MIW Digital Magazine SADC South 2016 by CEO Global Group

I n f l u e n t i a l

WOMEN i n

B u s i n e s s

a n d

G o v e r n m e n t

THE STRENGTH

to Lead

Harnessing Unique Talents e x p a n d

y o u r

b u s i n e s s

Global

h o r i z o n s

2016/2017

M o s t

SADC SOUTH

A f r i c a â&#x20AC;&#x2122; s

Without You… Signature PARTNER

Anchor PARTNER

Our continent has been touted as the fastest growing developing region. This factor brings to the fore the reality that if we are doing things right. Then we will continue to give credit where it is due; to the women and nurturers of this beautiful land. I dare say, never in our lifetime have, the once down trodden females stood up in their numbers and chosen to take not only their personal destinies in their own hands, but the destinies of more than a billion people. Because of African women’s efforts, I am happy to say that our continent is in good hands. It is in that vein that we will continue, and strongly so, to celebrate these entrepreneurs, business leaders and nurturers of our Africa. The journey travelled thus far, has been long and hard. But it has been worth all the effort invested in making Africa’s Most Influential Women in Business and Government the stellar recognition programme that it is today. Thanks and respect goes to all our stakeholders and partners; from the judges, winners and finalists and our loyal readers. Without you recognising the importance of one honouring another, Africa’s MIW would not be what it is today. Most of all, however, it is to the winners and finalists recognised herein that my greatest respect goes to. Without you, our world and continent would be a poorer place to live in. Annelize Wepener Chief Executive: CEO Global

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Publisher CEO Global (Pty) Ltd Tel: 0861 CEO MAG Fax: (012) 667 6624 Tel: 012 667 6623 info@ceomag.co.za www.ceomag.co.za

Chief Executive Annelize Wepener annelizew@ceomag.co.za

who’s who in the zoo

Virtue of the

2016/2017

The

Director: Strategic Development & Editor in Chief Valdi Pereira valdip@ceomag.co.za Director: Corporate & Financial Services Carl Wepener carlw@ceomag.co.za Manager: Office of the Chief Executive Nadine Aylward nadinea@ceomag.co.za General Manager: Global Services George Wepener georgew@ceomag.co.za

General Manager: Global Media Services/ Head of Production Channette Raath channetter@ceomag.co.za Junior Designer Niel Viljoen nielv@gmail.com

Great things happen to a uniform unit. Here we are talking about the African unit. If the African continent would continue to consolidate, as it is already doing, and see itself and act as one, success will be ours. A litany of reasons comes to mind when endeavouring to justify why Africa must consolidate, integrate and act as one. Perhaps the most important of these is the age old adage that: “A whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. This means that regardless of our nationality and our regional boundaries, it is time that we all ceased to perceive ourselves as this or that nationality and realise that we are ‘patriotic’ Africans who merely live in different parts of the country called Africa. To further enhance this argument, no one will argue with the fact that we are easily the most diverse and natural resource blessed continent on the face of the earth. Combined, our individual wealth can do wonders for Africa. From oil, to mining, agriculture and wildlife, Africa has it all. We are just one short step away from being the superpower that we really ought to be: integrating and consolidating our efforts to advance the interests of our motherland on all fronts. If we do that we will surely see the power of one manifesting in our lifetime thereby safeguarding the future. By honouring women from various industries across the African continent, CEO Global is merely taking one small step, yet a giant leap, towards the vision of an integrated, consolidated and successful Africa which sees itself as one. We are proud to bring you, once again, some of the luminaries that will make this ‘Power of One’ dream a reality.

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

Manager: Business Development – SADC South Neville Mukoma nevillem@ceomag.co.za Danny Kabongo dannyk@ceomag.co.za

Journalist Andrew Ngozo andrewn@ceomag.co.za

Team Leader: Continental Programmes Pule Mahodi pulem@ceomag.co.za Continental Project Administrators Sylvia Houinsou sylviah@ceomag.co.za Rumbi Chanda rumbic@ceomag.co.za

Manager: Corporate Support Raymond Mauelele raymondm@ceomag.co.za

Client Development Administrators Winston Williams winstonw@ceomag.co.za Client Liaison Officer Cobus Kramer cobusk@ceomag.co.za

Receptionist Wilheminah Nchwe wilheminahn@ceomag.co.za Office Assistant Minah Mahlangu minahm@ceomag.co.za Security Guard George Mbana

* No article or part of an article may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the prior written permission of the publisher. The information provided and opinions expressed in this publication are provided in good faith but do not necessarily represent the opinions of the publisher or editor. All reasonable efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this publication. However, neither the publisher nor the editor can be held legally liable in any way for damages of any kind whatsoever arising directly or indirectly from any facts or information provided or omitted in these pages, or from any statements made in or withheld by this publication.

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CONTEN

2016/2017

The

Leading Edge

Leaders’ Perspective

Case in Point

Midrand Conference Centre- A Host with Style and Elegance KPMG- Global Expertise Made Locally Relevant Egypt Air- Opening Up Foreign Markets Unique Speaker Bureau- The Premier League of Africa’s Professional Speakers ARMSCOR- A Leader in Defence Acquisition Air Mauritius on Producing Leaders for the Future Africa

X andY Factor

The

Without You Annelize Wepener: On a Personal Note Meet the Judges Yvonne Finch: Women Shifting Norms Commander Tsietsi Mokhele: Unwavering Servitude to South Africa A Premier League Orator

Winners& Finalists Out of Office

60 79 94 104 116 133

1 6 8 22 23 24

Quick Guide

Karkloof: Paradise in Pietermaritzburg Get social with the Volvo V60 Cross Country

84 142

NTS Sustainability

Global [Economic] Challenges Today Greatest Celebrity Causes of All Time Can Social Enterprise End Social Ills? How to Dispose of Your old Office Equipment

Corporate

38 54 91 144

Governance 50 64 80

Narrowing the Gender Gap When and How to Trust Your Guts How to Recover From a Financial Crisis

Skills Transfer How Important Is Your Team When Starting A Business? The Viable Tertiary Funding Models for SA Turning managers into coaches to improve business success and productivity How To Create Winning Facebook Posts For Business Listen up Generation X

Empowered The Power of One: Role Models Finding Your Niche Market in Business The Most Expensive Schools in SA Turn Your Boss into Your Biggest Fan

42 70 100 107 125

Leadership 32 46 74 96

X&Y

AFRICAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

X&Y

On a

Note

Annelize Wepener grew up in Vereeniging, South Africa and attended the Vaal University of Technology. She began her career as a secretary in 1981 but it was when she joined Avroy Shlain Cosmetics that she began to make a name for herself. She went from success to success and became the youngest Regional Director in South Africa. With a passion for business and an eagerness to meet a demand in the market she launched CEO Communications.

nnelize has many titles; to employees and colleagues she is the CE of CEO Global, the boss, to family: mother, ‘ouma’ and wife, to others: an entrepreneur, top businesswoman and role model. Regardless of the position she is a passionate woman with a past, present and future.

Then Annelize’s surroundings as a child played a crucial role in the shaping of her business views. She recalls: “From a young age I always wanted to be a successful businessperson. As a result, successful business people always intrigued me and I enjoyed observing and learning from the business people I came into contact with. I grew up on a farm watching my parents raise livestock and grow produce, which gave me a good appreciation for how one can take raw materials and add value through processing and packaging.” Now In her current position she must keep her skills sharp while still adapting to an ever-changing market. “As a chief executive you always need to ensure that your products and services meet the expectations of clients. However, I think

the real challenge for any CE is to ensure that the emotional connectivity between your products and your markets and your staff and the work that they do is properly aligned. If you can achieve this you will unlock passion amongst your team for their work and your customers will be passionate about your product.” Of her many accomplishment she says her biggest success in life thus far is, “My family. Building a cohesive, loving family unit is always a challenge at the best times. In fact, I think it is even more challenging today than ever before. My husband and I are proud grandparents and when I look at and hold my granddaughter, I realise that the sacrifices and the challenges I have had to overcome to build a strong family unit have been absolutely worth it.” The mother of two explains that her secret to staying grounded and encouraged while juggling a successful business and a growing family is that she keeps the Bible at the top of her reading list. Still to Come No one can say for certain what the future will bring, but for the entrepreneurially spirited Annelize “the sky isn’t even the limit” and in the next 10 years she says: “we are on a drive to expand our reach – watch this space, you will definitely see more of us!”

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

X&Y

Adriaan Liebetrau

Judges Adriaan is CEO of the Southern African Association for the Conference Industry (SAACI). Prior to his appointment to SAACI, he was the National Conferencing and Events Operations Manager at Travel With Flair. SAACI is the umbrella body of the business events industry. Liebetrau has already restructured SAACI by repositioning the annual congress and bi monthly branch events with an aggressive growth strategy throughout South Africa and the SADC region including Burundi and Rwanda. He lives by actor, Kevin Spacey’s words: “If you’re lucky enough to do well, it’s your responsibility to send the elevator back down.” Adriaan understands the value in collaboration and many of his achievements have been a success due to this understanding of the conference industry.

Aggrey is a founding Partner of AA&L Associates, one of the best indigenous independent providers of audit, business advisory and financial services in Uganda. He is member of the professional societies FCCA, ICPAU, FCMA and FGMA. Assignments he has been involved in include being Engagement Partner on the audits of UNFPA funded Government programmes/ Projects for the financial years 2008 and 2009; Quality Assurance Partner and Co-Team leader on the audits of both the Uganda Railways Corporation for the financial years 2005 and 2006, as well as the Uganda National Chamber of Commerce and Industry funded by SIDA for the financial years 2007 and 2008 of which he reviewed the finance manual and trained the board members on their roles.

Angela Dick

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

Aggrey Kankunda

Angela is the founder of Transman. Amongst her Transman responsibilities, Angela is Vice President of CAPES, a Trustee of the CAPES Provident Fund, a former Executive Member of the Federation of African Professional Staffing Organisations (APSO), former Chairman of the Trade Policy Committee of Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), a long-term Director of BUSA and SEIFSA. She is also a member of the Millennium Labour Council. In 2006 Angela won SA Businesswoman of the Year: Entrepreneur Award and in 2007 and 2015/2016 she was awarded Most Influential Woman in Business and Government. In addition, Angela won Businesswoman of the Year 2015 in the TOPCO Standard Bank Top Women Awards, she was a Finalist for the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur Awards, and she won Most Outstanding Woman in Business 2015 at the Motlekar BBQ Awards and was recently appointed President of the Steel and Engineering Industries South Africa (SEIFSA).

X&Y

Berdien Petrov

Berdien is the Founder and Managing Director of 360° Wellness @ Work which focuses on the in-depth and holistic health and wellbeing of the individual in the workplace. Her 20 years of experience helps to unite teams and establish a happy, healthy workforce with high morale in companies. As a judge, she finds Africa’s Most Influential Women in Business and Government and Titans: Building Nations initiative important as it recognises men and woman who are doing an incredible job in terms of changing people and communities around them by sharing and using their skills sets. “I am honoured to be an adjudicator. There have been some phenomenal candidates this year and selecting winners has been tough. One thing that every winner has in common is their responsibility to the people around them,” communicates Berdien.

Dion Knoeson

Dion has been the CEO of CPIS since 1994. He has managed and completed 46 projects successfully in numerous industries in 15 countries. Dion specialises in strategy implementation, corporate operational and financial improvement and corporate strategic development related disciplines. In the last ten years, he has focused on medium enterprises where demand for growth & development remains high.

Elaine Palmer

Elaine is the Manager of Human Resources Professional Services for Exxaro group of mines. Her responsibilities include remuneration, leadership, change management, employee relations, HR development and more. She has formal and informal conversations around performance, individual development, career plans and personal wellbeing. “I always try to steer my team towards working as one,” she says. Being a woman in a male dominated industry is not insurmountable. “You have to work extra hard to prove yourself before getting accepted as an equal counterpart, mostly by the older generation. Important lesson: take control. Do not play the victim. Don’t give others power over you. Execute, execute, execute is key.”

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

X&Y

Elizabeth Malumo

Elizabeth is a seasoned banker and been in the banking industry for 35 years, 20 of which she has spent with First National Bank. She has a wealth of knowledge on helping small and large businesses grow and be profitable. Elizabeth is currently at Barclays Africa as Provincial Head for Gauteng North, South Africa. As a member of the South Africa Entrepreneur Board, she is passionate about developing and seeing women in business succeed. For Elizabeth, a potential winner is someone who “shows passion for what they do, someone who makes their business sustainable and is involved in uplifting the community around them”. She says there have been some phenomenal candidates this year and that selecting winners has been tough. Elizabeth emphasises to all candidates that. “It is important to understand what drives your business and what sustains it, while also operating and benefiting the community.”

Eve is a graduate in Agriculture and holds a MSc and PhD in Food Science and Technology. She is a Food Science and Food Safety, as well as, Standards and Quality Assurance Expert. She is presently, a Senior International Consultant at BUDE Consultants Ltd, a TechnoBusiness and Development Consultancy firm. Eve is the founder of Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), the national apex institution for standardisation and quality and its first Executive Director for a period of 12 years. She was one of the EA Standards CEOs, who established the current common EAC Harmonised Standards programme. She was the National Central Competent Authority officer for safety and quality of fish and fishery products exports to European Union (EU) and led Uganda to total compliance with EU fish safety, export requirements.

Gary Joseph

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

Eve Kasirye-Alemu

Gary is the Chief Executive Officer of the South African Supplier Diversity Council (NPC), a position which he has held since May 2012. He spent two and a half years at the National Business Initiative (NBI) as Director: Corporations & Linkages where he was overall responsible for the legal formation and the commencement of operations of the South African Supplier Diversity Council (SASDC). Prior to joining the NBI, Gary spent 8 years with De Beers, during which he held several roles related to SMME development, preferential procurement and supply chain management. His career also includes 2 years in the public sector where he was responsible for regional investment promotion and SME development programmes implemented by the Northern Cape Provincial Government, South Africa. Gary holds a Bachelor of Science, a Higher Diploma in Education, as well as, a post-graduate Diploma in Organisation and Management from the University of Cape Town.

X&Y

Gerda Potgieter

Gerda’s 25 year career in local government led to her eventual appointment as Director: Stakeholder Engagement and Capacity Building at the City of Tshwane Municipality. Gerda holds a Master’s Degree from the University of South Africa (UNISA) and she successfully completed an Executive Leadership Programme from the University of Pretoria (cum laude) for which she received the ‘Best Student’ award. Besides holding other qualifications and awards, Gerda was recently awarded an Innovation Award for the Enhancement of Internal systems in Government from the Centre for Public Service Innovation (CPSI). She was a finalist in the CEO Global’s Most Influential Women in Business and Government local government awards. She successfully project managed the Monyetla work readiness learnership programme, funded by Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and the Work Skills programme. Gerda was awarded Best Monyetla Work readiness programme for Government and Parastatals for her efforts.

Gervase obtained a B. Com Accounting (MUK) and MBA (EBS) degree, and is a Certified Internal Auditor and Certified Public Accountant. Gervase is currently the Company Secretary and Chief Operating Officer for New Vision Printing and Publishing Company Ltd, Uganda’s leading media house. He was previously, the company’s Chief Internal Auditor for 10 years. Gervase’s added responsibilities include being a Council Member and Vice Chairman of Council and the Chairman of the Finance Committee of Council, both at Uganda Martyrs University; he is on the Board of Trustees, Institute of Internal Auditors, Uganda; Head of Laity, Archdiocese of Mbarara and Vice Chairman for Uganda Timber Growers Association.

Gervase Ndyanabo:

Jene’ Palmer Jene’ is a Chartered Accountant who has garnered a wealth of experience over the last two decades in the corporate environment including leading a JSE-listed ICT company as its CEO and returning the company to profitability. She geared the company for an acquisition in order to achieve the goal of turning it into a billion rand organisation. Jene’s passion is rooted in assisting companies to reach their full potential and overcome the challenges posed by an economic downturn, weak strategic direction, operational inefficiencies or financial distress. Jene’s areas of expertise are leadership, strategy development, financial management, business optimisation and corporate governance. She was also selected as Finalist in the BWASA Business Woman of the Year 2008 and Finalist in CSSA IT Personality of the Year 2010.

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

X&Y

Kim Potgieter

As a Director and Retirement Life Planner at Chartered Wealth Solutions, Kim has combined her two passions: studying the relationship people have with money and advising people on how to get the most life from their money in retirement. She is a certified Financial Planner and specialises in changing the way people view retirement and strongly believes that retirement should be seen as a new chapter. Kim is a Director at the FPI and in this role she aims to encourage financial planners to see their clients as people, not just a financial transaction. Kim is a certified coach with the International Coach Federation and has created an online community to support women financial planners. Her goal is to see younger female planners positively mentored by more experienced colleagues and to provide strong role models within the industry.

Mariana is the General Manager of Midcomp Azero (Pty). Amongst her many company responsibilities, she ensures the continuous growth and development of this newly merged company. Previously, she was Managing Director for A Format Supplies from 2006 to February 2016, where she turned this small business into a successful company with a turnover of millions. In addition, she worked as a Sales and Business Unit Development manager for Aisel Systems before joining A Format Supplies. She is a dedicated, customerorientated manager/director and is known in the industry for her product knowledge, people skills, integrity and unrivalled customer service. She enjoys working with customers in the corporate and mining sector, and specialises in establishing new and innovative ways to address challenges and drive growth.

Professor Mercy Mirembe Ntangaare

AFRICAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

Mariana Raath

Professor Mercyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s academic qualifications stand at Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Master of Arts (literature) and Honours in Bachelor of Arts. She is currently an Associate Professor at the Makerere University, Uganda. She has also received qualifications from institutions in Germany, Netherlands and the United States. She has contributed highly valued articles in refereed journals, magazines and newsletters. She has published a number of books, one being the first eBook to be written by a Ugandan available in Uganda. Professor Mercy has also had her hand in some film/video productions, stage performance, fairs and exhibitions. To add to this she has a number of manuscripts she is working on and has organised, directed and convened a number of conferences, fairs, awards and festivals. She has been the VP of IDEA since 2008, chairperson of the UNCC since 2009 and founder of UTN.

X&Y

Monki Hlutwa

“I believe that it is important to recognise efforts,” says Monki, Communications Manager at the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (MEIBC).Monki previously worked as a Strategy Development & Project Management Consultant running her own business and also for the Gauteng Provincial Housing Department. She looks for people who exceed their job descriptions. “I strongly believe that as an excellent individual, you also need to step up over and above what you do, and what you are paid for, you also do things that touch the heart of others.” The thread of selflessness governs her other criteria as well. “It’s about ensuring that there is a lot of mentorship and coaching. I don’t personally believe in someone who is a one man show or is indispensable. I believe that people need to pass the baton…when they have decided to move on,” she says.

Noreta has a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA) Specialising in Information Management & Systems Analysis from Hull University, U.K. She has also achieved a Master of Science, Radiation Physics from Dundee University in Scotland, UK and is currently busy with her PhD. She has additionally obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Computer Science - MUK, Uganda. Noeta’s strengths lie in her ability to teach, train and lead, and stems from her extensive experience of project management and lecturing in both Science and applied Science in the area of Management, Design and Analysis of Systems. Noreta is innovative and capable of working in an unstructured environment which allows her to have the exceptional ability to pick up new skills.

