This DBA thesis follows 36 women founders enrolled at Durham University while running firms that employ staff. It asks whether a practice doctorate can be finished when childcare, investor meetings and power cuts share the same evening. Progress to confirmation of candidature depended less on prior GPA than on a supervision model that accepted artefacts from the firm as data, provided a second supervisor in the student’s time zone, and did not require a mid-year residency. Founders who documented a care roster were more likely to submit on time — a finding that should embarrass any university that still schedules vivas as if students have no households. AFU’s contribution is a supervision protocol, not a slogan about women in leadership. African research degrees must be designed around the people who already lead enterprises on the continent, or they will keep exporting talent to programmes that demand a year away from the payroll.