Bribery ‘will come back to haunt you’
Women entrepreneurs encouraged to support one another
WALK away from a contract or a deal if it involves bribing as it will hurt you and your business in the future. This was some of the advice given to women entrepreneurs by Pontsho Manzi, founder and editor-in-chief at Bonisa Media, publisher of Fabulous Woman magazine, author, motivational speaker, women empowerment activist and multiple award-winner.
Manzi was a VIP guest speaker at the Standard Bank Top Women Conference at the Crystal Towers Hotel in Century City yesterday. The conference this year was in celebration of Human Rights Month and International Women’s Day, celebrated last week.
The event chartered the next success stories of South Africa’s top entrepreneurs, and Cape Town played host to this year’s Top Women Event by providing the ultimate platform to address the challenges facing gender empowerment and women-driven economic growth.
Manzi said there were a lot of challenges in Africa in terms of integrity and the need to bribe to get business. “I am proud to say that I’ve been in business for 13 years this year and I’ve never bribed. Everything that I have I worked hard for it.
“I have walked away from projects where there was a contract which says ‘Just sign here lady’, and then they give you a piece of paper which says book our flight, pay our kids’ school fees and so forth. And some of these contracts I look at and say ‘My dream car, a Bentley, is coming now’, but I had to walk away because I was supposed to bribe.”
Manzi said everything one does as a business person will catch up with you in the future. “Bribing will hurt you in the future,” she said.
Sharon Smith, Standard Bank’s provincial head for retail markets in the Western Cape, said the bank’s mission was to create access to markets for women entrepreneurs across the region and to fast-track network sessions, speeches from leading minds and VIPs in the sector, and the opportunity to pitch ideas to an elite panel was designed to assist women to accelerate their access to more clients and market share, locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
“If South Africa’s entrepreneurial women can open up such opportunities, their productivity will soar, job creation will increase and their success will ripple outwards into the wider economy,” she said.
Karla Fletcher, director of Standard Bank Top Women, said the ethos at Top Women was a community built around the spirit of mentorship, with successful women uplifting others to pursue success to an equal degree and collectively sharing knowledge gained though experience to help all community members advance.
“We are passionate about exemplifying and driving gender empowerment, and our regional conferences contribute to driving growth throughout different spheres of the economy by offering the relevant tools needed for women to break down the barriers of access markets.”