Nothemba Gqiba

Noreda Bashabe Kiremire

Nothemba is the Head of Department for Marketing & Communication at SEFA (Small Enterprise Finance Agency) since 2012 and has been in the SMME and Cooperatives funding sector for almost 10 years. She is very passionate about the development and growth of SMMEs and Cooperatives. In her current position, she is tasked with giving strategic direction in the implementation of the marketing and communication strategy to ensure SEFA has a wider reach to more SMME’s and Cooperatives throughout South Africa. Prior to assuming this role, Nothemba was a Marketing Manager at SAMAF (South African Micro-Finance Apex Fund) were she encouraged rural and peri-urban communities to mobilise their resources to establish financial service cooperatives in order to grow their community businesses.

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

X&Y

Pumulani Ncube

Pumulani, a qualified chartered accountant, was a founding member and Chief Investment Officer for Jala Capital, a black economic empowerment (BEE) investment holding company. He is currently the CEO of Beehive Capital, which specialises in enterprise and supply development as well as implementing programmes for SMEs in the public and private sectors. Pumulani works with people in corporates and small business, so it is easy for him to relate to the candidates of MIW and Titans and as a judge he has, “seen some wonderful candidates this year”. All candidates have unique skills, but, for Pumulani, the “differentiating factor is social responsibility and what candidates are doing in their individual capacities in society. The award has great importance for the winner and there is personal gratification when people in the industry recognise what you do, it can only serve to benefit the person and their brand,” says Pumulani.

Sarah is a certified trainer in Industrial Management as well as Entrepreneurship Development and holds a diploma in Legal Practice, a Bachelors of Law as well as Masters in Law degree. She obtained her academic qualifications at the Georgetown University Law School and the Makerere University. Sarah has been a consultant for Frederick Francis and Associates’ external consultancy services to the Private Sector Foundation (PSF) for the past 15 years. Her areas of expertise include Financial Institutions Law and Practice, Labour & Employment Law as well as Property Law & Conveyance. Sarah started her career as a Banking Officer/ Legal and worked for the Central Bank of Uganda for 10 years. She has been a member of numerous associations like, FIDA-U, PPDA, ECOTRUST, Uganda Women Entrepreneurs Association and the Uganda Law Society; some of which she has been actively involved in for around 30 years.

Tania Cleary

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

Sarah Babirye Lubega

Tania began her career in the motor industry in 1995 with BMW South Africa. She later joined Ford Motor Company in 2000 and then Jaguar Land Rover as the Sales and Marketing Manager. After 20 years in the motor industry, she made the change to home renovations to fulfil a lifelong dream. Her years of managerial experience aided her through the judging process by allowing her to make informed decisions. “When working through the nominees descriptions of their leadership roles and achievements in their industries you are well positioned if you have been exposed to all the roles within an organisation and have a working knowledge of their industry.” For Tania, the stand-out factor when choosing a winner is “The ability to communicate an idea clearly, succinctly and passionately. This is without a doubt important not only in the competition but also in business.” Her advice to this year’s winners and finalists; “You have been recognised as having potential, if you do nothing with it that is all it will ever be… potential.”

X&Y

Vasi Govinder

The experienced Most Influential Women in Business and Government judge, Vasi Govinder, is the Director of TSLS Holdings, Legal Services and Telecommunications, which specialises in revenue enhancement and works with the government and local municipalities. Her experience in core business activities gives her a holistic perspective and makes her an ideal judge. “I’m passionate about promoting SMEs and women in business. There is a young crowd that is innovative and it is exciting to be a part of this initiative,” says Vasi. For her, a potential winner shows passion and is serious about what they want to do. Her advice to up-and-coming businesswomen is to “fall and fall again and get up … there is no such thing as failure”.

Victoria is currently Chairperson of the Governing Board of Uganda Agribusiness Alliance. She is Founder and Managing Director of the Uganda Culture Community Centre through which she promotes reading by establishing and supporting both urban and rural community libraries. She is also Chairperson to The New Vision Group National Best Farmer Competition. Previously, she worked as Director of the Food and Agricultural Organisation (UN-FAO) and representative to China, Mongolia and DPR Korea; FAO representative to Ethiopia for the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community for Africa (ECA) and FAO Sub Regional representative to Eastern and Southern Africa in Zimbabwe. Victoria was a Member of Parliament (MP) and Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries in Uganda; MP and Deputy Minister and then Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in Uganda. She was also Senior Agriculture Banking Officer to Uganda Development Bank.

Wouter Snyman

Victoria Sekitoleko

Wouter Snyman is the CEO and founder of the attooh! – the company delivers tailor-made and diversified financial planning solutions to individuals and corporate companies on a national scale. attooh! was recently awarded the coveted title of the number 1 Discovery Financial Adviser Group in South Africa. It has been named the Number One Health Advisor Group in 2011 and the Number One National Advisor Group within Discovery for 2013/2014. The most recent of Wouter’s achievements is winning the Titans Continental Business & Professional Services Award for South Africa. Wouter has a BCom Honours in Investment Management and more than 22 years of experience in the Financial Services arena, heading-up various divisions in Banking and Insurance for world leading companies, such as Standard Corporate and Merchant bank and the Discovery Group.

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

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from Strength by Taryn Moir

Strength to

Carla da Silva, Regional Manager for Southern Africa and Latin America, Air Mauritius

c d g

C C GG

The ongoing willingness to keep learning, growing and developing are the things that keep Carla da Silva, Regional Director for Air Mauritius, ticking. Dispite challenges in Africa’s rapidly growing economy, Carla continues to thrive and this is why she is one of our leadership icons. Starting from humble beginnings as an air hostess in the aviation sector, she has grown from strength to strength.

What are the primary influences, in your thinking, that leads to obtaining your level of success? I have established a wonderful circle of mentors and coaches in my life that assist in my growth and development. I have a positive outlook on life because optimism plays an important role in my success. This passion and dedication I have deep within me, for what I do on a business and personal level, definitely leads to my successful mind-set. My family, in particular my daughter, as well my faith, also enhances my success.

How do you as a business leader remain agile and focused on your business principles in the face of rapidly changing economic times? The only constant in life and in the world of business is change. The world is a global village, ever-changing and dynamic so embracing change and finding innovative ways to address business challenges is key for any leader. I have learnt to embrace change. Working in the aviation arena, has taught me that every day is a different day that you need to constantly review and then anticipate the changes that may occur. In this way I remain focused, attentive and take a helicopter view on business, allowing me to remain agile. Our youth population is rapidly expanding, what are the attributes that young professionals should possess in order to get ahead? The youth of today need to develop their entrepreneurial skills, embrace change and be innovative in order to get ahead. Ongoing willingness and eagerness to keep learning, doing new things and remaining humble is also key to their success. They need to develop all-rounder skills, show initiative and work hard to fulfil their dreams Your role at Air Mauritius gives you a good outlook over regional integration and what it can offer. In your opinion, are there opportunities that can be capitalised on? Learning from best practices set on a world scale and applying such practices is definitely an area of opportunity. Development of skills by transferring skills, as well as sharing of technology and infrastructure, is also an area that companies can capitalise on. Inspiration and sharing

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

success stories is also an important element of integration, along with having ongoing conversations about emerging challenges and areas of potential growth.

Reframing challenges to be converted into business opportunities - how would you go about doing this? The world is ever-changing and dynamic so embracing challenges and finding the opportunities to address the challenges is key. The way to go about it is to embrace and accept the challenge, find the innovative ways to address them by establishing specific, measurable and timeous strategies to resolve such challenges. Great leaders see opportunities in challenges as there are always lessons to be learnt. What role do SME’s play when looking at regional integration in your sector? The value chain of aviation is extensive, so small and medium enterprises (SME’s) play a vital role. As an example, suppliers, airport operators, ground handling companies, caterers, travel partners, procurement and marketing all assist in ensuring the successful operation of an airline. SMEs grow their businesses by providing services and working with the aviation value chain, resulting in job creation and growth for many businesses around the world and therefore, aviation is an economic enabler. Regional integration with companies establishing branches, offices and partnering with all companies in the region is also assisting in the growth and development of SMEs and the continent. What does effective leadership mean to you? An effective leader is: an individual that has the ability to inspire, uplift, persuade, positively influence and grow others. A humble leader understands the importance of humility and taking people on a journey along with them. They have an exciting vision displaying passion and joy, exciting others to get involved and follow this exciting vision – a true sense of a belonging, feeling part of a ‘family’ is very important. A leader has the ability to lead with the mind and the heart, applying the business expertise whilst remaining congruent, possessing integrity and love for others.

Appreciating by Andrew Ngozo

Women who paved the Way

Honourable Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, South African

AFRICAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

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It is aimed at encouraging female veterans to organise themselves proactively and to be entrepreneurs in cooperatives and/or small businesses so that they can avail themselves to the government’s Women Military Veterans benefits and to align themselves with the relevant government policies and legislation. They should not hesitate to contact government, the department and the Department of Small Business Development for help.

At the helm of the South African Department of Defence and Mility Veterans is Hon. Minister Nosiviwe MapisaNqakula. She discusses the department’s need to develop a footprint in the global defence network and how this will work for the greater good of the nation. Minister Mapisa-Nqakula states that we must never underestimate the role played by women in South Africa’s history. Just as they selflessly fought back then, so will they continue protecting South Africa and its future generations. The need to ‘think global and act local’ has become increasingly important. Recently we have seen the South Africa government respond to this challenge with the launch of the National Defence Industry Council (NDIC). What is its main focus? The NDIC’s formation is based on government’s stated objective of assisting the local defence industry to develop a footprint in the global defence market, while creating jobs, growing the economy and cultivating a strong skills base in the sector. This is especially relevant in an environment where local industry has to rely heavily on export sales for sustainability due to limited local defence spending potential.

What do you believe the local (internal) impact of this move will be? It will ensure that the SA Defence Industry is optimally utilised in all defence capital acquisition programmes

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

of the SANDF and other security agencies. This will be in support of the national imperative of localisation of industry as well as some form of strategic independence, particularly in the maintenance of equipment as well as future upgrades thereof. The celebration by the South African National Defence Force earlier this year of International Women’s day carried particular significance for South Africa and its women. Can you tell us more? The commemoration of International Women’s Day was adopted at Copenhagen in 1910 as a way to unite the women of the world in their demands for women’s emancipation. Our International Women’s Day activities kick-started the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the historic Women’s March of 1956. It was an important opportunity to express our appreciation for all the women who paved the way for this generation and those continuing to fight for the emancipation of women in boardrooms, at home and in other spheres.

The Department recently launched the Military Veterans Gender Forum. What does it seek to achieve? It is aimed at encouraging female veterans to organise themselves proactively and to be entrepreneurs in cooperatives and/or small businesses so that they can avail themselves of the government’s Women Military Veterans benefits and to align themselves with the relevant government policies and legislation. They should not hesitate to contact government, the department and the Department of Small Business Development for help. Further, we are seriously contemplating the establishment of rehabilitation centres and general wellness centres in provinces to assist military veterans in need of such facilities.

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Leading from the front, by example Town, which fuelled her initial dream of becoming a scientist. Given her economic circumstances, this opportunity was denied although the dream of studying at UCT was merely deferred, not shattered. Unwilling to give up on her ambition to make a success of her life, she enrolled at the University of Western Cape to complete her B.Com degree, followed by an Honours degree in Financial Analysis and Portfolio Management at UCT and then her Masters Degree in Development Finance from the University of Stellenbosch. Summarising these academic achievements makes this journey appear seamless and faultless. It is anything but.

Lizeka Matshekga is not unique in having grown up in a black township. That she grew up in a singleparent household is hardly exceptional. And there is nothing distinctive in her mother having worked as a domestic worker. Not distinctive in the context of a country in which millions of black South Africans have suffered the same fate. But her story is unashamedly extraordinary given the career and life that Lizeka has shaped for herself and the opportunity for a better life she is shaping for future generations through her work. Recently appointed to the executive team at the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), Lizeka epitomises the term ‘trailblazer’. This latest promotion, to head the Agro, Infrastructure and New Industries divisions, is the product of a determined pursuit of continual learning and acknowledgement that the biggest hurdle to her success is a lack of hunger for improvement. “I’m a product of Gugulethu, who was raised under very difficult conditions,” she says. “My mom instilled in us the importance of education and the impact it has on one’s success in life. She was a very strict woman and I’ve taken on some of her qualities of being a perfectionist.” “The one thing that has stuck with me throughout is her advice that you have to be hungry to make it in life, and that has motivated me. So, even today, I say to everyone in my team that you have to be curious and hungry and do everything to the best of your ability.” Maternal influences aside, Lizeka’s natural aptitude for maths and science from an early age have provided her with the academic skills to progress her career. She recalls competing over many years in the annual Maths Olympiad hosted at the University of Cape

“I had to complete my first degree through parttime study as I had started working at Old Mutual in their actuarial department’s back office. At this time I could have said, I now have a salary and can be comfortable, but I continued my studies at UWC,” she says. Simultaneously, she also provided for her twin sister’s living expenses when she had been fortunate enough to win a bursary to study at UCT. The lessons learnt from her childhood in which nothing could be taken for granted, through the struggles of making her way through her studies while sacrificing personal gratification to help her sister, have all forged the leader that Lizeka is today. Her career is marked not only by her work ethic, but also her willingness to take on the lessons passed on by her many mentors as she progressed through various positions in the financial services industry. A hallmark of this progression has been the recognition of Lizeka as one who learns quickly and is not afraid to be thrown in the deep end. This theme continued when she joined the IDC in 2007 where she quickly moved on to manage a post investment team, head the forestry and wood products, green industries and industrial infrastructure strategic business units. “It has been a wonderful journey. And I was fortunate to be one of the women given the opportunity to attend the IDC’s women development programme. Through this I have gotten to understand the difficulty and complexities of balancing being both a woman and a leader in a working environment.” Her current position as an executive team member is undoubtedly due to her numerous successes within the IDC, which she ascribes to her style of leadership. In many ways, this is based on identifying team members’ individual strengths and drawing on those qualities to encourage them to be the best they can be. “I’m not one of those who shies away from saying what I feel, but I’m also empathetic in understanding what drives certain behaviours and trying to see how

to address those,” she says. “I’m very solutions driven. I look at the bigger picture and allow everybody to rise to the same level.” Her leadership comes to the fore, by Lizeka doing just that: leading from the front. This, for her, means acknowledging that she need not be a specialist in the highly technical industrial and development finance fields. “I’m supposed to lean on my team who are good at it and my role is purely to be leading them,” she says. In an organisation such as the IDC that has a strong culture of supporting and promoting women to leadership positions, this may come easier than in other sectors or organisations. Currently, four of the 12-member executive team are women, while half of the IDC’s board (including its chair) is made up of female leaders. “The IDC definitely has a focus on developing women in the organisation, which is in acknowledgement of the fact that there is an unfair representation of women in the workplace. We’ve provided enough tools for this to happen, but women must be prepared to own the journey, be hungry for that development and take advantage of the opportunity.” Lizeka adds that despite this level of support, everyone should be prepared for setbacks. The remedy to dealing with those, she says, is to view them as lessons to learn how to deal with similar situations in the future. “I don’t take a setback as a negative, rather as a building block to success. There have been times that I’ve felt I could have done something differently, but always see such situations as a learning opportunity. But the bulk of it has been great success and stories that have made my journey phenomenal.” Her parting words of advice for any women in the workplace is that one’s circumstances do not define one’s future. “That girl-child who has no hope, let that not be the foundation of your future. It can be done.” “I often recall my youth, walking 10km to school and back every day, come rain or shine. With no hope of what we were going to eat at school. But we never lost hope because we knew what the bigger picture was.” Inspiring words from an inspiring leader who has demonstrated that determination and a clarity of focus can bring the rewards one seeks.

For more information visit idc.co.za

important role models and decision makers that are bringing a positive energy to the empowerment and recognition of the work being achieved by the female of the species. In 2016 the nominations received from throughout the Continent were of an exceptionally high calibre giving the first panels the almost impossible task of choosing who should not move forward. By the time finalists were chosen the judges were in agreement that in 2016 a greater number of high calibre women had accepted their nomination with pride than in previous years. These are women that understand how maintaining focus has assisted them to achieve their goals even when faced with some of lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hurdles. They all share a commitment towards giving back to create opportunity for others. In todays turbulent business world there are countless hurdles to any individual being successful. Negotiating ever changing laws to protect privacy, stop cyber crime, circumvent the variety of sophisticated fraudulent scams

Women

Shifting the Norms

Who are the women of Africa that are making a difference? Why is it important to recognise them? What impact are they making? All questions that are asked on a regular basis. In an attempt to seek answers it is useful to review the business landscape on the Continent.

re women leaders emerging at a significant rate? Is female representation on the Boards of companies increasing? Has the salary gap decreased? Are women business owners offered the same financial support opportunities from banks as their male counterparts? How do historical cultural traditions affect some female entrepreneurs? Important questions, but have the answers significantly changed in the past 10 years? No. The Continent has many women of influence that are actively working to shift the norms - women who are inspirational, effectual, powerful and encouraging. These are the pioneering women that simply do not give consideration to barriers placed in their path. They are the

AFRICAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

and to keep up with disruptive new business methodologies has become the new norm for todays leadership. The African Women of Influence in 2016 are utilising their skill with tenacity and a calm commitment. Each is a role model that is in control of her environment, understands what she needs to do to achieve at the highest level and all share the same awareness of the importance of empowering others. Our world is ever shrinking within the connectivity provided by technology but this provides new mountains to climb as the need to remain relevant becomes more acute. The 2016 awardees are in touch with their world, their environment, their communities and society as a whole. They are making a difference and are not frightened to engage in the excitement that continuous change engenders. Eventually the gender gaps will be reduced and a businessperson will be applauded for what they are achieving and not in the shadow of what they have had to overcome. Yvonne Finch Chairperson - Judging Panels

X&Y

is unwavering love and servitude to South Africa saw him being appointed to the Transitional Executive Council and lead the Naval Integration Process as a joint-chairperson. He later served in the new South African Navy as a Commander sea going. That was before he joined the National Ports Authority to address the skills shortage that was at the time threatening the authority. He led the successful turnaround strategy to transform and modernise the marine business into an effective and competitive service where he introduced successful maritime career awareness programmes, trained and employed the first women and black people in technical and senior managerial roles. Commander Tsietsi Mokhele joined SAMSA as chief executive officer in January 2008. He has been instrumental in transforming the authority into an effective maritime regulator and an authority, championing South Africa’s domestic and global maritime interests. His extensive background in the maritime industry has seen Commander Mokhele lead the process of transforming and repositioning South Africa’s maritime industry into a key economic and strategic sector aligned with South African government’s developmental agenda. He was driving strategic initiatives to make South Africa a leading maritime nation and an International Maritime Services Centre, with a focus on building a national merchant fleet, coastal shipping services, maritime-

Unwavering Servitude to

South Africa Commander Mokhele, he is the Patron of Africa’s Most Influential Women in Business and Government programme. Over the years Commander Tsietsi Mokhele has been unequivocal about his dedication to the service of the people of South Africa. This dedication is evidenced in the journey that Commander Mokhele has been on since the young age of 19 when he joined the few brave South Africans who refused to accept the trajectory that South African was set on. The Commander endured a forced absence from his loved ones by being exiled at the age of 20 and having to be tried and unjustly jailed at the age 22.

linked industrial development, using the sector to create jobs and integrate South Africa and the African transport network into global maritime logistics systems for increased trade. Recently, he has been instrumental in providing strategic thought leadership towards the development of the first ever African Integrated Maritime Strategy 2050. Through his stewardship the focus of the strategy process was shifted from mere safety and security compliance issues to developing a maritime strategic plan that addresses socioeconomic challenges by promoting the concepts of African indigenous tonnage supported by African shipping companies, enhancing intra Africa regional trade and integration and reversing the absence of maritime research and skills development capacity. Besides the academic and professional qualifications obtained at various domestic and international institutions, Commander Mokhele has been a regular participant and sought after speaker at many international forums such as International Association of Ports and Harbours, International Maritime Organisation, African Union and the Tug and Salvage Conference. Under his leadership South Africa has won many bids to host world class maritime events such as the first ever conferences on African soil such as the International Harbour-Masters Association, Diplomatic Conference of the International Organisation. Commander Mokhele is a recipient of notable honours and awards, including Maritime Newsmaker of the Year 2010, Businessman of the Year 2011, Platinum Visionary 2011, Best Public Sector Leader 2012 and Best Public Service Organisation.

