’t put back into the community,” Williams-Jones told the Detroit Free Press. “I didn’t see a lot of us (Black people) being hired in those places.”

She adds, “I just felt like a lot of people would prefer to come to us but the professionalism sometimes isn’t there, so I wanted to show that we can do it.”

Opened in August 2015, Pedicure and Shoes 2 Go is a one-of-a-kind salon that provides individuals with the best of two words: pedicures and shoes. This unique spa and shopping experience has garnered funding from Invest Detroit, Motor City Match, Detroit Development Fund, and Detroit Micro-enterprise Fund. The spa specializes in massages, waxing, facials, and nails. Individuals from all over the country have enjoyed the pampering and shopping, including celebrities ranging from Faith Evans to Katy Perry, according to the Michigan Chronicle.

Williams-Jones has a hustler mentality that stems from her childhood experiences. Since her mother and father were separated, she frequently traveled back and forth between Detroit and New York to keep in contact with family. While in Harlem with her father, she often witnessed him purchasing clothes to sell on the streets of Harlem. Soon, she started hustling with her father and learned the importance of taking action on the journey to your dreams.

Williams-Jones was ready to walk the path of entrepreneurship at an early age. Before turning 18, she participated in a nail technician certification program. Being the daughter of two cosmetologists fueled her desire in the beauty industry. But her ambitions didn’t stop there. At the age of 18, she started her own Entertainment company and managed that for about ten years before transitioning into real estate.

When the 2008 recession hit, she made a leap into the corporate world after working in real estate for fifteen years. But her vision of being in the beauty industry didn’t go away. In 2011, she developed the idea for a day spa. A few years later, she was able to get the momentum she needed to accelerate her vision. The community support she received took her from a struggling startup to becoming one of Detroit’s rising businesses.

But 2020 brought another shift. Pedicure & Shoes 2 Go was one of the many businesses impacted by the pandemic. Williams-Jones was forced to shutdown parts of her business and turn down repeated service requests from loyal customers.

Fortunately, her leased ended and she was able to move into a new, conveniently-located space on Jefferson shortly after.

Customers were thrilled to return to Pedicure & Shoes 2 Go and experience the new location. Marcyl Pesti has been enjoying the services at Pedicure & Shoes 2 Go for about a year.  During an interview with the Detroit Free Press, Pesti mentioned the impact of having a black-owned nail salon in her reach. “To see another Black woman who came from the hood and is able to join the professional world and still be her — I love it,” Pesti said. “Representation matters.”

Williams-Jones plans to expand her Pedicure & Shoes 2 Go to other locations. She’s working with her business partner to provide this community need.

Mosibudi Jo Mathole and Khomotso Ramodipa are two South African sisters who quit their jobs as an investment banker and an optometrist respectively, to start a diamond polishing business, at a time when the price of the commodity was so low and unattractive to investors.

In 2019, while speaking to the VOA, Mathole and Ramodipa said their love for diamonds drove them into the business. The industry in South Africa is still male-dominated and has actually shrunk. Once a booming business, diamond polishing has shrunk from 4,500 polishers 25 years ago to 250 polishers in recent times.

Despite the gloomy picture of the sector, the two sisters were unfazed and opened Kwame Diamonds in 2008. The shop in Johannesburg offers the cutting and polishing of the precious stone.

Interestingly, the company is the only firm in South Africa run by sisters and according to Women in Diamond, the sisters manage the only women-owned polishing business in the world.

“The barriers to entry go beyond just being a woman or being a man because the difficulty boils down to having an outfit like this, you really need a proper capital outlay,” said Mathole, who is the company’s director. “And for women, it becomes a bit tricky because this has always been a very male-dominated industry.”

The year they set up Kwame Diamonds, Mathole and Ramodipa became qualified diamond valuators and have since carved a niche for themselves in the polish and cutting of diamonds. Aside from that, they also ensure that they sourced diamonds responsibly and ethically.

According to co-founder Ramodipa, they are accredited to cut and polish world-renown De Beers Group’s branded diamonds. 

“To be able to produce a Forevermark diamond, which according to them, it’s 1 percent of the world diamonds that are produced. … If you are able to polish that kind of diamond, then you are among one of the best,” she said.

The South African sisters employ and train other women in the industry, a move seen as part of their own contribution of increasing female participation in the sector.

Grace Tshego is a diamond polisher at Kwame Diamonds.

“Now I can go out there and say, ‘I’m a diamond cutter,” Tshego is quoted as saying. “I’m even specializing with ‘fancy cut’. It’s something that is so wow, because other people they don’t know it.”

Mathole and Ramodipa have received commendations for their innovation and staying afloat in an industry in decline. “They’re looking at the diamond industry from a different perspective,” says the former president of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB), Ernie Blom.

“They’re thinking out of the box. And maybe they’re ticking all the right boxes that is giving them the success that they have. And maybe that’s what a lot of the older diamond industry can learn from.”

Najuma Atkinson started her career in finance after obtaining a degree in political science from Fisk University. She worked for SunTrust bank first as an analyst. She then joined Dell Technologies Inc. in 1991 as a tech support manager and has since risen through the ranks to be the Senior Vice President (SVP) of HR shared services at the multinational firm.

