All about the sheLEADS Xperience in Lisboa [full report]

Djassi Africa?took the?sheLEADS Xperience?to Lisboa / Portugal with a full-day of workshops, a women leadership roundtable and lots of networking on Thursday December 1st.

Most of the work done across the startup and entrepreneurial ecosystems is focused on the business side only, with the individual and human side often not addressed. It's crucial to not only build incredible products but also to develop leaders. The?sheLEADS?program aims to empower female founders and entrepreneurs by focusing on their personal development as leaders and Djassi Africa decided to offer a taste of this experience to 25 African or Afro-descendant founders, innovators, and entrepreneurs based in Portugal. This is part of?Djassi Africa’s strategy to scale the?sheLEADS?agenda and empower at least 5000 women entrepreneurs and leaders by 2025. If we level the playing field for women’s businesses, if we help them grow, global economies will grow. Empowering women entrepreneurs is simply smart economics.

This is part of?Djassi Africa’s strategy to scale the?sheLEADS?agenda and empower at least 5000 women entrepreneurs and leaders by 2025.

The day started early in the morning with?Fernando Cabral?and?Rudolphe Cabral?setting the scene and giving the context for the importance of the sheLEADS program in the journey to build impactful startups and businesses. This was also an opportunity for the selected sheLEADers to learn more about Djassi Africa and their roadmap for 2023.

Then the big moment came, with the introduction of the special host for the day -?Jenny Rosa?- Djassi Africa's sheLEADS Xperience Lead.

The morning was all about the REVAMP YOU! Workshop, focused on personal style, image, "dressing your body", and style personality as a vehicle to build a strong, unique, and impactful personal brand as a founder and entrepreneur (outcome 1). The sheLEADers started to feel challenged to get out of their comfort zones in order to discover and explore the best and boldest version of themselves and bring it to life with style, authenticity and confidence.

The afternoon was all about the WALK OF POWER! Workshop, focused on posture, body language and presence as a vehicle to overcome self-confidence barriers and feel empowered to reach their full potential (outcome 2), as well as building the confidence to "own the stage" when pitching their startups and businesses (outcome 3). At this point, the sheLEADers were getting more and more comfortable being uncomfortable, and embracing all their fears, transforming it into a transformative energy.

At this point, the sheLEADers were getting more and more comfortable being uncomfortable, and embracing all their fears, transforming it into a transformative energy.

After a long and transformative day, the evening started with a networking moment where the sheLEADers had the chance to share experiences with each other and interact with other women leaders that joined for the last part of the day. This moment was all about building a strong network of support between peer women entrepreneurs (outcome 4), and connecting the sheLEADers to other world-class experts and leaders (outcome 5).

And the day ended with the Women Leadership Roundtable, an immersive deep dive on the state of Women entrepreneurship in Portugal through the lens of black female founders. The real challenges were discussed and analysed through the different perspectives in the room, all converging into pragmatic and actionable solutions for the future. Potential startup development opportunities were also explored between the sheLEADers and Djassi Africa (outcome 6).

Real magic happens when you bring the right people and energy into the same room, and this is what happened with the first?#sheLEADSxperience?in Lisboa.

Special thanks to Djassi Africa's crew responsible for making this happen: Manuela Pereira, Carlos "Tilas" Gomes, Susana Chico, Dulia Abreu, Jenny Rosa, Rudy Cabral and Fernando Cabral.

And there is much more to come in 2023. This is just the beginning.?#sheLEADSXperience