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

ustin won’t just read a script. Thoroughly researching an organisation and [its] objectives, he ensures that each introduction is relevant and personalised. Bringing his extensive experience as a conference speaker, Justin will be the thread between the various presentations, providing entertaining insights and inspiration. It is in that regard that many a client of his has, like the senior manager of sales and distribution, HSBC Bank, Middle East, said: “His ability to extract the key messages from each of the speaker’s presentations reinforced the conference theme of ‘getting connected’ as well as our key focus areas for the year ahead. By inspiring and motivating the team throughout the day you have set the HSBC MEFCO team up for success!”

Expert Facilitation and Enlightening Insights That affirmation was neither the first nor the last and surely many more will come as Justin takes his career to greater heights. “Justin provided us with great facilitation,” said Andre Lamprecht, CEO, Barloworld Coatings. Vanya Lessing, CEO, Sure Travel, was equally impressed and said: “You were brilliant! A very big part of the success was your skilful facilitation and enlightening insights which made the programme very interesting from start to the WOW ending.” On yet another occasion, Tjaart van der Walt, CEO, Realnet Holdings, said: “You are without a doubt the best Master of Ceremonies I have seen in action anywhere in my life.

Premier League Orator To say that he was born to speak would be a gross understatement. Justin Cohen is the author of four books and seven audiobooks. As a leading authority on human potential, with a postgraduate degree in Psychology, he also speaks and trains in the fields of motivation, sales, service and leadership. Over the past 15 years he has presented in almost 20 countries, and in virtually every industry, to an average of 8 000 people annually. Justin is a Certified Speaking Professional and a South African Speaker Hall of Fame inductee.

Your research done on the background and history of our company and attention to the detail of the specific function is highly commendable. You came across as if you were a key part of RealNet Holdings for many years.” The litany of commendations is longer than an arm. Justin is the 2016 programme director for Africa’s Most Influential Women in Business and Government as well as a Master of Ceremonies and facilitator at Unique Speaker Bureau. He had his own television talk show on SABC 3 where he interviewed some of the world’s leading experts on success. For enquiries, or to book Justin to emcee or facilitate at your next function, please contact Unique Speaker Bureau on 011 465 4410 or email at refiloe@uniquespeakerbureau.com.

Quick

Guide

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Lifetime Achievers Partner - City of Johannesburg

Dr Motselisi Christine Mokheti; Dr Florence Muringi Wambungu; Prof Hope Bakasa Sadza; Jacqueline Bisimwa Muranganza; Eng Laila Maghraby; Prof Lunic Base Khosa; Prof Mary Shilalukey Ngoma; Roberta Durrant; Prof Stella M Nkomo Agencies & Regulatory Authorities Partner - SALGA Country Winner: Kate Ssanyu Kikule Regional Winners: Dr Claudelle von Eck; Dr Elizabeth Lungu- Nkumbula; Nardos Bekele-Thomas; Dr Rose Mukankomeje Agriculture Partner - KPMG Regional Winners: Linda Olga Nghatsane; Pamela Judith Angwech; Vinah Ganoo Arts & Culture Partner - Monsoon photography Regional Winners: Lara Foot; Priscilla Chigariro Automotive & Components Partner - CEO Global Regional Winner: Lisa Mallett Building & Construction Partner - CEO Global Regional Winner: Barbara Rwodzi; Dr Bridgette Gasa Business & Professional Services Partner - Midrand Conference Centre Country Winner: Namucana Catherine Musiwa; Adv Neema Lwise Kileo; Renata Valenti; Karen Evans Halm Regional Winners: Adenike Adeyanju Osadolor; Dr Judy Dlamini; Mavis Mataranyika; Adv Solange Elenge Hamsini Chemical, Petrochemical & Pharmaceutical Partner - Shell South Africa Country Winner: Hajjat Aisha Nakasujja Regional Winners: Norina Sookmoulla Education & Training: Academic Partner - CEO Global Country Winner: Dr Alice Phiri Shemi Regional Winners: Elizabeth Akuba Kwesi Armah; Regina Laboke; Prof Rudo Gaidzanwa; Dr Thanika Devi Juwaheer; Prof Tokozile Mayekiso Education & Training: Private Partner - CEO Global Country Winner: Caroline Dusabe Regional Winner: LIlana Gerschlowitz Financial Services Partner - ABSA Country Winner: Adv Fariyal Mukaddam; Grace Muradzikwa Regional Winners: Dorothy Chapeyama; Margareth Mattaba Chacha; Marie Agnes Sanon Government – Employed Official Partner - CEO Global Country Winner: Devota Kasanda Mdachi; Mmatšatši Ramawela; Patricia Madalo Liabula Regional Winners: Wisdom Thembie Zwane ICT Partner - CEO Global Country Winner: Doreen Ramphaleng; Shikoh Gitau Regional Winner: Ethel Cofie; Manal Mahmoud Amin Logistics & Shipping Partner - Kenya Airways Country Winner: Margaret Wanjiru Kariuki Regional Winners: Brenda Horne; Manufacturing & Engineering Partner - CEO Global Country Winner: Prudence Ukkonika Regional Winners: Ngo Yetna Augustine Audrey Chicot; Awurabena Okrah; Epiphanie Mukashyaka; Muthoni Ester Passaris; Thato Kgatlhanye Media: Partner - USB Regional Winners: Catherine N. Phiri; Comfort Avunze Sakoma; Liezel van der Westhuizen Medical & Veterinary Partner - CEO Global Regional Winners: Dr Betty Muthoni Gikonyo; Prof. Cristina Stefan

Public Enterprises Partner - Armscor Country Winner: Faith Margaret Musonda Regional Winner: Bernice Dapaah; Rasha Y Tantawy SME Partner - SEFA Country Winner: Elsabe Hoal; Judy Jennings; Mary Naa Adoley Bruce; Prof Shirley Zinn; Jacquelyn Adwoa Kessie Regional Winners: Catherine Mahugu; Lee - Anne Singh; Dr Leticia Benewah Osafo-Addo; Suzana Moreira; Winnie Olive Tourism & Leisure Partner - Air Mauritius Country Winner: Jacqueline Obeng-Ansong; Joan Kantu Kamya Else Regional Winner: Chania Tundo; Nina Freysen Pretorius; Sylvia Pagès Welfare & Civil Society Organisations Partner - Transman Country Winners: Adv Joyce Majiwa; Kasee Ithana; Kazanka Comfort Dada; Lois Chingandu; Dr Lydia Abel; Mirriam Faith Namanja; Noelene Susanne Kotschan; Rehmah Kasule; Regional Winners: Donatha Gihana; Gisele M. Yitamben; Kalongo Chitengi; Roseanne Mbaya

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Finalists 2016

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Agencies & Regulatory Authorities

Jane Mufamadi; Priscilla Mulenga Isaac

Agriculture

Evelyn Namubiru Mwaura; Dr Evelyn Nguleka; Florence Okot;

Arts & Culture

Angela Katatumba; Jill Girard; Phyllis Klotz

Automotive & Components Joy Oldale

Business & Professional Services

Christine Muthoni Kamunchuluh; Claire Amanya R. Kakeeto; Funke Susan Medun; Harmony Seyram Attise; Nicola Jackson

Education & Training: Academic

Dr Diane Bell; Juliana Y K Arhin; Lerato Tshabalala; Mariam Luyombo; Omaima Abdel Fattah Idris, Prof Romeela Mohee

Education & Training: Private

Alison Moschetta; Gail Cameron; Natalie Cunningham

Financial Services

Dantagos Jimmy-Melani; Delphine Maidou; Elaine Schlechter; Fatema Dewji Jaffer; Mirriam Magala; Patricia A.Ojangole; Sophie Nkwe Dimbungu

Government – Employed Official Cynthia Sebentile Dlamini

Manufacturing & Engineering

Carol Annang; Alethea Conrad; Busisiwe Maria Legodi; Linda Edna Ngcauzele; Lorna Rutto; Kicongo Sharon Sabiiti

Media:

Patience KalusanzhiChisanga

SME

Aprelle Duany; Ntshantsha Tafeni-Majombozi; Teboho Lebohang Mphuti; Victoria Muzumara

Tourism & Leisure

Jacqui Murekatete Sebageni; Tasneem Abdeali Adamji; Wendy-Ann Alberts

Welfare & Civil Society Organisations

Colleen Larsen; Grace Ruvimbo Chirenje; Josephine Irene Uwamariya; Josephine Kanaabo; Lynette Jean Cawood; Mariella Kayat; Dr Ngaite Nkomo Mgeni; Pamela Mwelela Chisanga; Purity Kwagiria; Dr Tausi Mbaga Kida

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SECTOR SECTOR SECTOR Foreword

Country

Lifetime Achievement As far as many are concerned, women have been achieving all of their lives. From the time that they give birth to us, to the point where they ensure that we grow up in good homes and become responsible citizens, they have achieved it all.

From Kenya Dr Florence Muringi Wambungu This time however, we are celebrating a different kind of lifetime achiever; one that has gone beyond the home and community. The woman in question, here, is one that has turned her business success and prowess into societyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s success. She has dedicated her whole life towards the betterment of her fellow human being. Indeed, the Lifetime Achievement accolade is, but, the least that she deserves.

City of Johannesburg, would like to praise all the women who have selflessly given of themselves, their time and resources for the wellbeing of another. We shall forever be grateful for your contribution to our continent.

ast African lifetime achiever Dr Florence Muringi Wambungu has been president and CEO of Africa Harvest Biotech Foundation International since 2002. She has authored and co-authored over 200 papers and publications in local and international journals and written two books including Modifying Africa - How Biotechnology Can Benefit the Poor and the Hungry (2001), second edition, 2004, and Biotechnology for Africa by Springer - Emergence, Initiatives and Future; (2014), as well as Agricultural Biotechnology Policymakers Booklet (2015). Dr Wambungu is a recipient of several awards and honours from local and international institutions in recognition of her outstanding work. In June 2005 she provided leadership for Africa Harvest to be awarded a global competitive grant from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Global Health Challenge to develop Africa Biofortified sorghum. She was also awarded the GDN First Medal Award by Global Development Network Award Competition in Science and Technology in 2000.

Lifetime Achievement

From Zimbabwe

From DRC

Prof Hope Bakasa Sadza

Jacqueline Bisimwa Muranganza

rofessor Hope Bakasa Sadza is founder of Women’s University in Africa and is its current Vice Chancellor. The university was opened in 2002. She is the SADC North and Zimbabwean Lifetime Achiever. Dr Sadza is a former Zimbabwean Public Service Commissioner and Parastatals Services Commissioner as well as a Public Service Review Commissioner. She is a member of various professional organisations such as the Zimbabwe Institute of Management; the Organisation for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa, headquartered in Ethiopia and she is the chairperson of the Zimbabwe University Vice Chancellors’ Association. She also sits on the following boards: Delta Corporation Limited, Securico Security Services, British American Tobacco Zimbabwe and on the International Board of the Centre for Peace Initiatives in Africa. She has won 16 awards from different countries. In 2009 she was awarded the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship tenable in the United States of America.

ifetime achiever Jacqueline Bisimwa Muranganza is a entrepreneur, who aims to contribute to economic development of her country, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the fight against poverty through employment and wealth creation. She pulls her skills out of her basic training and postgraduate as well as her professional experience. She has a degree in applied pedagogy with a specialisation in mining and hydrocarbons, community development, prevention, management, resolution of conflicts and politics. Jacqueline has occupied multiple functions in her professional and social life. Some of these include being an official of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, an expert in mining and hydrocarbons, an office director of the Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy, a senior advisor in charge of agricultural feeder roads and community development where she was the vice-prime minister in charge of internal affairs. She was also a deputy chief in the deputy prime minister’s office.

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

Country Lifet

From Egypt

From South Africa

Eng Laila Maghraby

Prof Lunic Base Khoza

orth African and Egypt lifetime achiever, engineer Laila Maghraby of the Engineering Export Council supports the Egyptian industrial community to overcome challenges worldwide and open new markets or extend their market share in their existing markets. She also assists with market research and finding the right buyers in the target markets according to the studies. She ensures that the council has a long-range strategy which achieves its mission, and towards which it makes consistent and timely progress. Engineer Maghraby provides leadership in developing programme, organisational and financial plans with the board of directors and staff, and carries out plans and policies authorised by the board. Part of her responsibilities also include developing and supporting exporters in internal capacity building through her countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s governmental services and international donors to compete globally. Last, but not least, she assists in developing strategies for the Chamber of Engineering and the Export Marketing Strategy for the Council.

AFRICAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

ifetime Achievement awardee Professor Lunic Base Khoza completed her Ph.D. at the University of South Africa. She is currently serving as Dean and Senior Professor in the School of Health Sciences at the University of Venda. Her area of specialty is nursing education, nursing management and health promotion. She has published more than 40 papers in respectable journals and has previously served as an editorial board member of reputable national Journal Curationis and been involved in peer review of manuscripts for national and international journals. She is a National Research Foundation C3 rated established researcher. One of her primary foci has been the development of opportunities for students from historically disadvantaged rural communities to register in the School of Health Sciences. Prior to being appointed as Dean, Prof Khoza was Head of the Department of Advanced Nursing Science for eight years. She became the first Senior Professor of University of Venda.

time

Achievement

From Zambia

From Lesotho

Prof Mary Shilalukey Ngoma

Dr Motšelisi Christine Mokhethi

ambian lifetime achiever Professor Mary Shilalukey Ngoma is an Associate Professor of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Zambia, a consultant paediatrician and neonatologist. She contributes to the training of medical doctors and specialists in paediatrics and child health, as well as other health professionals. She served two terms as Head of Department, in Paediatrics and Child Health, and is the founding chairperson of the now successful university– wide Response to HIV and AIDS, at the University of Zambia. She has led immunisation programmes in the SADC region and across the African continent. She is passionate about serving the underprivileged people and there is no rural village in Zambia that she has not been to. Professor Ngoma is passionate about teaching and mentoring as she ensures that she makes a difference in the lives of any individual she encounters.

he has been a lecturer at the Department of Business Administration at the National University of Lesotho since 1998. Dr Motšelisi Christine Mokhethi is a Lifetime Achiever Award winner in Lesotho. She says she supports people to perform the tasks assigned to them. She has an open door policy where subordinates can come in and discuss work challenges to find solutions together. She says organisations, especially universities where she is engaged, survive because of their human resources. Therefore, it is important to have competent people that are able to contribute constructively to the development of the organisation. Staff development is another form of motivation and easily, it is the single lasting manner which can motivate an employee; more than pure financial incentives can ever do, says Dr Mokhethi.

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

Country Lifetime Achievement

From South Africa

Roberta Durrant

Prof Stella M. Nkomo

oberta Durrant is a creative director/producer and show runner of television and film. She has created and worked as director/producer/show runner on several long running, award winning drama series and sitcoms for South African broadcasters. She has produced three feature films: Inside out, Skilpoppe and Felix which she also directed in 2012. Roberta is acclaimed for her work in democracy education. To educate first time voters in 1994, she directed and produced South Africa’s flagship educational comedy drama series, Khululeka which was broadcast from 1994 to 2009. Khululeka was first commissioned by the Matla Trust, a trust fund set up by former President Nelson Mandela for democracy education. Roberta, together with the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at Wits University, also created talk show Future Imperfect that was broadcast from 1993 to 2000 hosted by Prof Dennis Davis, which introduced to South African viewers their future leaders, who had been in exile. She is a Lifetime Achievement awardee.

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

rofessor Stella M. Nkomo is Deputy Dean for Research and Post-graduate studies in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences and a Professor in the Department of Human Resource Management at the University of Pretoria. Prior to joining the University of Pretoria she was the Bateman Distinguished Professor of Business Leadership at the University of South Africa’s Graduate School of Business Leadership. She holds a PhD in Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts (USA) and an MBA from the University of Rhode Island. Professor Nkomo is a former Scholar-inResidence at Harvard University and a Visiting Scholar at the Tuck Business School of Dartmouth College (USA). Her internationally acclaimed research on race and gender in organisations, leadership, human resource management and managing diversity appears in numerous journals and books. She is co-author of the critically acclaimed Harvard Business School Press book, Our Separate Ways: Black and White Women and the Struggle for Professional Identity.

THIS ADVERT IS NOT ABOUT CLEANING UP OUR STREETS. Well…it is. But mainly it’s about our dedicated fieldworkers who work tirelessly to protect southern Africa’s environmental surroundings and who need your support. Visit www.ewt.org.za to find out how you can help to protect another precious resource – our people.

Empowered Leadership

Power of One:

The

Role Models by Samantha Barnes

Statistics are stacked in favour of those individuals achieving their goals who write them down, over those who don’t define them. Taking this one step further, could a decision to adopt certain role models increase your likelihood of becoming like them? While we are born with certain talents, there are countless stories of unlikely heroes becoming role models that transcend what we could have imagined for their life. It sometimes takes just one interaction to affect positive change in another.

ick Vujicic was born without arms or legs. Yet he doesn’t plead for pity. He mastered his physical and emotional discomfort to become a best-selling author, motivational speaker, evangelist and husband to Kanae. He shares: “A janitor at my high school inspired me to start speaking about my faith and overcoming adversity when I was seventeen. During one of my first talks, one girl was sobbing very hard and said, “I am so sorry to interrupt, but can I come up and hug you?” She came up, hugged me in front of everyone, and whispered in my ear, “Thank you, thank you, thank you. No one has ever told me that they loved me and that I am beautiful the way I am.”