With a career spanning 20 years at Dell, she is the only Black woman serving as SVP at the company. Atkinson got a promotion from vice president of human resources to SVP of chief customer office after “cold pitching” the firm’s CEO Michael Dell at a corporate event in 2019, according to CNBC.

She approached Dell about the idea, including telling him about her strength, interest and why she wanted to serve in the chief customer office division.

“I’ve built my career focused on the customer and providing opportunities where we can really enhance that experience. I really like the ability to use data to inform our decisions,” Atkinson told Dell when pitching her idea. “And so I’d like to be given that opportunity, if it ever comes, to move into the chief customer office.”

Prior to the engagement, the two had not engaged each other one-on-one but Atkinson was bold enough to pitch the CEO as she was convinced the move could further her career and give her a comprehensive understanding of the operations of the company.

“We had not really engaged with one another prior to that time so it was almost like a cold call,” she told CNBC “Little did I know that [Dell] was actually paying attention and we were doing some talent reviews,” she said. “I took that opportunity to be bold and to ask for what I wanted, and he reciprocated.”

In 2019, she was promoted twice: first as SVP of chief customer office in August and then to her current role of SVP of HR shared services in September. Atkinson said her ability to solve problems and using data to make informed decisions helped her transition into her current role.

Having successfully pitched her way to the top and becoming the only Black woman SVP at Dell, Atkinson has shared some tips on how others can follow her path. According to her, one has to be articulate with their objectives and what they want to do taking into account the overall objectives of an organization.

Also, pitching ideas require patience. Thus, if one fails, they should not “think of it as a negative” but learn from it, she says. “If you do those kinds of things, those are the individuals that find all the good opportunities and are ultimately successful.”

Finally, one must work out of their comfort zone and be a risk-taker, she adds. “I think that individuals that are successful are those that are risk-takers,” Atkinson says. “They understand what it means to take an informed risk.”

A Ghanaian worker on the goat farm owned by Ethiopian immigrant Agitu Ideo Gudeta in the northern Italian region of Trentino has been arrested after confessing to raping and killing his 42-year-old employer, according to reports from Italy.

Gudeta was reportedly killed by hammer blows to her head. The name of the employee from Ghana has also not been publicized.

She had made her home in that part of the country on an abandoned piece of land where she reared goats on the La Capra Felice (The Happy Goat) farm. From the produce of the animals, Gudeta made cheese and beauty products.

Gudeta fled her native Ethiopia in 2010 after her protests against land grab incited the wrath of authorities. The protesters had accused the local government in Addis Ababa of divesting large swathes of land to foreign investors and to the detriment of locals.

By 2018, she had become a well-known commercial farmer in Trentino. She told Reuters in 2018 that she had started with goats shortly after arriving in the country and then had 180 goats. The products she made were popular with the locals and her business was successful, even allowing her to employ farmhands.

She often became a reference point for international news coverage in light of anti-immigrant clamoring by far-right parties and activists. Gudeta’s success was supposed to challenge public opinion of immigrants from Africa in the midst of growing hostilities against that group.

Trentino police say investigations into her death are ongoing.

It was a journey that started as a hobby for Semhal Guesh. While in the university training as an architect, she started making hand bracelets from leather waste which later led her to start Kabana Leather, a firm that produces a wide range of bags mainly targeting foreign markets.

“My hobby became a business when I employed someone and saw the impact it made on their life. I quit my job at an architectural firm to run Kabana full-time,” she told.

Guesh produces under her own brand and also has a division that produces for international labels. Since the establishment of the firm in 2017, it has focused on the international market. However, following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the firm made adjustments so as to focus on the local market in a bid to water down the effect of the pandemic on its business operations.

In addition to producing leather bags, Kabana leather now produces PPEs and other preventive materials with support from the MasterCard Foundation albeit temporarily.

The bulk of its products are sold in the U.S. and Europe and a small consignment sold in Rwanda and South Africa. Guesh said her brand tries to have launches twice a year. “Design starts with a mood board with colors, material concepts and design. Usually, I work with my team to develop patterns and designs. We make samples and get feedback on these. We then manufacture our selection for the launches,” Guesh said.

The architect-turned manufacturer attributes the success of her firm to its niche for functional bags made locally instead of concentrating on seasonal or fashionable products. “We focus on training and investing in our team, so we have close to zero staff turnover,” she said. What’s more, 80 percent of the workforce are women.

Also, Guesh’s business has largely grown as a result of recommendations from satisfied customers. “We have not spent a lot on marketing. We have also found some level of success at trade fairs,” she added.

However, there are some challenges she occasionally deals with. One of the challenges is sourcing quality leather and accessories for the bags. She also struggles to access finance which limits her working capital and makes it hard to move from a small to a medium enterprise or expand operations.

The effect of COVID-19 was another challenge she had to confront head-on. Initially, she laid off some of her temporary staff but with support from the Mastercard Foundation, the firm has recovered and saved some workers.

Guesh, in her spare time, trains young women and girls living on the streets of Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. These young women, many of whom are refugees from South Sudan and Somalia, do join Guesh at her company. Others go on to start their own businesses, she said in an interview. “Nothing is more satisfying for me than seeing former employees or the women I’ve trained spread their own wings and start their own businesses,” said Guesh, who grew up hearing a phrase many young girls did not: “You can do whatever you want.”