The year 2020 started on a high note for African women entrepreneurs, at least in offering inspiration to the young and old to dream more in starting and nurturing their own businesses.

Uganda, Ghana, Botswana, Malawi and Angola, were ranked by MasterCard Index of Women Entrepreneurs 2019 among the top 10 countries globally with most enterprising women.

“Today, these markets have more women in businesses as a percentage of all business owners than any developed market,” reads part of the report.

Sadly though, according to the same ranking, majority of the enterprises run by women remain small and poorly managed. The questions that beg to be answered are: why do most businesses started and managed by African women entrepreneurs tend to be small and poorly managed? Who can address these challenges for societal benefits as Dr. Aggrey Kwagyir of Ghana puts it, “the success of a woman is largely the success of a nation”?

Experience, they say, is the best teacher, hence, as organizers of the annual Kampala Strategic Leaders’ Summit, HCI has assembled very eminent women and men within the financial, business and women development industry to connect with you at the 2^nd edition of the summit to be held at the Sheraton Kampala hotel on the 27^th of February 2020 to discuss and offer practical and innovative ways to the growth challenges of women led enterprises in Africa.

One of the speakers of this year’s Summit, Dr Hilda Tadria, the executive director of Mentoring and Empowerment Programme for Young Women (MEMPROW), has an in-depth diagnosis of the problems and prescription to the challenges of women entrepreneurs. In a pre-conference interview, she hinted on some of the cutting-edge solutions to be expected in the upcoming summit among which include the following:

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Acceptability.

Traditionally, in most African societies, women have been ‘backbenchers’ who had no interest in starting formal enterprises or aspirations for leadership positions in society. Although this has drastically changed due to a number of concerted interventions, Dr Tadria says women continue to face a major challenge of being taken “serious” when it comes to starting their own businesses. Even in recent times, some still believe that success in business is the innate preserve of men. Throwing more light on this very challenge, Dr Tadria illustrates how in some parts of Africa whenever a given enterprise is prospering with very attractive balance sheets for example, some customers who obviously expect the owner to be a man get the shock of their lives when the owner happens to be a woman. This subtle traditional mindset and norms, she adds, kill women initiatives hence the need for deliberate trainings to, not only empower a lot more women to opt for enterprise development but also to demonstrate that in the 21-century success in business is not the preserve of men.

Resource challenges.

Financial capital continues to be scarce for both women and men. But for women, Dr Tadria emphases, the scarcity is more troubling since culturally, majority of African women do not own the means of production. No land means no collateral to accessing loans from banks. Coupled with the lack of financial capital, fewer women in Africa, until recent times, had formal management and leadership competencies compared to men due to the socio-cultural, economic and political injustices created against women, centuries ago, especially since they were denied formal education. Dr Tadria, who has been a champion of fighting for the promotion of women interests for decades, therefore, proposes a system that is designed to support women to access capital in order to spur the growth of women enterprises all across Africa. Such interventions could include special training and apprenticeships among others, after all, they are the majority on the continent.

Gender discrimination.

Linked to the above is the old traditional holistic gender discrimination in most African societies. Statistically a very high percentage of the young population in Africa are women. Unfortunately, Dr Tadria sees two major developmental challenges associated with this situation.  In the first place, she asserts, if you are a woman, you are looked upon as not wise enough to make important decisions for yourself and, in some societies, you are only prepared for marriage. Consequently, you are therefore alienated and denied support that would help you develop and transform your business acumen to enable you start and manage your own enterprise, Dr Tadria argues.

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Corruption.  

Another major challenge facing women entrepreneurs is corruption. Corrupt practices and systemic corruption are old development challenges confronting African entrepreneurs. Corruption by its nature, emboldens people with corrupt tendencies to take from the poor and enrich the already rich in society. And in Africa, this is endemic. Money that would be used to put up infrastructure to facilitate start up businesses, skills development and used as capital for the poor, end up in the hands of a few. To grow women enterprises and to ensure that a lot more women use their businesses and entrepreneurship talents to move above the poverty line, the fight against corruption should be a top agenda for all, she adds.

Sign up for the Summit today and get intriguing ways of how-to start and grow your business if you are an enterprising young woman seeking to launch and grow your own business. The 2nd Kampala Strategic Leaders’ Summit, which for two years in a roll has been enviably supported by Ecobank, the Pan African Bank, is the best place for you. It brings together Africa’s top-notch and key business leaders, high level SME operators, investors, bankers and policy makers on the same platform.

In the meantime, however, and as a prelude to the summit, you can also take advantage of the ongoing five days Executive Entrepreneurship and Personal Improvement Programme run by HCI and learn more about how to convert your ideas into business and prepare for early retirement.

Like some of the topics that will be discussed at the summit such as ICT implications on entrepreneurs and enterprises, how SMEs can tap into Foreign Direct Investment and how SMEs can benefit from the recently signed African Continental Free Trade Agreement, you will be fully equipped to see your dream of owning your own business come true this year.

Register now and be among the innovative women business leaders of our time on the continent.