The Power of One Dr Rene Uys is an academic, researcher, consultant and executive. In 2004 she established her consulting company, thinking fusion, together with Harry van der Merwe. Their work includes leadership and individual development. She believes having a positive role model ‘has become crucial in a society where the media, television and advertisements create lucrative pictures that are far removed from reality’. “Young university entrants are often also the first to undertake tertiary studies in a family, thus with no family role models in that regard. Choosing a positive role model that has walked the path, learnt the lessons and tasted success could thus shorten the learning curve, inspire and assist.” Dr Uys does not believe in a single role model, “but rather a spectrum of positive role models that stimulate various aspects in your life. A career role model, a role model that impacts your social behaviour, a role model that influences your studies, a role model that gives nuance to your

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personality traits, even a role model that influences your dress style are all important in modelling a nuanced person.” Worthy Role Models Dr Uys cautions against the danger of following the example of those who seem successful, rich (money is often a trap) or influential (power is an even bigger trap). She advises: “…to make sure the person is worth having as a role model, a young person should listen to what others are saying about the person, look at those that befriend this person (do they look like you or the ideal you?), have a values discussion with the person, closely watch their behaviour and test it against their values and see whether promises are kept.” While it is advisable to confirm that your role model is a person of integrity, Dr Uys doesn’t think one ‘chooses’ a role model. “Somebody crosses your path that speaks to your values, your dreams, that sets an example and you emulate that portion that speaks to you,” she says. What a Role Model is not “A role model is not a mentor or coach,” says Dr Uys. “They are somebody that you learn from, often without them even knowing. Enriching it with coaching or mentoring is ideal, a privilege for both the recipient and the mentor/coach.” She recommends checking out whether their values match yours and whether they truly have obtained knowledge and success in a particular area. Learning from the Good and the Bad Dr Uys grew up in an era with few women in senior and executive roles. “Those that did make it played an important motivational role for me. Some also messed it up on behalf of us women and I also learnt from that.”

Empowered Leadership She adopted a smart strategy: often only emulating one or two attributes from a particular person. “I would, for example, learn from one how to have an impact at meetings, from another how to undertake good business communication, from another I learnt art, music and wine appreciation.” Be an Original In a world filled with aspiring ‘wannabees’ being true to yourself sets you apart. It also distinguishes you as being authentic in your interactions. As a journalist I meet many leaders. The ones most likely to inspire loyalty and respect are genuine. Dr Uys believes in the value of role models, but not at the expense of your personality. She explains, “I do not think one should try and find a single role model from whom all your lessons will be learnt or whom you can emulate fully. That would make you a copy and not an original.” Some role models stand out in her personal development. The professor who was her study leader and the two teachers’ who highlighted some of her strengths and helped her nurture them, played an important role. She gets her work ethic from her father. Dr Uys is generous spirited. She urges, “Let’s all strive to have positive role models in our lives but more importantly to be a positive role model to someone else.” Sources: Life without Limbs by Nick Vujicic

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Agencies & Regulatory Authorities It is time for regulators to realise that women represent an emerging market. More inclusive policies for women are needed. Most new income growth, post-recession, will come from women, who save more and spend more on education, health and family welfare. Businesses run by women, or corporations with a higher number of women executives, also perform better.

From South Africa Dr Claudelle von Eck It is in this vein that the African Development Bank has called for more women to be included in the continent’s agencies and regulatory authorities. According to the institution, more women in such bodies will mean that they will be at the forefront of tailor-making regulations that are skewed in favour of women. Should this will be the case; it will mean a much more effective system of implementation.

The South

African Local Government Association would like to congratulate all the women in the Agencies and Regulatory Authority sector. They are the guiding mast needed when the rest of society is wont to go astray.

urrently CEO of the Institute on Internal Auditors’ South Africa, Dr Claudelle von Eck, SADC South regional and South African winner in the Agencies and Regulatory Authority has 23 years’ worth of experience. Of these 10 were at managerial level while she spent nine years as an executive. She says: “I can quite comfortably act as a change agent and I am able to work with people from all levels and all walks of life. I also have a proven track record of displaying emotional and adversity intelligence.” Dr Von Eck is passionate about purposefully influencing her professional environment. As a result, she serves on bodies such as the Anti-Intimidation and Ethical Practices Forum and the SBL Alumni Association Executive Committee both of which she is the chairperson. Other bodies include the Forum for Accounting Bodies, the Public Sector Audit Committee Forum and the University Advisory Boards on behalf of the Institute.

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From Zambia

From Kenya

Dr Elizabeth Lungu- Nkumbula

Nardos Bekele-Thomas

er endeavours as the chief executive officer of the Zambian Workers Compensation Fund Control Board have earned Dr Elizabeth Lungu-Nkumbula a double whammy as both the regional and country winner in the Agencies and Regulatory Authorities sector for 2016. With an academic and professional career in the Building Society Industry that spans in excess of 25 years, Dr Lungu-Nkumbula has profound knowledge of strategic and innovative management in financial services with skills in fund mobilisation, treasury management, corporate governance and teamwork to achieve set objectives. Among many firsts, she served as the first Zambian female president of the Agricultural and Commercial Society of Zambia and also deputy president of the Royal Agricultural Society of the Commonwealth (UK). Dr Lungu-Nkumbula is a champion of team building with rare leadership qualities anchored on the theme ‘Success through Teamwork’, which has resulted in many successes for her institution.

he is the East African regional and Kenya country winner in the Agencies and Regulatory Authority sector for 2016. Nardos Bekele-Thomas is currently the resident coordinator of the United Nations and resident representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the Republic of Kenya. She has also served as UN resident coordinator and UNDP resident representative in the Republic of Benin from 2008 to 2013. In both capacities, Nardos has the overall responsibility for results coordination of UN operational activities for development as well as the delivery of UNDP programme of assistance to Kenya by promoting and supporting propoor and inclusive economic growth and development. The primary programmatic focus of her work, she says, includes policy dialogue at the highest level of national governance, strategic public-private sector consultations, resource mobilisation, pro-poor policy and programme development and implementation at the local and national levels.

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From Rwanda Dr Rose Mukankomeje

r Rose Mukankomeje, the Director General of Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) since its establishment in 2006, is a biologist by training with a PhD in Sciences from ‘Facultés Universitaires Notre Dame de la Paix, Namur/ Belgium’. The year 2016 sees her scooping the Great Lakes regional and Rwanda country winner in the Agencies and Regulatory Authority. She also serves as the Global Environment Fund (GEF) Operational Focal Point for Rwanda, NEPAD Country Focal Point for Environment and National Technical Focal for African Ministerial Council of Environment (AMCEN). She has been serving as the National Designated Authority Focal Point for Green Climate Fund, since 2014. Dr Mukankomeje has been involved in the management of various government agencies as chairperson, vice chairperson or member of board of directors of these agencies as well as in the management of higher learning institutions such as the Kigali Institute for Science and Technology.

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Countrywinners From Uganda Kate Ssanyu Kikule In an era where drug abuse is a societal problem across the continent, Kate Kikule, head of Drug Inspectorate Services at the Ugandan National Drug Authority, says her primary mandate is to ensure the safe and efficacious use of drugs and medicines in her country. A true African scholar, she holds several qualifications from a diverse range of institutions from South Africa and Tanzania. She has completed assignments in Africa, Europe, Asia, North America and the Middle East. Kate is a Ugandan country winner.

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Sustainability

Global [Economic] by Andrew Ngozo

Challenges

Today

Never in the history of the world have we lived in such difficult times like as this one. Briefly, the world economy in general started going downhill after the 2008 global economic meltdown, commonly known as the Great recession. Nearly a decade later, some nations are still struggling to recover while the world economy itself is in doldrums faced with a barrage of challenges; all of which, one way or the other, negatively impact on the global economy. World leaders have since been hard at work to try and find solutions to deal with the many challenges which, left unattended; can result in untold catastrophes of epic proportions.

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he World Economic Forum has been at the forefront as a platform where world leaders congregate and try to find solutions to the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s problems. Whether itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s turning promises on climate change into action, rebuilding trust in the financial system, or connecting the world to the internet, the Forum says there are some key global challenges that, if they are to be addressed, require cooperation from the public and private sectors. We shall tackle some of the most universal and urgent challenges facing the world as identified in the January 2016 World Economic Forum in Switzerland. Food Security Far too many people in the developing world live below the poverty line. By 2050, the world must feed nine billion people and the demand for food will be 60% greater than it is today. The United Nations has set ending hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture as the second of its 17

Sustainability

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the year 2030. To achieve these objectives the world will need to address a host of issues, from gender parity and ageing populations to skills development and global warming. Agriculture sectors will have to become more productive by adopting efficient business models and forging public-private partnerships and they need to become sustainable by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, water use and waste. The risks if we fail can be as dire as malnutrition, hunger and even conflict. Inclusive Growth The push for economic growth in recent decades has led to substantial increases in wealth for large numbers of people across the globe. But despite huge gains in global economic output, there is evidence that the current social, political and economic systems are exacerbating inequalities, rather than reducing them. A growing body of research also suggests that rising income inequality is the cause of economic and social ills, ranging from low consumption to social and political unrest, and is damaging to our future economic well-being. In order to boost growth and counter the slowdown in emerging markets, we need to step up efforts around the world to accelerate economic activity and to ensure that its benefits reach everybody in society. Unemployment The scale of the employment challenge is vast. The International Labour Organisation estimates that more than 61 million jobs have been lost since the start of the global economic crisis in 2008, leaving more than 200 million people unemployed globally. Nearly 500 million new jobs will need to be created by 2020 to provide opportunities to those currently unemployed and to the young people who are projected to join the workforce over the next few years. At the same time, many industries are facing difficulty hiring qualified staff. One 2015 survey found that, globally, 38% of all employers are reporting difficulty filling jobs, a two-percentage point rise from 2014. Put simply, the world needs jobs for the hundreds of millions of unemployed people around the world, and we need the skilled employees that businesses are struggling to find. Climate Change The earth’s average land temperature has warmed nearly 1°C in the past 50 years as a result of human activity, global greenhouse gas emissions have grown by nearly 80% since 1970, and atmospheric concentrations of the major greenhouse gases are at their highest level in 800 000 years. We are already seeing and feeling the impacts of climate change with weather events such as droughts and storms becoming more frequent and intense, and changing

rainfall patterns. Policy-makers have been advised by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that there is a high risk of catastrophic climate change if warming is not limited to 2°C. The historic agreement reached in Paris in December 2015 outlines a global commitment to keep warming to 2°C and to strive to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C. The world has agreed what is to be done. Now it is time for implementation. Global Finance The global financial crisis revealed significant weaknesses in the financial system and some of the vulnerabilities that can result from having such an interconnected global market. Several years after the crisis, the world economy is still struggling with slow growth, unconventional monetary policy in major economies, and constrained government budgets. It is vital that we find ways of making the financial system more resilient and able to withstand shocks in the market. Providing access to credit and savings is a major challenge in the battle against global poverty. Another challenge is to create a resilient, accessible financial system that people trust. The Future of the Internet The internet is changing the way we live, work, produce and consume. With such extensive reach, digital technologies cannot help but disrupt many of our existing models of business and government. We are entering the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a technological transformation driven by a ubiquitous and mobile internet. The challenge is to manage this seismic change in a way that promotes the long-term health and stability of the internet. Gender Equality Achieving gender equality isn’t just a moral issue – it makes economic sense. Equality between men and women in all aspects of life, from access to health and education to political power and earning potential, is fundamental to whether and how societies thrive. Although we are getting closer to gender parity, change isn’t happening fast enough. For the past decade, the World Economic Forum has been measuring the pace of change through the Global Gender Gap Report, and at current rates, it would take the world another 118 years – or until 2133 – to close the economic gap entirely. More needs to be done to bridge the gap and facilitate cooperation between the public and private sectors. The list of challenges facing the world is long and wide. Other issues therein include long-term investing, global trade and investment and the serious challenges to global health. Source: www.weforum.org

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Agriculture It has often been said that agriculture will be at the forefront of Africa’s transformation. Most Africans, including the vast majority of Africa’s poor, continue to live and work in rural areas, principally as smallholder farmers. In the absence of a flourishing agricultural sector, the majority of Africans will be cut adrift from the rising tide of prosperity.

From South Africa Linda Olga Nghatsane To achieve such a transformation, Africa will need to overcome three major obstacles: a lack of access to formal financial services, the weakness of the continent’s infrastructure and the lack of funds for public investment, says the African Progress Panel. It goes on to say a lot needs to be done by Africans in order to deal with the bottlenecks that stand in the way of Africa’s people to benefit from their continent’s extraordinary wealth.

African men in particular, have not been idle in this regard. KPMG toasts the men in this sector; for they have realised that our transformation starts now and, indeed, it begins with using our agricultural land, one of our most precious resources.

ailing from Tzaneen in the Limpopo province of South Africa, Linda Olga Nghatsane is a public health activist. She is the founder and owner of De Hoop Farm (Abundant Life Skills Project) in Crocodile River Mountain near Nelspruit. Her newest accolade is being named South Africa’s and SADC South’s winner in agriculture. She is someone who sees opportunity in hard work. Sound financial − planning; good farming practices and a lot of sweat and tears have paid off for this former nurse. When she bought the small farm in February 2004, there was no access road, no electricity, and no borehole; in short, no developments whatsoever − only a bush. Two and a half years later, Linda was selected the Female Farmer of the Year in a countrywide competition. She says many people don’t recognise an opportunity when it comes their way because it looks too much like hard work and she refers to problems as ‘challenges’.

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From Uganda

From Mauritius

Pamela Judith Angwech

Vinah Ganoo

he is the winner in the Agriculture sector for the Great Lakes region and for her country Uganda. Pamela Judith Angwech is a gender specialist and development worker, who is also a business entrepreneur. She says her role in business is to influence and empower women business entrepreneurs to bring about change. Pamela states that she is more influential in exploiting the power of numbers and how they can cause positive change and effect in business including the environment. Her goal is to support female entrepreneurs to create meaningful impact through working in solidarity groups and having access to bigger markets. She has supported 350 VSLA women groups and 140 youth groups. These have been equipped with business skills training and financial literacy enabling them to save billions in Ugandan Shillings. In 2014, she worked directly with more than 100 youth groups who tilled 15 hectares of land and harvested 300 bags of rice. That amount doubled in 2015.

or over 20 years, Vinah Ganoo, director of Flora Marketing, has been scouting African and Indian Ocean Islands in an effort to protect forests and to find inspiring ways to conserve the earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bio-sphere. She has been a guardian of the forest while improving the lives of the poorest in the richest in terms of flora and fauna. She led several expeditions in a quest of flora species in different ecosystems with variant geo microbiological environments. The Mauritian country and Indian Ocean region winner in Agriculture is mindful of sustainable development and ecological preservation. She has built bridges between local and global policy and practice, rich and poor. She says they are a platform centre for wholesale, retail and nursery industries of high quality, useful in plug production. They offer their diverse line of products to professional growers and retail markets worldwide.

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Skills Transfer

How important is your

TEAM

AFRICAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

when starting a business?

Skills Transfer

What is your most valuable business asset? Many would say it’s the office building or machinery owned by the business or maybe the product they are developing. The reality is that the most valuable asset in your business is not found on your balance sheet but are rather found on your pay roll; your staff. Employees are the most important part of any business. In the busy startup years, entrepreneurs often focus on trying to build their business and neglect their employees. The reality is, if you build your team, your team will build your business. Hiring the right employees and choosing the right business partners, mentors or business advisors is essential for business growth and success. Your team can make or break your business. Darlene Menzies, CEO of SMEasy, gives us some top tips on team selection.

is for Teammate / Business Partner: While it is often best to go it alone in the initial years of building business at some stage it may be necessary to take on a business partner to raise growth capital or to introduce key skills. Partnering has huge benefits but it also has its challenges. Choosing a business partner is like choosing the right marriage partner, the wrong person could destroy your business. Before committing to a prospective partner you should ensure you ‘walk all four seasons’ with them. People may be fun to work with in the easy months but it’s the hard ‘winter’ months that reveal the truth about who you are going to be teaming with. Importantly, once you agree to partner, make sure you document what will happen if the partnership doesn’t work out. Plan for the worst and then give it your best.

E is for Employees: Employing the right people is one of the most critical aspects of growing your business. The right people will accelerate your business’ growth while the wrong people can cripple the business. One obstructive person in a small business can have a negative impact on the whole team. The smaller the business the more important the hiring, hire slowly and always ensure a probation period to give each other time to feel each other out. It is helpful to choose people who have different skills to yours but it is very important that they share the same values as you. A is for Advisors: An advisor or consultant is someone who is paid to provide a specific service to the business for a defined period but is not employed by the business. Advisors usually provide specialist skills that are expensive and that you can’t afford and don’t necessarily need on a full time basis. Be careful of employing specialists on a full time basis as you may not be able to cover their large salaries in the lean months, warns Menzies, rather consider hiring an advisor as and when needed. It is important to check an advisor’s qualifications and their track record before making a decision to contract their services. M is for Mentor: A mentor is experienced business person who has expert skills that you can benefit from and who is willing to share their time and advice with you. The fundamental difference between a mentor and an advisor is that a mentor does not charge for their time and advice. You can learn a lot from the successes and failures of experienced business people, especially those in the same industry as yours. Menzies offers some pointers on working with a mentor:  Choose someone who you respect and you believe you can learn from  It is important that your mentor sees potential in you and is interested in your business growth  It is helpful that you both enjoy the time you spend together and that you are able to communicate easily with one another  When you need advice or input, keep it brief. Busy business people don’t have time to read 30 page proposals.  Remember to ask lots of questions, prepare for your meetings with your mentor. Make the most of the time they are willing to invest in you  Write things down or record the meeting – honour their time and advice, remember they are volunteering to help you. The importance of all the people that make up your team cannot be overstated. Ask any seasoned entrepreneur and they will tell you that looking after your team is looking after your business. To quote Richard Branson, “If you look after your staff, they’ll look after your customers. It’s that simple.”

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Arts & Culture The arts and culture sector is usually characterised by strong participation from women. But a women’s career progression often stalls before ascending to senior management and leadership levels in the arts. Just what are the structural, economic, social and cultural barriers that discourage women from taking up leadership positions within Africa’s cultural industry, is a subject of discussion by many activists.

From South Africa Lara Foot Regardless of these seemingly adverse conditions, many a female artist and cultural expert continue to thrive. In March 2015, the East African AWCL Symposium in Nairobi gathered 17 participants from eight countries to debate the issues and the potential future for women in the industry. It was agreed that a mentorship programme ‘by women, for women’ should be the initial approach to address the specific needs of women in the arts sector and to convert opportunities into viable career trajectories.

From one artist of note to another, Monsoon Photography would like to congratulate the women in this sector. They have shown that with enough zeal and passion, success is within reach.

ara Foot is a multi-award-winning playwright, director and producer. She is the CEO and artistic director of the Baxter Theatre Centre at the University of Cape Town. She is a former Rolex protégé to Sir Peter Hall in the prestigious Rolex Mentor and Protégé programme as well as a Sundance Fellow. In 2005 she became the Resident Director and Dramaturge at the Baxter Theatre Centre - a post which she held until 2007. In January 2010 she became the first female to be appointed as CEO and Artistic Director of the Baxter. With a passion for the development of new indigenous work, young writers and directors, she has put most of her energy into helping playwrights and theatre-makers realise their work. Having nurtured several dozen new South African plays to their first staging, she has directed over 50 professional productions, 38 of which have been new South African plays. She is the SADC South and South African winner in Arts and Culture.

