Meet Benedicte Mundele Kuvuna, a 23 year old Congolese making her mark in the world of entrepreneurship. She is the Founder of Surprise Tropical, a local agricultural enterprise that offers a healthy nutritional composition for her community. She serves as a member and mentor at Kuvuna Foundation, a Leadership and Entrepreneurship Institution in D. R. Congo. Benedicte is also a Global Shaper of Kinshasa hub, a branch of the World Economic Forum.
While age would seem like a limitation for some others, it was the least of Benedicte’s concerns as she started out on her entrepreneurial journey. For her, the urge to create change and become a solution such that would create smiles on the faces of people was all that mattered.
The right age for running a business
For me, there is no age to run a business. I think people around me just need to be inspired by my age and let them do stronger action than mine.
First major business success
The first success was to be recognized as one of the 12 young entrepreneurs in Africa by Anzisha prize, and see our products in supermarkets. It was both surprise and joy for me.
Daily motivation
The results of the problem that we are trying to solve.
Drawing the line between failure and leadership
Every time as an entrepreneur, we have a fear of failing. This fear comes when things go wrong, when you don’t work with good people, when you don’t have enough people to support you and when you have a lot of competitors.
I have learnt that to start a business is not as difficult as we think. The difficult part is when you are in the process of developing a lot of skills so that you can see your business grow and become an inspiration for people in your community or overseas.
Being a Boss Lady: overrated or not?
I don’t think so. Being a boss lady is just like being a male or female. We just need to develop our nature of being good leaders.
Advice for female entrepreneurs
In the journey of entrepreneurship, they will see problems. They will have a feeling of giving up, but they just need to look at their vision and fail forward; that means use their failure as a lesson.
Relaxation
I watch inspired videos such as how to grow our business and how to develop myself.
