Women making progress, but there’s still a long way to go
THE WORLD has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in both women’s and society’s thoughts about women’s equality and emancipation. A report by the World Bank states that “many from a younger generation may feel that all the battles have been won for women”, while many feminists from the 1970s know only too well the longevity and ingrained complexity of patriarchy.
With more women in the boardroom, greater equality in legislative rights, and an increased critical mass of women’s visibility as impressive role models in every aspect of life, one could think that women have gained true equality.
The unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women’s education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men.
However, great improvements have been made. We do have female astronauts and prime ministers, schoolgirls are welcomed into university, women can work and have a family. Women have real choices.
Today, March 8, is International Women’s Day, a special day that seeks to celebrate women’s achievements, the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women; a day that marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity and act as a catalyst for change when it comes to gender equality. It’s been observed for more than 100 years and is now celebrated around the world.
According to the international Women’s Day website, this special day has been observed since the early 1900s when 15 000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights; women became more vocal and active in campaigning for change.
The World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report recently stated: “At current rates of progress it may take another 217 years to close the economic gender gap globally; and that the empowerment of women to participate equally in the global economy could add $28 trillion (R330trln) in GDP growth by 2025.”
Reality is that women’s participation in the economy would stimulate wider benefits. Studies of economies as varied as Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Ethiopia, and the UK suggest that women generally devote more of the household budget to education, health and nutrition than men.
Societies with greater gender equality not only offer better socio-economic opportunities for women, but also tend to grow faster and more equitably.
There are gains in poverty reduction, environmental sustainability, consumer choice, innovation and decision-making on a wider set of issues.
For instance, the World Bank found that in Latin America and the Caribbean,
women have played a critical role in the decline of poverty, with female labour market income contributing to a 30 percent reduction in extreme poverty over a 10-year period.
The majority of women entrepreneurs run micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs); more than 30 percent of MSMEs are owned by women. Yet only one in five exporters is a women-owned business.
Women of Africa
The past few years have seen a rise in the number of women-owned businesses in Africa.
Be it in IT, oil, mining, or in the aviation sector, female entrepreneurs are breaking gender stereotypes and showing that what a man can do, a woman can also do, if not better.
Bold and fearlessly ambitious, these are some of the female business leaders who shape the future of the continent and inspire not only countless other women, but also anyone who dares to dream.
Njeri Rionge – Kenya
The Kenyan business magnate started her first business at the age of 19, selling yoghurt at schools in the capital, Nairobi. She went on to sell clothes and run a few other small businesses.
Today, Njeri Rionge is one of the women pioneer investors in the IT sector in Africa, having co-founded Wananchi Online, East Africa’s first mass market internet service provider which has grown to become the region’s leading internet company.
Isabel dos Santos – Angola
With an estimated net worth of $3.3 billion, the eldest daughter of Angolan president
Jose Eduardo dos Santos is the richest woman on the continent.
Isabel accumulated her wealth in oil, diamonds, as well as in the communications and banking sectors. She boasts shareholdings in Portuguese banks and energy firms such as Banco Portugues de Investimento and Portuguese Energias de Portugal respectively.
In Angola, she’s the chairperson of Unitel, one of the country’s largest mobile network companies, valued at more than $5bn.
Folorunsho Alakija – Nigeria
Folorunsho Alakija started her career as a secretary for the now-defunct Merchant Bank of Nigeria.
She quit her job in the 1980s to study fashion design in England, returning to her native country a few years later to set up Supreme Stitches, a fashion label that catered for elite Nigerian women.
Fast forward to 2016 and the 65-year-old businesswoman is Africa’s second wealthiest woman, estimated by Forbes to be worth $2.1bn. No, she didn’t make all her money from her fashion venture. Instead, a significant portion of Folorunsho’s fortune comes from her oil exploration company Famfa Oil. She also has investments in real estate.
Sibongile Sambo – South Africa
SRS Aviation offers professional and personalised flight options to destinations around the world, with charter services in a variety of categories, including VIP charter, tourist charter, and cargo charter. The company also provides game count and capture, and medical evacuation services.