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From Zimbabwe Priscilla Chigariro

s Founder of Zimbabwe Fashion International, Priscilla Chigariro is the organiser of Zimbabwe Fashion Week which is currently the largest and most influential fashion event in Zimbabwe. “My focus is on social and business development i.e.: finding avenues for growth, expanding the company’s reach and creating youth development programmes that are on par with those offered worldwide within the fashion industry,” says the Zimbabwean country and SADC North winner in Arts and Culture. After completing her high schooling in 2000, she won a modelling contract which helped her to move to Johannesburg. For the next nine years she worked internationally as a model. Having always loved fashion she decided to return home in 2009 to begin her own fashion-house in a country where there was basically no fashion industry in existence.

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Empowered Leadership

Finding Your

Niche

by Andrew Ngozo

Market in Business That seed of an idea has finally made a compelling business case such that you are ready to take on the entrepreneurial world as the next big thing. But while your idea and business case may be compelling and unique, in order for you to thrive and succeed as an entrepreneur you need to identify a market that will make your dreams come true. This will be a market which will identify with you and your products such that life time business relationships can be forged. On paper this may all be a walk in the park but in real life it is much harder to turn into profits.

n order to become the greatest entrepreneur of your life time, one needs to remember that your niche markets can be distinctly classified into two categories, namely: the consumers and business. For example, if you’re selling women’s clothing from a retail store, your target market is consumers; if you’re selling office supplies; your target market is businesses (also known as B2B sales). In some cases—for

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instance, if you run a printing business—you may be marketing to both businesses and individuals. Before we proceed, it is important to highlight that no business, especially a small one, can be all things to all people. The more narrowly you can define your target market, the better. This process of creating a niche is fundamental to success for even the biggest companies. Lynda Falkenstein, author of Nichecraft: Using Your Specialness to Focus Your Business, Corner Your Market and Make Customers Seek You Out, says many entrepreneurs make the mistake of falling into the ‘all over the map’ trap, claiming they can do many things and be good at all of them. These people quickly learn a tough lesson, she warns: “Smaller is bigger in business, and smaller is not all over the map; it’s highly focused.” Creating a good niche, Lynda advises, involves following a seven-step process. Make a wish list The question to ask here is: with whom do you want to do business? Be as specific as you can. Identify the geographic range and the types of businesses or customers you want your business to target. If you don’t know whom you want to do business with, you can’t make contact. “You must recognise that you can’t do business with everybody,” Lynda cautions because you risk exhausting yourself and confusing your customers.

Empowered Leadership

Focus Clarify what you want to sell, remembering that you can’t be all things to all people and smaller is bigger. Your niche is not the same as the field in which you work. For example, a retail clothing business is not a niche but a field. A more specific niche may be maternity clothes for executive women. To begin this focusing process, Lynda suggests using these techniques to help you:  Make a list of things you do best and the skills implicit in each of them  List your achievements  Identify the most important lessons you’ve learned in life  Look for patterns that reveal your style or approach to resolving problems. Describe the customer’s worldview A successful business uses what Lynda calls the Platinum Rule: “Do unto others as they would do unto themselves.” When you look at the world from your prospective customers’ perspective, you can identify their needs or wants. The best way to do this is to talk to prospective customers and identify their main concerns. Synthesise At this stage, your niche should begin to take shape as your ideas and the client’s needs and wants coalesce to create something new. A good niche has five qualities. These are: It takes you where you want to go, it conforms to your longterm vision; somebody else (customers) wants it; it’s carefully planned; it’s one-of-a-kind, the ‘only game in town’ and it evolves, allowing you to develop different profit centres and still retain the core business, thus ensuring long-term success.

Test Once you have a match between niche and product, testmarket it. “Give people an opportunity to buy your product or service; not just theoretically but actually putting it out there,” Lynda suggests. This can be done by offering samples, such as a free mini-seminar or a sample copy of your newsletter. The test shouldn’t cost you a lot of money: “If you spend huge amounts of money on the initial market test, you’re probably doing it wrong,” she says. Go for it! Finally, it’s time to implement your idea. For many entrepreneurs, this is the most difficult stage. But fear not: If you did your homework, entering the market will be a calculated risk, not just a gamble. As you embark on your journey to being the greatest entrepreneur, always remember the ever present need to build relationships with people, make sure they know how to contact you, and within a short time you will have built a system for lead generation in your specialty of choice. Source: www.entrepreneur.com

Evaluate Now it’s time to evaluate your proposed product or service against the five criteria in the step above. Perhaps you’ll find that the niche you had in mind requires more business travel than you are ready for. Lynda says then that means it doesn’t fulfil one of the above criteria and it won’t take you where you want to go. So scrap it, and move on to the next idea.

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GLOBAL Expand your business Horizon

Automotive & Components A General Motors South Africa employee soared to the top of her field when she became the first certified female calibrator on the African continent. Sue-Ann Lewack (39) is leading the way in an automotive industry largely still dominated by men.

From South Africa Lisa Mallette Sue-Ann placed a further feather in her cap by completing her certification in the shortest possible time of seven months. The certification normally takes a year and a half to complete and is one of the most sought after qualifications for employees in the automotive sector. She said: “I want to pave the way for other women to step up to the plate. This is a good platform for women to show their steel in motor manufacturing that is still largely male dominated.”

Indeed she has paved the way for other female as CEO Global congratulates all the women recognised in the sector which is largely regarded as a male terrain.

ADC South and South African country winner in the Automotive and Components sector Lisa Mallette is currently the Marketing and Communications Director at Jaguar Land Rover South Africa, responsible for growth of both brands in South Africa and sub-Sahara Africa. Her exciting portfolio is focused on integrated marketing campaigns and initiatives, she is responsible for various marketing facets in the business – including the product offering, pricing strategy, advertising and communications, digital, social media, CRM, dealer marketing, experiential marketing, sponsorships, CSR initiatives and public relations. She says her experience in the South African and African motor industries and product planning insight have been put to the test this year in an extremely challenging environment – not only economically due the depreciating exchange rate, but also due to the complete restructuing of her team internally and their agencies. This required the recruitment of new team members and reshuffling of existing team member’s roles.

Capturing the Light Browsing through a portfolio of professional photographer Brenda Biddulph’s work, makes me want to grab a camera and take a photo. Attempting to create a visual moment like the many she has created is not easy.

Brenda established her own photographic business four years after graduating from the National School of Photography in Pretoria. She had gained experience in advertising, corporate photography, weddings, school photography and publications. Today her business, Monsoon Photography, has a faithful following of diverse clients who entrust Brenda and her team with repeat business. Putting a person at ease is an accomplished skill. Even the most senior executive can be a reluctant subject when a camera is pointed in their direction. Monsoon Photography has become a popular name to call among organisations needing photos for annual reports and events. The Monsoon Photography team has the ability to charm a smile out of the most world-weary executive. “We ignite with a jovial professional approach,” says Brenda. Brenda’s special love is vibrant fusion photography and experimenting with her “fascination for light”. The recipe for success behind Monsoon Photography is simple. “Our enjoyment of the profession

and passion for people attract clients to call on our services again and again,” she says. Monsoon Photography works on site and in studio, depending on the client’s requirements. Their studio, situated in the eastern suburbs of Pretoria, is perfect for family portraits and for shooting music videos. The experienced studio and on-line photographers that comprise Monsoon Photography share two things in common: a fascination for light and an eye for detail. With clients as diverse as Deloitte, Sasol and The Land Bank, Monsoon Photography adds a creative and professional touch to whatever the occasion.

Contact 083 452 4530 www.monsoonphotography.co.za

Corporate Governance

Gender Narrowing the

by Donna Rachelson

Improving societal and work parity between men and women in South Africa will realise substantial economic benefits, but deep-rooted negative attitudes and behaviours towards women must first be addressed.

his is according to business woman, entrepreneur and author of South Africa’s best-selling book Play to Win: What women can learn from men in business, Donna Rachelson who has lauded a report released by the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) that shows how advancing women’s equality could add $12 trillion to global growth. The report rigorously interrogated the gender inequality landscape in 95 countries, including sub-

Saharan Africa. Despite accounting for 50% of the global working-age population, the report shows that women only generate 37% of global GDP. Some 40 out of 95 countries involved in the research have high or extremely high levels of gender inequality. Rachelson explains, “This report is the first to link gender equality in society with gender equality in work. It has particular relevance for South Africa where more than

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Gap

Corporate Governance

50% of the population is female. The potential of women to contribute to South Africa’s economic growth is considerable, but gender initiatives in South Africa need to more effectively tackle deep-rooted attitudes and behaviour towards women and their role in society. “Gender inequality is a disturbing moral and social issue but also a critical economic challenge. If women do not achieve their full economic potential, South Africa’s economy will continue to suffer. “All agencies in SA need to understand that narrowing the gender gap will significantly boost the contribution of women to the economy. Our current approach to advancing women has become ‘business-as-usual’ and far more needs to be done.” Rachelson says the MGI report underscores the economic prize of gender parity and calls on policy makers, business leaders, and other stakeholders to address fundamental drivers of the gap in work equality. These are education, health, connectivity, security, and the role of women in unpaid work. She believes that South Africa has made headway in the key interventions the report identifies as critical in bridging

the gender gap, namely, financial incentives and support; technology and infrastructure; the creation of economic opportunity; capability building; advocacy and shaping attitudes; and laws, policies, and regulations. “However, a lot more work needs to be done to ensure that women in South Africa enjoy the dignity and power they deserve at home and at work.” “South Africa’s public and private companies, and civil society, should take heed of the findings of this report that highlights:  the economic benefits of closing the gender gap in South Africa;  that initiatives led by a single stakeholder are insufficient to drive change;  and that public- and private-sector organisations must work together to address gender issues.” She says all role players involved in empowering women in South Africa should note the findings of this report, which show how progress in four key areas facilitate progress:  education levels,  financial and digital inclusion,  legal protection, and  unpaid care work. Rachelson says there are many organisations involved in women’s rights and issues, and they are playing an important part, including the media. “But, these role players would do well to align their knowledge to understand the gender inequality landscape in South Africa in sufficient detail to have a positive systemic outcome.”

Rachelson says the report has two clear messages for the private sector: firstly, to pursue interventions on their own or in partnership with government, and to view these as opportunities rather than a source of additional cost; and secondly, to proactively ensure companies are having a positive impact on female employees as well as on participants in their supply chains, distributors, and customers, and the broader communities in which they work.

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GLOBAL Expand your business Horizon

Building & Construction “Women account for roughly half the world’s population, perform two-thirds of the hours worked, receive one-tenth of the world’s income, and have less than one hundredth of the world’s property registered in their names,” once said Janet Momsen in Women And Development In The Third World.

Africa’s once male-dominated construction industry has become attractive − and lucrative − for women. It is no longer the domain of men. Its reputation as a nontraditional career for women certainly hasn’t applied in South Africa, and, indeed in the broader Africa, for decades. Historically, generations of females have been the homebuilders in their communities; they just weren’t paid for it and neither was such labour considered as work, simply because a woman’s primary duty was to care for her family. History also does not record the many hundreds of women who were active on local building sites helping to carry water, digging trenches for foundation walls, and thatching roofs.

Today CEO Global takes pride in all the winners in the Building and Construction sector. Ever so quietly, and not intentionally, these women acquired skills that had long been considered a ‘man’s work’.

From Zimbabwe Barbara Rwodzi

arbara Rwodzi is the co-founder of the House of BarRue Knitwear, an organic and green brand of knitted fashion from Zimbabwe. Her company employs about 700 rural women from the Midlands, a province where she was born, and empowers them with the tools they need to find their path out of poverty. She is also the CEO of MED Lighting and Green Energy Options. She says she is a person who is passionate about improving livelihoods of those who are marginalised. As a young girl, she had an opportunity to have well-off parents who could send her to better schools in Harare, the capital city. “Ever since I was a child, I always wanted to do something to improve lives. I worked with my husband as an entrepreneur for 15 years doing different things, but a few years ago I came back to my pulse,” says the Zimbabwean country and SADC North regional winner in Building and Construction.

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From South Africa Dr Bridgette Gasa

r Bridgette Gasa is the founder and Managing Director of The Elilox Group. The South African and SADC South winner in the Building and Construction sector holds a PhD in Construction Management with Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and is the Chartered Institute of Building’s (CIOB) Past-President for the Africa region. She serves on a number of Boards and is a recipient of prestigious awards which include a Department of Science and Technology Award for a Leading Woman Scientist in Industry and an award for being Africa’s Most Influential Woman in Business. Bridgette. She was appointed by the President of South Africa as a National Planning Commissioner in 2010. She says she is driven by making both a qualitative and quantitative impact in the lives of others. Her strengths are tenacity and the never-say-die attitude. Her principles and values are honesty, humility, hard-work and discipline.

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Sustainability

ow, bear in mind that some of these celebrities may be unknown to you but they are celebrities nonetheless. Their contribution to human kind is priceless, says Kirsten Yovino, a health and fitness, culture and style senior editor at The Cheat Sheet who compiled this list in January 2016.

George Clooney His activism led to his arrest during a protest in 2012 when he sought to draw attention to the humanitarian crisis affecting hundreds of thousands of people in Darfur, Sudan. In 2006, Clooney and his father, Nick, smuggled cameras into Darfur refugee camps to document the horrific things happening. He also started a non-profit organisation, Not on Our Watch, with Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, and continued to return to Sudan to further draw attention to the crisis. Clooney’s arrest certainly helped bring more attention to the issue. Brangelina Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie fill the number two and three slots for their compassion, relentless activism, and willingness to help some of the world’s most troubled places. Angelina was a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations from 2001 to 2012 and was appointed as Special Envoy of UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres in April 2012, according to the UNHCR. She now focuses on major crises resulting in mass population displacements, undertaking advocacy and representing UNHCR and Guterres at the diplomatic level, and engaging with decision-makers on global displacement issues. Jolie continues to use her fame to shine attention on the refugees’ struggles, including those in Cambodia, Thailand, Sierra Leone, and Darfur. Bono The lead singer of U2 has helped start-up organisations such as DATA and ONE. ONE, which works to end extreme

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

Greatest

by Andrew Ngozo

Celebrity

Amid tough economic times across the board worldwide, the self is bound to come first rather than the next person. Yet there are those among us who have achieved the dizzy heights of success and could think of a million things or ways to spend their hard earned cash. Yet these celebrities are mindful of the vast inequalities that exist in our world and selflessly give of themselves and resources to one cause or the other around the world. Many of them even have three or four issues they support, speak out on, and help draw attention to. These 10 celebrities have founded powerful organisations, fought the political powers that be, and selflessly donated their time and money.

Sustainability

Michael J. Fox Since 1998 when Michael J. Fox revealed he had Parkinson’s Disease, he has worked hard to expand efforts to find a cure, especially by funding stem-cell research. His advocacy became pretty well-known in 2006 when Rush Limbaugh accused Fox of playing up his Parkinson’s disease symptoms in ads for pro-stem-cell candidates. Fox has lobbied for more government support, but he’s also found a way to take matters into his own hands. His foundation, the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, has funded more than USD200 million in Parkinson’s research.

Causes poverty and preventable diseases, has played an important role in persuading governments to support effective programmes and policies that make a difference in fighting poverty. Those efforts have provided medication to the more than 7.5 million people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa, and malaria has been cut by 75% in eight African countries since 2000. There are now 51 million more children across sub-Saharan Africa who are going to primary school thanks to Bono’s efforts. DATA is another advocacy organisation that works to eradicate extreme poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa. The organisation works closely with politicians, celebrities, and the media to help focus public attention on how to beat HIV/AIDS and poverty in Africa. Sean Penn One of Penn’s most well-known protests was in opposition to the 2003 Iraq invasion. The Oscar winner shelled out USD56 000 in 2002 for a full-page advert in the Washington Post deriding Bush’s policy in Iraq. Penn accused Bush of violating democratic principles there ‘through a blood-lined sense of entitlement’. Penn has also advocated for gay rights, and joined reconstruction efforts after Hurricane Katrina. In the wake of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Penn established a relief organisation to help and ended up enlisting as a manager at one of the refugee camps.

Willie Nelson While he’s had less success with some of his other causes, such as legalising marijuana and mobilising opposition to the Iraq war before the 2003 invasion, Willie Nelson played a huge role in setting up the annual Farm Aid concerts, which have raised tens of millions of dollars to support family farmers since the first show in 1985, according to the National Journal Magazine. Farm Aid also works with local, regional, and national organisations to promote fair farm policies and grassroots campaigns designed to defend and bolster family farm-centred agriculture. Ted Danson You might know him as Sam Malone on the TV show Cheers, but Ted Danson is much more than an actor – he’s an environmental advocate. For more than 25 years, he has been an activist who has worked hard to inform the world about the critical state of the Earth’s oceans. He’s co-founder of the American Oceans Campaign, which is devoted to protecting the earth’s oceans and coastal waters. Lady Gaga In 2009, she took her first step toward celebrity activism by appearing at the National Equality March in Washington. A year later, she took on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and asked her fans to call elected officials and ask them to repeal the law, according to Politics Daily. In 2010, Lady Gaga took her activism a step further and had retired gay military officers from the Service Legal Defence Network escort her down the red carpet at the MTV Video Music Awards; the SLDN received an instant public relations boost. She’s continued to fight for gay and lesbian rights, in addition to taking on a few other causes, such as Arizona’s immigration law. Alicia Keys The Grammy Award winner has been an advocate in the fight against HIV/AIDS for years. Keys co-founded the organisation called Keep a Child Alive in 2003 after taking her first trip to Africa. She has raised millions of dollars to provide HIV/ AIDS medicine and care to patients in India and Africa. The organisation supports innovative, community-led responses that increase access to HIV treatment and care, nutritious food, and support for children and families affected by HIV/AIDS. Source: The Entertainment Cheat

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MIDRAND CONFERENCE CENTRE GUEST HOUSES & WEDDING VILLAGE

Business & Professional Services Professional services matter for African development. This service sub-sector comprises a variety of heterogeneous activities that are important drivers of growth, productivity and innovation in the economy. Within the range of professional services, there are a number of business oriented professional services which include accounting, architecture, engineering, ICT, legal services, marketing and advertising. Business-oriented professional services play an important part in the ability of all sectors to operate and grow.

A recent World Bank study found that labour productivity of firms that use accounting, legal and engineering professional services in East Africa can be 45% higher than that of firms that do not. Additionally, professional services offer an important avenue for export diversification for the African community.

Your award winning conference, wedding and accommodation venue situated in the heart of Midrand, the Midrand Conference Centre, would like to toast to all winners in the business/professional services sector, without whom, many companies would not be productive.

From Nigeria Adenike Adeyanju-Osadolor

rained at the University of Ife Nigeria and Radcliffe College, Harvard USA. The experience of Adenike Adeyanju-Osadolor, publisher, ABBI Books and regional coordinator-Africa, Business and Professional Women International (BPW), over the past four decades, has straddled academia, book publishing and development work. She started her career as an academic in the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Nigeria before she moved to the University of Ife Press in 1980 as an editor. She rose to the post of publishing manager in 1987 and now runs her own publishing outfit, ABBI Books. She serves as publishing/editorial consultant to several organisations and international agencies including the UN system in Nigeria. She has received several honours, among which are listing in two reference books published by the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England. She is a conference speaker and trainer. Adenike is a regional and country winner for West Africa and Nigeria respectively.

