Coach 30 African queer womxn founders & fund 5

Hey

Happy New Year!

Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, our community of queer womxn entrepreneurs showed great resilience throughout 2020. We wanted to give you a little update on our goal to Coach 30 African queer womxn founder and fund 5 project last year. 

In 2020, 29 queer womxn entrepreneurs experienced an improved version of the Startups Pitch Challenge program over a 7-weeks. The top 5 successful participants were then selected by an audited selection committee to pitch for business funding at our final QWB+Allies Demo Day Event which took place virtually on the 28th of November 2020. 

"The 2020 Startups Pitch Challenge has been a life-changing experience that has helped me think more strategically about my business. I was exposed to a number of highly experienced individuals and the experience made it easier for me to implement high thinking concepts into the business." - Tshepiso Sibisi, founder of Mwari Pizza House, the 2020 winner of the Startups Pitch Challenge. 

Mwari Pizza House is South Africa’s fastest township-based growing pizza brand delivering quality service by living up to its tagline, “Taste the Fresh Creation”. 

Last year we recruited a more diverse group of founders and businesses, with 45% of the businesses being at idea/registration stage and 55% at pre-seed stage with a 97% completion rate. 

The team at QWB+Allies will like to express our heartfelt gratitude to you for your support in 2020! 

Keep Well and Stay Safe.

QWB+Allies Team

Guess what? We did it together! 

Nothing excites us more than seeing queer owned businesses doing amazing things and thriving! We are thrilled to update you on what the team at Neferu Natural Hair Care, our 2019 Startups Pitch Challenge winners, have been up to. 

Remember that generous donation you made towards our campaign last year? It has certanly made an impact on Neferu's business, specifically during the global pandemic. Through our monthly mentorship and their sheer brilliance, they have remained resilient and innovative to keep their business afloat during this time. We will not spend too much more time on this email telling you about it, have a look at their new website and see what Tumi and Ru have to say about their business: 

https://www.neferuhaircare.co.za/

THANK YOU for choosing to help us accelerate 60 queer womxn-owned businesses!

Remember, $100 (ZAR1,700) goes a long way to ensuring that a business owner gets one on one business mentoring and resource support. Don't have $100 to give? You can always start with as little as $20 (ZAR350)! 

You're amazing! 

Keep well and stay safe, 

Kebone, Siya and Jocelyn 

AKA, The Chief Queer Women in Business  

Links:

• Neferu Hair Care