Sibongile’s inspiring work has seen the 42-year-old entrepreneur accumulate a number of awards over the years, including the Regional Business Woman of the
Year award, the Black Women in Business award, and the Top Emerging Gender Empowered Company award.
Divine Ndhlukula – Zimbabwe
Devine Ndhlukula tackled a male-dominated industry head on, inspiring countless women on the continent to pursue their dreams despite the odds.
Divine is the founder and Managing Director of Securico, a security company she started in the late 1990s in her cottage with four employees and very little capital.
Today, Securico is one of the largest security firms in Zimbabwe, with more than 3 500 employees. Divine is ready for regional dominance, with plans to expand into other countries on the continent, starting with Mozambique and Zambia.
Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu – Ethiopia
Growing up in a small neighbourhood Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu discovered that most people in her community were living in poverty and that some of them possessed artisan skills.
Spurred by this realisation, she sought to find a way to translate the skills of her people into a business, and thus SoleRebels was born, in 2004.
The eco-friendly footwear manufacturer creates hundreds of local jobs.
Not only has Bethlehem’s company grown to be one of the largest footwear companies in Africa, but it has also become a successful world-class venture, with flagship stores in Taiwan, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, US, Singapore, Japan and many other countries.
Tabitha Karanja – Kenya
Tabitha’s success story is that of resilience
and fortitude. The 51-year-old is the founder and chief executive of the only large-scale brewery in Kenya owned by a Kenyan.
She launched Keroche Breweries in 1997, initially making fortified wine and later moving into spirits and, from 2008, beer. Tabitha ventured into a territory where few before her had dared to, breaking gender stereotypes and taking on East African Breweries (EAB), an international company that had monopolised the Kenyan market for more than 90 years.
EAB’s dominance had Tabitha struggling to find distributors willing to sell her beer, but she continued pressing until the market responded to her main beer brand Summit. Summit is now so appreciated in the country that last year Tabitha opened a $29 million expansion of its brewery.
As Keroche enjoys continued growth, Tabitha plans to expand into neighbouring countries, including Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda.
Hajia Bola Shagaya – Nigeria
Hajia Bola Shagaya is the founder and chief executive of Bolmus Group International – a Nigerian conglomerate which has its fingers in every pie.
Oil, real estate, banking, communications – Hajia is certainly a savvy businesswoman who knows where the money is.
Oh, she is also involved in photography – her company Fotofair is a leading photo laboratory firm in Nigeria with more than thirty laboratories across the country. Hajia started out in banking, working for the Central Bank of Nigeria before starting her first business in 1983.
Around 2005 she became the managing director of Practoil, one of the largest importers and distributors of base oil in Nigeria, and in 2011 she founded another exploration company, Voyage Oil and Gas.
She is also one of the board members of
Nigeria’s Unity Bank and has a significant stake in the bank.
Salwa Akhannouch – Morocco
Salwa Akhannouch is an ambitious woman. She ventured into business in 1993 when she established a distribution company for floor laying materials. Her determination and hard work saw her become one of Morocco’s prominent entrepreneurs.
Today, Salwa is the head of Akwa Group, a distributor of petroleum products, and the founder of Aksal Group, a Moroccan giant in luxury goods, retail, department stores, and shopping malls.
Her company has a 50 percent stake in Morocco Mall, one of the largest shopping malls on the continent.
Salwa also holds the exclusive licence to sell high end fashion brands such as Zara, Gap, and Massimo Duti in Morocco.
Bridgette Radebe – South Africa
Beginning as a contract miner in the 1980s, managing shafts, Bridgette Radebe harboured bigger dreams.
She went on to launch Mmakau Mining, a successful business with interests in gold, platinum, coal, ferrochrome, and uranium assets.
As South Africa’s first black female mining entrepreneur and president of the country’s largest mining chamber, the South African Mining Development Association, Bridgette is a shining example that women power is an unstoppable force.
I urge women in Africa to make a difference, think globally and act locally.
Make every day International Women’s Day.
Do your bit to ensure that the future for girls is bright, equal, safe and rewarding.