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From South Africa

From Zimbabwe

Dr Judy Dlamini

Mavis Mataranyika

r Judy Dlamini is the chairperson of Mbekani Investment Holdings Limited and Aspen Pharmacare Limited. The South African and SADC South regional winner in the Business and Professional Services sector is among some of the wealthiest women in South Africa. Dr Dlamini started her career as a medical doctor, but could not stay away from the thrilling and sometimes cut-throat world of business. In 2001 she did her MBA, worked for HSBC Investment Bank and then started pursuing a career as an entrepreneur. She now chairs the boards of some of the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest companies, including Aspen Pharmacare and Mbekani Group, where she is also majority shareholder. She sits on the boards of Northam Platinum, AT&T South Africa and Gijima, among others. Mbekani believes in giving back to the community, especially rural communities. She also believes in sustainable empowerment of communities through the development of people.

avis Mataranyika, Zimbabwean and SADC North winner in the Business and Professional Services sector is the general manager of Nyaradzo Funeral Services Division. She started her career with the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare in 1994 before joining the University of Zimbabwe and finally the Nyaradzo Group in 2001. She holds an Executive Development Programme Diploma from the University of Zimbabwe, a City and Guilds of London Institute Science Laboratory Technicians Certificate and a National Certificate in Science Technology. Mavis has an MBA from Nottingham Trent University in the United Kingdom and is currently studying for a Doctorate in Business Administration with Nottingham Trent University. Mavis has demystified death and changed the perception of passing on. Due to her efforts, her company is recognised as one that celebrates life instead of mourning death. That has been a game changer in the social life of many people in Zimbabwe.

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From DRC Adv Solange Elenge Hamsini

emocratic Republic of Congo Country and Central Africa regional winner in the Business and Professional Services sector Advocate Solange Elenge Hamsini was born in Lubumbashi, the economic capital of DRC, where she attended elementary school. She is currently training for her masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree in Family Law. She is a lawyer by profession who has also trained in Gender and HIV/AIDS which earned her a facilitator and educator certificate. She also trained in developing research questionnaires and survey methodologies. She is currently a lawyer practicing at the Appeal Court of Matadi, associate member of the Cabinet Mbu Do Letang. She is sought by many as an international consultant in NGOs. She is also the President of the National Group and Executive Committee Member at the international level where she coordinates the management of members and office staff, organises various workshops, and coordinates surveys and research.

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Countrywinners From Ghana Karen Evans Halm Ghanaian country winner Karen Evans Halm is an entrepreneur graced with creative, communication and organisational leadership abilities. She is a product of Aburi Girls’ Secondary School, where she studied visual arts and received multiple prizes including Professor Allotey’s special prize for excellent performance in mathematics during her senior secondary school education. She continued to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, where she studied architecture for 6 years, graduating in 2005 with BSc. Hons. Architecture and a Postgraduate Diploma in architecture.

From Zambia Namucana Catherine Musiwa As the chief executive officer of Career Prospects Limited (CPL) in Zambia, Namucana Catherine Musiwa provides advice on human resource matters and labour legislation. CPL has earned itself a place in the Zambian labour market as an institution that designs professional CVs and provides interview coaching services. CPL has a wide range of customers spread in various geographical locations of the country. In addition, they enjoy strategic partnerships with institutions within Zambia, in Malawi, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Scotland.

From Tanzania Adv Neema Lwise Kileo Tanzanian country winner Advocate Neema Lwise Kileo is the founder of Astute Attorneys. She has an outstanding record as a commercial and well experienced lawyer. She is an expert in natural resources law, corporate governance and compliance, commercial litigation, telecommunication and e-commence law, banking and finance law, insurance law, international trade, investment and development law, real estate and conveyancing law. She says she has successfully facilitated various foreign direct investments in Tanzania particularly in mining projects, real estate, transportation and the infrastructure sector.

From Angola Renata Valenti Renata Valenti is a senior lawyer at GLA Gabinete Legal Angola, Advogados. Her main practice areas and sectors are foreign investment and international contracts, labour law, litigation and arbitration as well as mergers and acquisitions. Her qualifications include a Law degree from the law faculty of Universidade Católica Portuguesa in Oporto, admission to the Portuguese Bar Association in 2008 and admission to the Angolan Bar Association in 2009. She is also a lecturer at two Angolan universities.

Style and

Case in Point

A Host with

by Andrew Ngozo

Midrand Conference Centre has been nominated as one of the top two conference venues in Gauteng by the Star Readers’ Choice Awards. It was also voted one of the top two wedding venues in Gauteng by the prestigious ABIA annual Brides’ Choice Awards and given the 2014 Award of Excellence by www.booking.com’s guests. This award winning venue is the perfect host for any kind of event. Situated across the road from the Gallagher Convention Centre and between the largest business hubs of Pretoria and Johannesburg, the Centre offers hospitality and service unparalleled in the industry.

idrand Conference Centre boasts eight 4-star guest houses and one boutique hotel with 136 rooms to accommodate out-of-town guests. A total of 17 conference venues complete with free Wi-Fi easily make the centre a firm popular in Gauteng. According to Kaylene Wishnuff, general manager of Midrand Conference Centre, they offer a range of exciting, affordable and custom designed packages that are perfectly tailored for conferences, functions, weddings and accommodation. The various conference venues can host anything from intimate meetings of 10 people up to a group of 700 in just one venue. Midrand Conference Centre is renowned for being a beautiful and tranquil environment with professional, friendly and helpful staff who deliver a quality service. Says Kaylene: “We want our guests to be comfortable and happy here and are flexible enough to make adjustments to do just that. We recognise that satisfying our clients requires an individualised response to their needs.” The Centre can make any function or celebration stylish and memorable. “Whether it is an awards ceremony, product launch, gala dinner, staff party or a 21st birthday party, we have hosted them all in a choice of six different themed venues,” Kaylene states and adds that their highly skilled and qualified chefs create customised menus to suit your style, budget or

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catering requirements. Villa Tuscana Wedding Village, she shares, is a wedding venue made to order as it has it all; from chapels, lapas, gardens and reception venues. Of course, the venues vary in size and design in order to meet specific yet varied client needs and tastes. The guest houses at Midrand Conference Centre are your home away from home. Kaylene explains that besides its central location, there is free secure parking, a shuttle service, 24/7 security and free high speed WiFi. “Our eight quality guest houses and boutique hotel are fully equipped with digital satellite television. They are set on 10 acres of beautifully manicured gardens and can also accommodate up to 272 out of town guests. If you have any special requests, simply ask and we will make a plan for you. Facilities include a gym with professional strength and stamina equipment which is free to our guests and a la carte restaurant,” she says. Whether the aim is to create memorable moments or host a productive teambuilding exercise or conference, Midrand Conference Centre is the place to be. Simply log on to www. midrandconferencecentre.co.za or call +27 11 315 8326 or email info@midrandconferencecentre.co.za to enquire on how to start experiencing all that the centre has to offer.

Elegance

Case in Point VisaRequest

Preferably, apply for a visa two months ahead of departure. This provides enough time to allow for possible uncertainties and keeps visa costs down, as everything can be processed normally.

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Chemical Pharmaceutical & Petrochemical The African chemicals industry contributes a sizeable chunk to the continent’s gross domestic product, while the South African petrochemicals sector is the largest sector contributor to the chemicals industry in South Africa, with a contribution of 55%.

From Mauritius According to consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, chemicals, materials and food industry analyst Dilshaad Booley, petrochemicals growth will be driven by the demand from end-users, such as the paints and coatings, automotive, mining and construction sectors, where large amounts of chemicals are still procured locally, as the local refinery capacities meet the bulk of local demand. “The market for petrochemicals is expected to grow at a compound yearly growth rate of close to 2%, owing to limited investment in local refineries and old technology limiting efficiency,” Dilshaad asserts.

Shell South Africa

would like to congratulate the winners in this sector. It is their zeal for innovation that will surely take Africa’s economy forward.

Norina Sookmoulla

orina Sookmoulla founder of Norina Co Ltd is actively involved in community work and organises free events on a regular basis with the help of pharmaceutical companies and general practitioners to promote health education sessions on specific areas of health and disease prevention. She embarked on being a pharmacist and developed an in-depth knowledge in this area helping her to deliver optimal pharmaceutical care, by assessing the suitability of the medication for a particular patient, taking into account their medical history and interactions with other drugs that are being used. Her listening and communication skills combined with experience gathered in the field have enabled her to develop a strong bond with people within the community who see her as a first call for advice on health and specific clinical conditions. The IOC and Mauritius winner says her business acumen, negotiation skills and flair for business development have enabled her to grow as an entrepreneur.

Countrywinners From Uganda Hajjat Aisha Nakasujja Ugandan country winner Hajjat Aisha Nakasujja is the founder and chief executive officer of Aloesha Organic Natural Health Products Ltd, an initiative fully incorporated in Uganda in 2012. The company specialises in the provision and development of high quality effective herbal medicines or health products ranging from nutritional food supplements, cosmetics and herbal medicines. She is a health practitioner with over 15 yearsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; experience in giving medical consultations with clients and creating specialised herbal medical formulas used in manufacturing medicinal herbal products.

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Corporate Governance

Gut

When and How to

Trust Your by Andrew Ngozo

In its effort to protect you, to keep you alive and safe, your brain can keep you from speaking up or getting what you truly want if you don’t know how to listen beyond your rationalisations. When you face an uncomfortable decision, your brain will spontaneously give you a fabulously credible rationalisation for avoiding possible failure, embarrassment, or even minor discomfort. As humans, we are master rationalisers.

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ays Hana Ayoub, a professional development coach: “We spend our workdays in our outer world. We’re interacting with our team members and clients. We don’t have enough time in our inner world where we can reflect on those experiences and listen to what our gut might have to say.” According to Hana, trusting your gut is trusting the collection of all your subconscious experiences. Why is trusting your gut so powerful? Because, our gut has been cataloguing a whole lot of information for as long as we have been alive. “Trusting your gut is trusting the collection of all your subconscious experiences,” says Melody Wilding, a therapist and professor of human behaviour at Hunter College. “Your gut is this collection of empirical shortcuts. It’s this unconscious-conscious learned experience centre that you can draw on from your years of being alive,” she explains. “It holds insights that are not immediately available to your conscious mind right now, but they are all things that you have learned and felt. In the moment, we might not be readily able to access specific information, but our gut has it at the ready.” “I’ve never heard a client say, ‘I regret going with my

Corporate Governance

gut,’” says Hana. Think of all the time and mental energy that can be conserved by not having to overthink your next move. Here’s how you can start right now. Carve Out Time to Reflect After a meeting or interaction that requires a decision on your part, give yourself mental space to reflect. “Instead of grabbing a coffee in the kitchen, take a walk around the block. Spend time alone. Even if it’s just a minute,” says Hana. If it’s a bigger decision you need to make, Hana recommends creating a larger window before you need to respond. “Start telling people: ‘I need to sleep on this; I’ll get back to you tomorrow.’ Start building that response into your conversations, especially with the people you work with most. It’s telling people that’s how you work.” Melody says: “You have to create space to listen to what your gut is saying. That’s why people say they get their best ideas in the shower. Start to think back and do an audit of your day. It’s called intentional mind wandering.” Give Yourself Constraints Lou Leone, the founder of Leadinary, a management consulting and executive coaching firm for start-ups, has an exercise for those who overanalyse. Every time you have a big decision or tough choice to make, give yourself a 30 minute window to make it. “At the end of that half hour, you are going to have to use your gut. That forces you to be more instinctive,” says Lou. Did you say “should?” “Whenever I hear clients say ‘I should,’ I say: ‘According to who?’ They usually say, ‘family pressure’ or ‘I guess I’m making it up.’ The ‘should’s’ help people tune in to when they are not listening to their gut,” says Hana. Be Aware of Your Feelings Melody recommends developing an awareness of how you feel during work situations. “Do a body scan of what’s going on for you. You may think, I feel nervous right now, or I feel like I’m not sure what’s coming next. Use those skills of emotional labelling to get in touch with what your gut might be saying to you,” she says.

List Every Time Your Gut Instinct Served You Being instinctive is not simply an innate trait: It’s a quality that increases or decreases given how much we practice doing it well. Lou recommends listing all the times you trusted your gut and whether the outcome was favourable. “By going through the exercise, you’ll see, ‘When I trusted my gut, I always felt good about the decision I made,’” says Lou. He adds that with repetition, “your gut starts getting better at doing what’s right for you.” “As similar situations arise and you have an instinct, you realise you had this instinct before, and it’s that much stronger,” he explains. “Your instinct gets sharper and more reactive. Then, when you experience positive outcomes, it creates a positive feedback loop.” With time, you can comfortably defer more and more of your decision-making to your gut instinct. Practice Exercise in Decision Making Choose one decision you need to make now or in the future. Follow these steps: 1. Listen to your head. Be curious. Consider all options other than yes or no, do or don’t do. List out everything you might do that is in your control or ability to influence others to help you. Think about the facts. Consider the pros and cons. What points come to the forefront? What are all of your options around this choice you have to make? 2. Take a breath and clear your mind so you can listen from your heart. Think of someone you care about or something you love to do. Say the word love or gratitude or choose another word that opens your heart. Now consider the decision you need to make keeping your awareness around your heart. What points come to the forefront? How do these points differ from what emerged when you considered the decision using only your head? Notice how the points relate more to your desires than to the facts and details. Which option will you regret more if you don’t decide on it? 3. Take another deep breath and relax so you can listen from your gut. Make sure you are sitting up straight. Take a deeper breath into your belly. Recall a time you felt gutsy and determined in spite of your fear. Remember the moment you moved forward, took action, or spoke your mind. As you inhale, say and feel the word courage. Let the word settle into the core of your body as you exhale. Consider your decision one more time. What points come to the forefront? What is the worst that can happen if the option you take doesn’t work out, really? How likely is the worst to happen? How painful will a failure be? What will you lose if you don’t try? How do these points differ from what arose when you were thinking through your head and heart? Maybe you recognised a real and valid reason for saying no or yes that wasn’t clear before. How does thinking through your gut impact your decision? Source: www.fastcompany.com Additional Source: https://www.psychologytoday.com

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GLOBAL Expand your business Horizon

Education & Training: Academic In Africa, women have made significant strides in the political arena over the past few years. The continental political body, the African Union (AU), took a major step by promoting gender parity in its top decision-making positions. But perhaps the most inhibiting factor is that women in Africa continue to be denied an education, often the only ticket out of poverty.

From Ghana Elizabeth Akuba Kwesi Armah Disparities between girls and boys start in primary school and the differences widen up through the entire educational system. In total enrolment in primary education, Africa registered the highest relative increase among regions during the last decade. But given the low proportion of girls being enrolled, the continent is still far from the goal of attaining intake parity anytime soon. By 2000, sub-Saharan Africa was the region with the most girls out of school, 23 million, up from 20 million a decade earlier.

Amid an equation skewed against women and girls, there are still those who are determined to ensure every child and girl in particular gets a decent education in order to break the cycle of poverty. CEO Global celebrates these heroines in our midst.

lizabeth Armah is an educationist and UKtrained Montessori Teacher Trainer with 20 years’ experience, who espouses the belief that “Education is the igniting of a flame and not the filling in of a vessel.” (Socrates). An alumnus of the University of Kent at Canterbury and the Montessori Centre International, UK, she speaks French and Italian. Elizabeth is the visionary creator and co-founder of Little Treasures Montessori School and Q & A Educational Consult in Accra, Ghana. To build them, she combined the culture, international experience, vision and passion from her multiple roles in the worlds of marketing, advertising, press and public relations as well as events planning for international organisations, both large and small. Elizabeth is a sought after educator who is this year’s winner in the Education and Training: Academic sector for West Africa and Ghana.

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From Uganda

From Zimbabwe

Regina Laboke

Prof Rudo Gaidzanwa

egina Laboke’s teaching experience spans 39 years, with 27 spent in school leadership and management. She has developed a reputable leadership and management style that has propelled the schools she worked in to greater heights. For this reason she is a recipient of six meritorious awards, one of them from the Government of Uganda, for Best School Head Teacher in 2003. She is currently responsible for a secondary school team, whose main purpose is to provide quality education to the girl child. She ensures that the facilities, requisite environment and human resources are in place. In addition, she instils confidence, motivates, and inspires teachers and students to excel, through proper planning and performance management. She founded and developed professional teacher associations. Among them are the Association of Catholic Teachers and Educational Institutions in Kampala Archdiocese, the Wakiso Secondary School Head Teachers’ Association and the Association of Secondary Schools Head Teachers of Uganda.

ADC North and Zimbabwean country winner in the Education and Training: Academic sector Prof Rudo Gaidzanwa is a lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe. Her work facilitates the mentoring of young first year and post-graduate students since she teaches the foundation and post-graduate classes. She was the first black woman professor in Zimbabwe and championed, and helped institutionalise the Affirmative Action Program for women and other disadvantaged groups at the University of Zimbabwe, enabling them to access degree programmes, jobs and opportunities previously unavailable to them. She has served as a Commissioner, and Customary Law Committee Chair in the Constitutional Commission, 19992000. “I served on the Presidential Land Review Committee in 2003, was the chairperson of the Ministry of Health Task Force on Medical Aid Societies in 2004. I am a founding trustee of the Women’s University, Zimbabwe and a founder member and chair of Envision Zimbabwe, an NGO that focuses on improving communities’ well-being in Zimbabwe,” she says.

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

RegionalWinnerC

From Mauritius

From South Africa

Dr Thanika Devi Juwaheer

Prof Thokozile Mayekiso

OC and Mauritian country winner in the Education and Training: Academic sector, Doctor Thanika Devi Juwaheer is a holder of a B.Com (First Class), an MBA (Marketing-First Class) and a PhD in service quality and customer care. She serves as the Pro Vice- Chancellor (Planning and Resources) of the University of Mauritius and is Associate Professor of the Department of Management, Faculty of Law and Management. As part of her portfolio she oversees the Consultancy, Finance, Marketing and Human Resources Unit of the University of Mauritius. As an academic, she has several years of experience in marketing, tourism and hospitality in Mauritius and the Indian Ocean Islands as well as extensive teaching, industrial and consulting experience in the marketing, hospitality and tourism field. Her additional research interests include green marketing, ecotourism, service quality, customer satisfaction, CRM and health care management. She would like to empower women leaders and entrepreneurs.

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

rofessor Thokozile Mayekiso was appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mpumalanga with effect from 1 November 2014. The primary responsibility of Professor Mayekiso as the Vice-Chancellor and Principal is to provide strategic leadership and management. The University of Mpumalanga is a new institution that was launched in 2013 and enrolled the first cohort of students in 2014. As the first Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mpumalanga she has to ensure that a firm foundation is built to advance the vision of the University, ‘To be an African university leading in creating opportunities for sustainable development through innovation’. In her sterling academic career, Professor Mayekiso has held positions of Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor, Professor, Head of Department, and Vice Dean at the then University of Transkei. While at this University she interspersed her teaching role, with clinical practice, by serving as part-time Clinical Psychologist at the Umtata General Hospital.

