Trailblazing WISI-Oi, a Female-Led African Startup is Raising the Bar for Africa’s Female Founders
- Jabulile Sonya Ngwenya
- Mar 7
- 4 min read
Phumi Körber founder of WISI-Oi, a circular fashion marketplace where people can resell their wardrobes, reduce clutter and generate income speaks to AfricArena’s Jabulile Sonya Ngwenya about what International Women’s Day means to her as a female founder in Africa’s tech, innovation and investment landscape.
International Women’s Day, Phumi says, is important for us to take a moment to consider the significant achievements and contributions women make to the global economy. “It’s a reminder of how far we’ve come and how much further we need to go. It’s also a day where I get to hype up the incredible women around me and be reminded that we’re basically superheroes, running businesses, breaking barriers, and still remembering to defrost the chicken for dinner.”
WISI-Oi, a video-based resale platform continues to make waves within the South African circular economy sector. “It’s all about making fashion more sustainable while putting money back into people’s pockets,” says Phumi.
She shares that some of her proudest achievements to date are as follows: Getting into the Grindstone X Accelerator Program and receiving support from Naspers Labs, securing US$50,000 in non-dilutive funding from Google for Startups, receiving €200,000 in Google Cloud credits, winning the AfricArena Best Female Tech Startup Award at the 2023 AfricArena Johannesburg Summit, being recognized as the Best Market Fit in Africa by Burning Heroes 2023, being selected to attend the BCG Accelerator in Milan where she was mentored by some of the best minds in fashion and tech and building a community of over 600 sellers that continues to grow.
The one defining accomplishment Phumi shares with AfricArena that she is most proud of is “still owning 100% of my business, even while navigating the fundraising trenches! It’s been a journey of bootstrapping, pitching, negotiating, and securing support from major players like Google who believe in what we’re building, all while staying true to our vision and ensuring WISI-Oi scales in a healthy & sustainable way.”
One of the greatest rewards she says she gets, and which keeps her going daily is “honestly just seeing people make money from their closets while reducing waste is a win in itself.”
Being a female founder in a male-dominated industry is no easy feat, and it comes with some unique challenges. Phumi shares an inside glimpse into some of these challenges she deals with. “Where do I start? Some biases are actually within me as I’m naturally shy in social settings until I warm up and in a world where confidence sells, that can feel like a hurdle. Then there are the external ones, being asked if I have a male co-founder because apparently, business isn’t serious without one,” she says.
“And let’s talk about fundraising, it’s a full-time job. Many African female founders struggle to access capital because we’re seen as “risky” or have to prove ourselves ten times over. In addition, add cultural norms, limited investor networks and the pressure to wear all the hats such as CEO, marketer, customer service and more. It’s exhausting. But here is the flip side, I’ve been lucky to receive incredible support from the African startup ecosystem and more women are stepping into leadership, investment, and advisory roles and that’s changing the game. Let’s not forget, the real investors in my business, our customers. With 70% of our
buyers and sellers being women, they’re the ones investing in our business. When women support women, we all win.”
Gender diversity, Phumi emphasizes, is important as “it means balance. It means better businesses. It means we stop acting like women are a niche market when we make up half the population. It’s important because different perspectives lead to stronger companies, smarter solutions, and, let’s be honest, a more interesting workplace.
Reflecting on her journey so far, Phumi shares some strategies female founders can use to overcome the challenges of navigating the male-dominated stratosphere. She says, “it’s very important to know your numbers as data speaks louder than doubt, find your tribe as you need to surround yourself with other female founders who get it, take up your space as we belong in every room at every table and have the courage to call it out because sometimes people don’t even realize their biases until you say, “Hey, did you just mansplain my own business to me?”.”
Speaking about questions investors ask female founders, Phumi says, “I wish investors would ask us the same high-impact, forward-thinking questions they ask male founders instead of hyper-focusing on risk and sustainability.” Some of these questions she suggests could include the following:
“How can we support you beyond just funding?”
“What does success look like for you?”
“What’s your unfair advantage in this market?”
“What’s your biggest moonshot vision?”
In the same breath, she continues and says questions she would like investors to ask less of include the following:
“Can you handle the pressure?” (Would you ask that to a man?)
“How do you balance work and family?” (Again, would you ask that to a man?)
“Are you sure this is scalable?” (Just invest and watch!)
As the interview comes to an end, Phumi says if there is one thing she could do to ensure future generations of female founders are successful, it is this: “We need more women making investment decisions! We need more female venture capitalists, fund managers, and decision-makers who understand the realities of building and scaling businesses as women. Also, we need more funding going to women-led startups because we all know the numbers aren’t in our favour yet.”
For more information about AfricArena and our upcoming events, visit our website at www.africarena.com
Comentários