Countrywinners From Zambia Dr Alice Phiri Shemi She has been teaching and researching in higher education institutions for over 24 years. Alice Phiri of Donatec Institute of Business in Zambia has taught information systems at Bachelors and Masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree level at the Copperbelt University, Zambia, University of Swaziland and University of Botswana. Alice has a PhD in Information Systems, a Master of Business Administration degree in information management, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics. She also leads academic scholars as a conference convenor for an international conference.

AFRICAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

The Viable Tertiary Funding

Models for SA by Andrew Ngozo

The #FeesMustFall movement of 2015 gained international media coverage and acclaim. But more than anything, the countrywide protests brought to the fore the underlying issues regarding the cost of a higher education in tough economic times and in a highly unequal society. Although the students managed to convince government to freeze the annual fees hike (at least for the year), many believe that such measures won’t last and South Africa is in no way ready for free tertiary education; just yet. Indeed, the protests brought closer to home the fact that there is something very wrong with the current system of funding of university education in South Africa. So how do we create something that ensures that every capable individual in South Africa is able to study and fulfil their potential, in a way that is fair to the aspirations of everyone else in the country?

raditionally, there are three main options for funding university student education: funding out of the broad tax base (tax funding), funding up front by students, typically through fees while studying and deferred charges where students pay at some point in the future either through loan repayments or a tax on graduates, says Stuart Theobald, chairman of research house Intellidex. “In reality no university system is completely devoid of tax funding, so the second and third options are really about funding sources in addition to tax funding. Within these three options, scholarships and bursaries may also have a role,” he states. There are many important considerations that are relevant to university education funding, but addressing inequality; providing the skills that the country needs; and supporting the right to access are the most important in any higher education funding debate. Let’s then consider each of the three funding mechanisms available.

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

Tax Funding Universities currently receive a significant amount of funding from the national budget. Their allocation represents 42% of all of central government’s spending on postsecondary school education, which also includes all further education and training colleges that focus on vocational skills development. In addition to the central government transfer, there are various funding provisions made by government departments to support research or specific skill development objectives. The state-owned organisations also fund various research and skills projects. The central government transfer is an important source of funding for all public universities. Should

Skills Transfer

there be full tax funding of higher education then there would be a substantial increase in the subsidy in order to eliminate the student fees line from the income statement.

and less on the variable cost of student enrolment. There should still be a material subsidy for student costs, reflecting in part the public benefit from university educated citizens. Those who can pay upfront fees should. Whether out of family resources, income, company-provided bursaries, or funder-provided scholarships, students who have access to these means should use them. Stuart says this lessens the burden on government funds and is progressive in nature; ensuring government funding support goes to lower-income beneficiaries. It is also efficient in that students access the lowest cost sources of funding. There should be zero upfront costs for

Upfront Payments These typically refer to fees charged by universities, a proportion of which is often due at the start of any programme. Fees can be at various levels and make up various proportions of universities’ income; for example, Wits University receives 41% of its income from fees. Basic annual fees range from R26 016 at the University of the Free State to R46 000 at the University of Cape Town. The argument over upfront payments is clear, says Stuart. “If students cannot afford them they are simply prevented from access. This means universities will then be dominated by students from well-resourced backgrounds whose parents are able to pay the upfront fees, or older students who have been able to generate sufficient Should there be full tax funding of higher savings to meet those fees.” Requiring students to work up front to education then there would be a substantial generate savings from which to meet fees is inefficient and, given the massive youth increase in the subsidy in order to eliminate the student fees line from the income statement. unemployment problem in South Africa, unrealistic. Commercial funding, even in a market with a relatively efficient banking system like South students who cannot afford them. A Africa’s, is not a sufficient answer. To be eligible for such funding deferred cost model is preferable. This students and their families still need assets and income that will should include covering of students’ satisfy the collateral needs of the funder. This means commercial living expenses where they cannot funding is only suitable for prospective students from the middle afford them. Repayment should be classes. “Given that upfront fees are substantially exclusionary, income contingent, such that students they are clearly not suitable for most students. For those students, pay a percentage of their income above deferred charges, in the absence of full tax funding, are a better certain thresholds. option,” says Stuart. In cases of particular public benefits, loans should be converted to bursaries. Many study Deferred Charges choices are made because students desire the private Deferred charges refer to mechanisms where the costs of benefits that accrue to them. In some cases the public university education are met by the student at some point in benefits are particularly substantial and the state should the future. Such systems are used in various countries and are encourage these with targeted bursaries. usually income contingent, so students pay a portion of their It follows that government funding should remain income over some thresholds toward recovering some part of an important part of the overall funding equation. The the costs of their education. They can be structured either as declining proportion of government subsidies in overall loans that are repaid by students or as a graduate tax. South university funding is regrettable. Such funding should at Africa has a variety of this approach in the National Student least keep pace with the cost increases universities face. It Financial Aid Scheme which received funds of R9.2bn In the is also desirable to increase funding proportional to student last budget allocation. According to its last annual report in enrolment figures, though if deferred cost models meet the 2013 it provided some funding to 416 174 students, including marginal increase in costs from each additional student, this 194 923 at universities. However, the NSFAS system is beset by may not be necessary. problems. In 2014 it distributed funds of R8.6bn, but collected Most importantly, government needs to facilitate an repayments of only R300m. That trend continues. efficient and effective deferred cost model that meets the objectives outlined above. Stuart concludes that These considerations lead Stuart to conclude that the the National Student Financial Aid Scheme is probably following policy approach is optimal: the institution that should be built into the ideal model, A tax-funded subsidy is a critical component of the with support from other arms of government like the SA overall cost of student education. In other words, universities Revenue Service which should administer loan recovery. should not incur financial harm in expanding enrolment. This However, bursaries should only be provided for specific means subsidies should focus on research and capital costs scarce skills with a clear public benefit.

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

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GLOBAL Expand your business Horizon

Education & Training: Private Is Africaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s middle class rejecting the public school system? Education experts have been pondering this question amid the growing demand for private schooling despite the high fees many of them charge.

From South Africa In South Africa alone the number of learners attending independent schools has risen by 40% over the past five years. At the end of last year, there were 1681 registered independent schools with 538 421 pupils, according to the department of basic educationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2014 School Realities report. In 2009, there were 1 174 independent schools with 386 098 learners. In many countries around the continent, they can attest to a similar state of affairs where private education is thriving.

CEO Global salutes all the players in this industry, especially those whose efforts have been recognised. May they forge, tirelessly, ahead as they ensure that the continent has a viable and thriving private education system.

Ilana Gerschlowitz

lana Gerschlowitz, Director of Star Academy is the driving force behind ensuring that parents around South Africa and Africa receive expert ABA services for their children. Her vision and commitment is translated into the closeknit team of dedicated instructors at The Star Academy who work tirelessly to improve the lives of children affected with autism. She is responsible for managing an organisation that employs over 100 people in South Africa and also has affiliate sites in Ghana, Zimbabwe and Mauritius. Her duties include ensuring that every child who attends the Star Academy receives an expert education programme and best opportunity to catch up their developmental delays and overcome their skills deficits. She leads the organisation and works tirelessly to change the course of autism for many children in Africa including children in underprivileged communities. She is the South African and SADC South winner in the Education and Training: Private sector.

Countrywinners From Rwanda Caroline Dusabe Caroline Dusabe is the Early Childhood Development (ECD) Programme Manager at Save the Children Rwanda. She is a teacher by profession, a passionate reader and a published writer. She is an early literacy and ECD activist, an educationist with more than 10 years’ experience. She is an advocate for starting learning interventions early. She believes that the early years are the bedrock of future learning and achievement and that the quality of early childhood experiences and learning are predictor of a person’s future academic achievement.

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

Empowered Leadership

The

Most Expensive

Schools in SA by Andrew Ngozo

Have you ever wondered what constitutes a good school in South Africa? Some quarters believe that the more expensive a school’s tuition fees are then your child is guaranteed a good education and therefore a certain solid start in life. Others believe that the public school systems, which are normally no fee paying schools, offer the best education. Whether that is a myth or reality is a subject of constant debate. Let us examine the top end South African schools and what it takes to be in those [mostly] private schools.

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

ccording to a recent study conducted by Ogechukwu Nwabugo, the most expensive schools are mostly concentrated in Gauteng and KwaZulu Natal provinces with one or two in the Eastern and Western Cape. She says in addition to the fact that education for children is compulsory in South Africa, both public and private schools work hard to produce the best results. “They ensure that they impart quality knowledge in order to guarantee that they produce the next generation of problem solvers across the continent and the world at large,” She states. In order for this to happen, schools require their students to pay a certain amount of money and inevitably some schools are obviously more costly than others. The South African landscape unfolds below.

Empowered Leadership

An Elitist Tradition The Hilton College in the KwaZulu Natal Midlands is the most expensive school in South Africa. The school charges an annual fee of R219 500 per annum while the entry fee is set at R52 250. Located near the town of Hilton, the private boarding school for boys has its own wildlife reserve. The school was founded in 1872 and is considered to be one of the few remaining boarding schools in South Africa. The fees cover tuition, ordinary medical care, board games, basic entertainment and transport among other things. However, not included in this amount are other levies as may be demanded by the school. So the actual amount to be paid will be slightly higher than the one already mentioned. Michael House the Anglican Diocesan College of Natal, a boys’ boarding school located in Kwazulu Natal Midlands will set you apart with R208 320 for a boarding pupil. It was founded in 1896 and is a boarding school for senior boys with an international reputation, states the school’s website. Situated on a secure estate in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, the school has a full residential staff which

South Africa has to offer. Outdoor education is also a key component of the college experience, says Alan. At Roedean School for Girls, an all-girls school in Parktown, Johannesburg, you will pay R196 539 and R107 670 for a boarding pupil and a day pupil respectively. The executive headmistress of the school notes that in today’s demanding educational environment schools should be held accountable and judged, not only on academic, cultural and sport standards, but on how effectively and successfully they create within their pupils skills that will be demanded in the societies and economies of the future. The original school building in Parktown was designed by Sir Herbert Baker, who worked in South Africa at the turn of the 19th century. Roedean celebrated its 110th birthday in 2013. Kearsney College: a private boarding school for boys based in Botha’s Hill, KwaZulu-Natal requires an annual investment of R195 800 for a boarding pupil and R134 800 for a day pupil. The school’s website says it is “a leading independent traditional high school for boys”. To teach boys that “emotional courage is courage and that courage and

In order for this to happen, schools require their students to pay a certain amount of money and inevitably some schools are obviously more costly than others. facilitates a high level of pastoral care and interaction with the pupils. The website states that: “Michael House is a school of established heritage with an innate respect for the individual. It is this long held tradition that distinguishes Michael House from other senior boys’ schools. We believe that going to senior school is as much about finding one’s niche in life as having the freedom and encouragement to explore it and to become the best one can be.” Expect to pay R199 140 for a boarding pupil or R88 950 for a day pupil at St Andrews College, an allboys school found in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape. Alan Thompson, the headmaster of the school says it has an incredibly rich history which dates back to 1855. The curriculum is a full one, providing opportunities for boys to realise their unique gifts and pursue them with passion. The academic, sporting, and cultural aspects of the school provide a foundation of absolute excellence that is enriched further by a dynamic Christian environment. The school is close to Rhodes University, shops and amenities and yet, just a stone’s throw away is some of the best beaches, wildlife areas, and country districts that

empathy are the sources of real strength in life”, the school has a mentorship programme which pairs senior and junior boys in a mentoring capacity, under the guidance of a staff tutor. The tutor shares time with a small group of boys each morning. This tutorship programme in turn strengthens relationships between boys and staff. With a vision to create an environment in which their pupils can live their lives to the full, learn accountability, fulfil their potential, and reach their dreams St Johns College is a boys’ school in Houghton, Johannesburg. It will set you apart with R194 231 for a boarding pupil and R115 067 for a day pupil. On the other hand there is St Andrew’s School for Girls in Bedfordview, Johannesburg. For enrolment at this institution expect to pay R189 830 and R102 400 for a boarder and a day pupil annually respectively. At St Martins, a co-educational school found in Rosettenville, Johannesburg a boarding pupil will pay R184 460 while a day scholar will fork out R112 000 per annum. The last two schools in the top ten are Bishops, a private boys’ school in Rondebosch, Cape Town and St Stithians, a private school with two single-sex streams found in Sandton, Johannesburg.

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

SECTOR R egional SECTOR SECTOR Foreword

winner

Financial Services Globally, the outlook for financial services is solid. But the rise of disrupters in the market, especially from unexpected places, has provoked the need for financial services entities to rethink their strategies. It also means that innovation and technology have moved a few notches up on their agendas. This is particularly true for Africa where the market is less mature or saturated, giving rise to opportunities for new entrants to challenge the status quo.

From Malawi Dorothy Chapeyama

Coupled with this is the expected growth of Africaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economies, postulate financial experts and analysts. More and more of the population is becoming part of the formal financial system with elements unique to the African market, such as mobile phone technology and its prevalence, fuelling growth. A large portion of the market still remains untapped and the race is on for financial services companies to find new and innovative ways to get customers on board.

One of South Africaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest financial services institutions, ABSA would like to toast to all the men at the forefront of driving the continentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s financial services sector into the future.

orothy Chapeyama, a Chartered Insurer, is the chief executive officer of Reunion Insurance Company Limited, a reputable and fast growing indigenous insurance company in Malawi, which she co-founded in 2005. After graduating from university, she joined an insurance company which she served for 20 years before it was disposed of through an acquisition, rendering her jobless for a while. An opportunity arose for Dorothy and a colleague to start a new insurance firm which was incorporated in May 2005 with a staff-roll of 10 employees in two offices. The company has now grown under her leadership to a staff complement of over 50 employees, operating from 11 offices spread throughout the country. She plays very important advisory and leadership roles, not only to Reunion Insurance staff, but to the entire insurance industry. She has mentored young and upcoming professionals, especially the female; and she still does. She is a regional and country winner.

RegionalWinner

From Tanzania

From Mauritius

Margareth Mattaba Chacha

Marie Agnes Sanon

anzanian and East African winner in the Financial Services sector Margareth Mattaba Chacha was the first managing director of the Tanzania Women’s Bank plc with over 28 years’ experience in senior managerial positions. She was the first local Women Operations Manager United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Tanzania Country Office and successfully managed more than ten units including Finance, Logistics, Human Resources, Procurement, Information and Communication, Registry, UNV, UN Support, Transportation, Travel and UNDP Security Focal Person. She was promoted as UNDP Deputy Resident Representative heading Logistics managing UNDP logistics and all other sister UN Agencies not represented in Tanzania. At one time she was a director of banking and operations, managing 12 branch managers, marketing unit, pioneer of microfinance unit and e-banking plus insurance agency. Prior to that, she was Eastern Zone Director, supervising four regions. She pioneered and successfully established a Holland House branch which became a model for other branches.

fter obtaining her master’s degree in economics in 1983, Mauritius country and IOC regional winner Marie Agnes Sanon, regional director of African Reinsurance Corporation, joined the insurance regulatory body in Burkina Faso. During that time she studied towards a post-graduate degree in Yaounde, Cameroon. By 1986 she was in charge of the insurance data collection and training at the national insurance trading centre in coordination with other bodies. She says she is hardworking loyal and courageous. “I inspire and encourage young people especially girls and women to rely on hard work and not choose shortcuts. I urge them to complete their studies and it just so happens that there are quite a few who I financially support in that regard in my home country. I like giving back to the community because I know how bad the tentacles of poverty have gripped our people who often don’t have an education,” she notes.

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

Countrywinners From South Africa Adv Fariyal Mukaddam Fariyal Mukaddam is an Advocate of the High Court of South Africa and she is a commercial law expert, having focused on mergers and acquisitions, and consequently specialising in risk, governance and strategy. Previously, Adv Fariyal acted as Group CEO of ABAFAZI iAfrika Group (Pty) Ltd, a private professional services and investment holding company operating across sectors and industry, whilst her professional career in various senior leadership roles spans 18 years. Adv Fariyal has been at the forefront of advice to numerous local and international entities.

From Zimbabwe Grace Muradzikwa Zimbabwe country winner Grace Muradzikwa is the managing director for NicozDiamond Insurance with the responsibility of the overall performance of the entity. With her 24 yearsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; experience in insurance, she believes she is in a very privileged position to be able to influence, shape and mould the team and organisation she has been called to lead. She is based in Zimbabwe but has the added responsibility to oversee the regional operations outside Zimbabwe and has been appointed to serve as a non-executive director.

AFRICAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

Case in Point KPMG

Global Expertise Made Locally Relevant by Andrew Ngozo

The world’s economic outlook is gloomy at best. Africa, being the fastest growing region in the developing world is likely to be the worst hit especially given the recent events locally and abroad. However, the continent is blessed in that it is home to one of the world’s leading financial services firms who are sure to steer us out of the stormy waters to shore. KPMG, a global network of professional firms providing Audit, Tax and Advisory services, is on hand to make sure that their global expertise is brought to bear and avert possible crises.

he financial services firm sees itself playing a vital role in unlocking the [economic] potential of Africa’s emerging markets. As a leading global Audit, Tax and Advisory firm KPMG has a significant role in unlocking the potential of Africa’s emerging markets by bringing global expertise and practical experience to clients to assist them with innovative solutions to improve their competiveness in the markets. The aforementioned are critical factors given that Africa has an abundance of undeveloped human capital potential

as KPMG strongly believes that they are contributing to the unearthing and development of this largely untapped potential. As a training institution KPMG plays a significant role in recruiting, training and exposing hundreds of graduates every year. This exposes young talented people to a great experience within a global organisation. It also speaks to the fact that once exposed to the work ethic at KPMG; these young graduates can then bring best practices to uplift the continent’s economy. Quality at the Centre For any company to succeed on a global scale, particularly in the cutthroat financial services sector, it means that it has to stay on top of its game and one step ahead of the competition in order to thrive. For KPMG, the recipe for its global success is that quality is at the centre. It is the cornerstone of everything that the firm does. Quality is, simply, a non-negotiable element of KPMG’s service. With a worldwide presence, KPMG continues to build on its member firms’ successes, thanks to their clear vision, maintained values, and their people. At the core of KPMG’s vibrant culture are a set of values that bring out the best in their people. The firm does not want to be the biggest professional services firm. Quite simply, it wants to be your clear choice of professional services firm. This will be done by, among others, attracting and keeping the best people, winning the best mandates, doing the best work for the best clients and being the most trusted firm.

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

How to

Recover from a

Financial Crisis by Andrew Ngozo

In the true sense of the phrase it is common knowledge that Zimbabwe once termed the bread basket of Africa has become a ‘basket case’ that has been in a financial crisis since the start of the 21st century. The country has used all sorts of currencies from the US Dollar to the South African Rand and the Chinese Yuan. Alas, much like the Zimbabwean dollar which ‘died’ some years ago even those currencies are in short supply in the Southern African nation. That has left the country in yet another financial crisis of sorts prompting it to print its own version of the US Dollar with the hope of reviving the once strong economy. Read on if you want to avert, or recover from, a financial disaster of Zimbabwean proportions.

ccording to Tord Beding, Carol Yeh-Yun Lin, Leif Edvinsson, and Jeffrey Chen authors of Navigating Intellectual Capital after the Financial Crisis, financial crises provide ideal opportunities to examine the soundness of national governance and financial system. They state that during the 2008 global meltdown, national strengths and weakness were uncovered through the examination of crisis management and resilience of various governance systems. They further believe that the reason why some ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] and Nordic communities were able to recover quickly was because of the lessons learnt and reforms implemented after a previous financial crisis. As such lessons learned in 2008 will probably shed light into future crises. Inevitably, if nations are in financial crises, the effects can be felt by all industry players big and small. However, according to experts, at a macro level the sure fire way is to make certain that you learn from a crisis and easily ward off any future ones. Todd R. Tresidder, founder of FinancialMentor.Com says the wisest thing one can ever do is to accept reality i.e. your situation. “The starting point for financial recovery is to stop wallowing in your misery and accept reality. What’s done is done and there is no turning back. Resisting what’s already a fact is futile, so don’t waste your energy – accept reality,” he says and adds that the sooner this is done the faster one can get back onto the recovery path. The best defence is a good offense, so get out of defensive mode and get started on the road to recovery with a clear offensive strategy, he suggests. Take Inventory The second step to financial recovery is to take inventory of your current situation. You must know what resources you have, and what liabilities you face, when developing your plan to come back from catastrophe. You have to know where you are now before you can develop a realistic plan to get where you want to go in the future. You must define your starting point based on what is true today. Therefore, stresses Todd, ask yourself the following questions to assess your situation: • What are your remaining assets? • How much money do you owe? • How much income do you bring in each month? • How much do you spend? • What is your credit score? The objective at this stage is to take an inventory of your current situation. You want to know everything that will affect your financial recovery plan so you are ready for the next step. Define Your Objective The third step in your financial recovery plan is to define your objective or goal. You must determine where you want to go financially. Setting your end destination is the

same thing as setting a goal. The ‘S.M.A.R.T.’ goal setting system provides helpful guidelines: Specific: There must be a clear and definable end result. Measurable: You must have some way to measure your progress toward the goal. Attainable: There’s a fine balance between setting a goal that stretches your ability while still remaining within reach. A properly designed goal achieves that razor-edge balance that stretches your comfort zone without being out of reach. Realistic: If you are deep in credit card debt and filing for bankruptcy, it probably isn’t realistic to set a goal of becoming a millionaire in 12 months. Enough said? Timely: A goal without a deadline is just wishful thinking. Develop Your Plan The next step is to develop a plan that bridges the gap between where you are now and where you want to be. Todd stresses that it’s important to note you must balance the offensive and defensive strategy at this point to keep the process fun and fulfilling. People are not robots: our emotions are part of the process and must be honoured. It is vital that you have an offensive and defensive strategy when it comes to accomplishing goals. Take Action The fifth step – taking action – sounds obvious when reading it, but for some reason, it eludes many people in practice, says Todd. He explains: “The reason why it’s important is because a plan for financial recovery is nothing more than wishful thinking until it’s converted into action. Nothing happens until you take action. It’s where the rubber meets the road. Action is the fuel that converts goals into tangible results. The ability to consistently and persistently direct meaningful action toward achieving a goal is what separates successful people from those who are not.” Correct and Adjust Todd notes that as you take action, the one result you can be certain of is that you will learn from your experience – and mistakes. “You will improve your skills and become more knowledgeable as you take action. That is why you should never try to perfect your plan from the beginning. Instead, just get started with a reasonably intelligent approach and correct course as you learn more,” he points out. “The wise goal achiever knows that perfection is impossible, but correction is desirable; therefore, he just gets started as best he can. Then, he adjusts along the way to achieve his goal more quickly and efficiently,” Todd notes. The above factors are but six simple steps that can help anyone turn the corner following a financial setback; included in this list are nations, organisations and individuals. Now that you know what to do to avoid a financial crisis of Zimbabwe’s (and many other nations across the globe) proportions, Todd emphasises that a financial coach might help you stay focused. Additional Source: www.financialmentor.com

SECTOR R egional SECTOR SECTOR Foreword

C winner

GLOBAL Expand your business Horizon

Government Employed Officials The term civil service can refer to either a branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations; or the body of employees in any government agency apart from the military, which is a separate extension of any national government.

From Swaziland Wisdom Thembie Zwane According to Wikipedia, a civil servant or public servant is a person in the public sector employed by a government department or agency. The extent of civil servants of a state as part of the ‘civil service’ varies from country to country. In the United Kingdom, for instance, only Crown (national government) employees are referred to as civil servants whereas county or city employees are not.

CEO Global

would like to celebrate with all the winners recognised for their stellar efforts in the public sector. May you continue serving loyally and tirelessly.

orking as Director of the Policy and Programme Coordination Unit in the prime minister’s office in Swaziland, SADC South and country winner Wisdom Thembie Zwane is an economist with 28 years’ experience traversing key national development areas as well as at SADC Regional level. Except for a very brief stint with the Barclays Bank of Swaziland, she has largely worked in the public sector in government, across many sectors, including education and training/human resources development, infrastructure development, macroeconomics, and public policy development and monitoring of the implementation of government policies and programmes. She possesses a BA Degree in Social Science, a Postgraduate Diploma in Development Economics and an MA in Transport Economics. She has also worked at the Secretariat of the SADC Human Resources Development/Education and Training sector for 10 years, coordinating policies and programmes on behalf of the whole SADC region. She is a macroeconomic research, analysis and economic policy advisor.

Countrywinners From Tanzania Devota Kasanda Mdachi She is a Tanzanian winner in the Government – Employed Official sector. Devota Kasanda Mdachi is the first Tanzania woman to hold the position of managing director of the Tanzania Tourist Board. Through her position and undertakings over the years, she has been a great role model to women in Tanzania, and in the tourism sector in particular. She has been nominated as one of the most influential women in Tanzania and recognised for her position in mentoring and promoting women entrepreneurs in the sector.

From South Africa Mmatšatši Ramawela Mmatšatši Ramawela’s career in the travel and tourism industry spans over 20 years. It was her curiosity as a student at the University of Cape Town, which sparked her interest in the industry. After graduating, she started her career in Cape Town within the FMCG manufacturing sector and later moved to the retail sector in packaging, merchandising and buying whilst pursuing her interest in the sector in her spare time. The South African country winner is the CEO of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa.

From Malawi Patricia Madalo Liabuba Country winner Patricia Liabuba is the Malawi Director of Tourism since 2014 and leads over 60 dedicated staff members. Her responsibility spans across overall policy direction, coordination, strategic planning, standards enforcement and advocacy for government and the whole sector. Her name is synonymous with tourism with 25 years of experience. A very shrewd and strategic thinker, she is a reformist and a game changer for Malawi tourism. She was a diplomat for seven years at the Malawi High Commission in London.

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

Out of Office

Paradise in Pietermaritzburg By Lisa-Anna Kolwa

Set in a magnificent valley boasting the Karkloof River and Karkloof Falls, the secondhighest falls in the province, Karkloof Safari Spa in KwaZulu-Natal is Africa’s largest and most luxurious spa and game reserve.

stablished in 2002 when owner Fred Wörner acquired it as an existing game reserve breeding disease-free buffalo, Fred felt its grand beauty and tranquil setting needed to be shared. Knowing that there are over 2 000 game reserves in sub-Saharan Africa, he believed this pristine setting would be well defined by a destination spa. Since its transformation, the most popular appeal that Karkloof holds is its spa. It offers unlimited treatments for guests, with the most popular being the Thai aroma and de-stress massage. All the spa treatments are Thai-based, with qualified therapists from Thailand. The spa also offers traditional Thai massage known as yoga massage. This, Fred says, takes some getting used to because of its intensity. He is trying to push for Karkloof to be a wellness retreat that also offers activities by an expert Thai trainer, such as Muay Thai boxing, yoga, bamboo dancing and Thai Chi. Fred encourages all guests to participate in the activities, including walks around the expansive, scenic grounds and fishing – both of which are popular among female guests – then having the chef prepare your catch of organic tilapia and sea bass. Boasting accreditation by the Seven Stars and Stripes tourism authority, an American-based organisation that specialises in fiveto seven-star grading of tourism destinations, Karkloof is the first destination to receive this honour on the African continent. The authority sets impeccable standards, reviewing the service, various details, the guest experience and quality, and so on – even checking the smell of glasses in the establishment. Fred reports that, in 80% of establishments, you can smell a glass that has been through a dishwasher, and that, for this reason, it requires steaming afterwards eliminating a glassy odour. With the Seven Star accreditation, the

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

renowned body has confirmed that Karkloof has the world’s best service, food, treatments, setting, and guest experience. Fred’s approach to wellness is adapted from extensive travels around the world, as a result of which he saw a gap for holistic service in the hospitality industry. Thus, he established Karkloof as a resort that offers round-the-clock, unlimited, unrestricted service. Offering organic foods and treatments, Karkloof stands out from other establishments with its all-inclusive offering, location, services, extended 36-hour stay, round-the-clock spa service, and flexible check-in and departure times – all of which are features that have been incorporated as result of Fred’s ‘likes’ experienced on his international travels. This timeless concept is unique and revolutionary in the industry. The word ‘spa’ has been adapted from the modern Latin abbreviation for sanitas per aquam, meaning ‘health through water’. Karkloof has won various accolades celebrating its magnificence, including: the Amarula Best Retreats in Africa Award 2009 – ‘Leading Wellness Retreat’; the SA Tourism Welcome Award 2009 – Overall Winner ‘Best Accommodation Provider’; the Good Safari Guide Gala Award – ‘Best Safari Spa 2010’; the Diners Club Diamond Award for the Best Wine Selection; the World Luxury Spa Awards 2012 – ‘Best Luxury Safari Spa’; the Tatler Spa Award – ‘Most Exciting New Discovery for 2009’; and the Professional Beauty Award 2009 – ‘The Best Hotel/Resort Spa’ 2009. Fred says the setting of Pietermaritzburg is not known for luxury spas, but Karkloof is fast becoming a popular getaway retreat attracting more regional than international guests.

Principles of sustainability are adhered to in the development and running of the resort. The spa was built with reclaimed clay bricks; the building makes use of natural sealants and its colour blends with the surroundings; and there are ‘living’ roofs on which you will find animals grazing. ‘Green’ water is used from the Karkloof River, and there is an on-site water-purification plant, even though the Karkloof is one of the country’s cleanest rivers. The resort is a natural habitat in design. No chemicals are used in the dam; instead, nature is relied on to eliminate pests. The tilapia and hippo clear the weeds in the dam and the Red-billed Oxpecker was

The word ‘spa’ has been adapted from the modern Latin abbreviation for sanitas per aquam, meaning ‘health through water’.

introduced in the region as a form of biological tick control. Fred also wishes to establish a rhino sanctuary in the future. Guests are encouraged to take private game drives in their own vehicles whenever and for as long as they please. Karkloof Safari Spa offers equal opportunities for the female employee. Lodge Manager, Esther Nkosi, commends the establishment for its open-door policy regarding female employees. Esther’s advice for every career-driven female is to take responsibility in whatever position they hold; to plan; to make good decisions and execute them; and to work hard. She cautions women in business not to second-guess their choices and decisions and to remain goal-driven. Testimony to her passion for the hospitality industry is to be found in her engagements with guests, staff and the surrounding community. She believes that there is minimal female representation in the hospitality industry’s leadership and urges women to consider this field. The magnificence of Karkloof Safari Spa is embodied in what owner Fred regards as somewhat of a clichéd phrase: ‘You don’t have to die to go to heaven; you just come to Karkloof Safari Spa’. Karkloof’s appeal is its desire to have guests do as they please, when they please. Engrossed in its hospitality, you’re free to walk around in your nightie, Fred says. The loss of a sense of time and restriction is the biggest gift the resort has to offer; it is what frees one and allows one to absorb this magnificent experience. It is a ‘must visit’ and an ultimate getaway destination.

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

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GLOBAL Expand your business Horizon

ICT Africa’s information communications technology (ICT) industry is becoming more accessible to women. Over the past few years, a number of senior female executives have moved up the ranks, but the numbers, compared to male counterparts are still low.

From Ghana Ethel Delali Cofie According to Kgabo Ralebepa, Associate Director in the IT Audit division at SekelaXabiso, it is up to her female counterparts to turn these figures around. “Women should focus on developing their business and leadership skills which will enable them to take up leadership roles within any organisation. This can be done by further developing their management skills and getting involved in other areas of their respective businesses.”

CEO Global is full of praise for all women that have been honoured in 2016. May they inspire other women that they too can sit in the ICT boardrooms and that there is no glass ceiling that can’t be broken.

thel Cofie is CEO and founder of EDEL Technology Consulting and a Mandela Fellow for President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI). She is directly responsible for strategy and business development. She also works on executive strategy for tech start-ups and SME’s for continued growth and product development. A high calibre IT professional with a wealth of technical and commercial skills acquired across a wide range of demanding roles and over 12 years’ experience working in the UK, Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone on projects for organisations like Bill and Melinda Gates Mobile Technology for Health project, the Ford Foundation’s Election Monitoring project for Nigeria and as Head of Commercial Solutions for Vodafone conceptualising, executing and working with teams to align corporate strategy to IT strategy and to develop and manage creative technology solutions. She has been featured on BBC and CNN for her work in technology and women leadership.

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From Egypt Manal Mahmoud Amin

anal Amin is founder and CEO of Arabize and one of the very first Egyptian entrepreneurs in language technology. She holds a BA in Political Science and a diploma in translation. Manal has 30 yearsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; experience in the field of translation, localisation and documentation. She has mentored many generations of localisers and technical writers. Manal was part of many boards and councils in the IT and localisation sectors, locally and globally, which helped her gain more exposure and gave her the opportunity to offer her expertise in return. She has always been involved as a participant and speaker in localisation events worldwide. She got a special interest in training; so after training generations of in-house localisers, she decided to establish the first localisation and content training centre in Egypt. Now Arabize is volunteering with Egyptian Universities to spread localisation awareness. She was nominated and awarded the African ICT Champion in 2013.

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Countrywinners From Botswana Doreen Ramphaleng Doreen Ramphaleng graduated with an MSc Business Systems Analysis and Design at City University London UK. She is the owner manager of TH Holdings, a company whose core business is to render ICT products and services. Previously, she was a managing director of a leading ICT company – Informatix. She facilitated in the establishment of the company’s subsidiary in Zimbabwe during the period 2011 and 2012, and worked at assisting the company penetrate the market, and she’s the co-owner.

From Kenya Dr Shikoh Gitau Kenyan winner Dr Shikoh Gitau is technology and innovation for growth lead at the African Development Bank. She is the brain behind Ummeli – a mobile phone application that helps people match their skills with available opportunities. Dr. Gitau uses technology to put food on the table – not just for herself but also for millions of Africans. Her journey dates back to 18 years ago and it has now led her to life changing technological innovations in Africa. She earned her PhD at 29 when she returned to Kenya.

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

Social Enterprise End Social Ills? Can

by Andrew Ngozo

Given South Africa’s, turbulent political past, particularly prior to the dawn of democracy in 1994, the country’s relations between its social partners are complicated at best. It follows that the economic effects thereof are still felt so many years after a democratic South Africa came into being. Poverty, high incomeinequality, poor public education, resource constraints and high unemployment are a few of the socio-economic ills that plague the Southern African nation today.

ortunately, the situation is not grim, says Nizenande Machi, a South African entrepreneur and motivational speaker. “We have a number of lively citizens who have taken it upon themselves to combat these ills. South Africa has an extensive social sector, which boasts close to 200 000 registered and non-registered non-profit organisations, which work collectively to provide services to alleviate poverty and build societal capacity,” says Nizenande. Given that South Africa is an emerging market, there is still a mine of opportunity that lies within the nation’s social sector, and these opportunities should be considered and exploited. So, she continues, if you are planning to start a social organisation in South Africa or already have one, there are many prospects that are within your reach. First up, says Nizenande, is social entrepreneurship. “With the global

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Sustainability

paradigm moving towards one of sustainable innovation, there is an increasing need for social entrepreneurship i.e. social enterprises that do not rely on grant funding but generate income internally to survive in the long-Sterm. This growing focus is on organisations that are not only working from an altruistic standpoint in order to address economic challenges, but also those that employ robust business modelling principles in order to demonstrate an enduring mission,” she sheds more light. Private corporations in South Africa have been forced to have comprehensive corporate social investment spends as indicators for triple-bottom line reporting and social consciousness, states Nizenande. In here comes in the need for a larger funding pool. This means social organisations have a broader funding pool to apply to, which extends beyond government grants and includes private sector funds. This also exposes these organisations to hybrid model funding, including debt and equity, which may encourage better performance and reach. Skills Training and Development With the private companies becoming more active in the social sector, part of their mandate is to up-skill the employees of the organisations that they fund, she points out. “They are encouraged to fund with incubation, training in the areas of business management, finance, human resource management and other business practice modules. Although government-led funding organisations, to date, have offered skills development services to social enterprises, there is now a formal plan to incubate small-medium enterprises, even those with a social focus. So for you who wants to start an NGO or social enterprise, don’t worry too much that you may lack the business acumen to make it sustainable. That you can learn along the way… you’ll get by with a little help from your friends!” she says. With regards to social enterprise’s role in job creation, the National Development Plan states that part of the South African vision is to create five million jobs by 2020, mainly through small-medium enterprises. These small businesses and organisations have greater capacity to grow and expand, thereby creating ample jobs over a short period. Says Nizenande: “This alone, even though it may not be an objective for a particular NGO, is inadvertently a gain that positively influences the nation and contributes to societal good.” The South African government is encouraging social organisations to collaborate amongst one another and create more meaningful impact to society through partnerships. Not only with each other, but also working closely with government and local municipalities to address the challenges facing various communities. The South African social sector is thriving, exclaims Nizenande Of course, as with any industrialising economy that is trying to remain competitive in an increasingly

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Sustainability

Small businesses and organisations have greater capacity to grow and expand, thereby creating ample jobs over a short period. globalised world, there are some challenges and hurdles to overcome. “But, there is an opportunity for one to add to the greater good of South Africa. You who are stirred to make a change can start a social enterprise with low barriers to entry. You have access to a wide funding pool; you will be up-skilled, and you can go ahead and collaborate with your friend who has the same urges!” encourages Nizenande. Social Enterprise: Case Studies Be a contributor to a lively South African, and African, social sector, be it in your community, your school or your family. Go ahead and make that difference, just like Tom Osborn. Tom was 18-years-old when he received an Echoing Green Fellowship in 2014. Now, he’s running GreenChar, an organisation that provides affordable, safe and eco-friendly fuel cooking alternatives in his home country, Kenya. His project aims to reduce the devastating effects of deforestation (trees are cut down to provide fuel for cooking) and improve the health of women and children who combat harmful effects of indoor smoke during cooking. To date, GreenChar has produced 20 tonnes of briquettes from their one factory in Migori County. Misan Rewane is a 2014 Echoing Green Fellow who was born and raised in Nigeria. After completing secondary school, she had the opportunity to pursue her higher education in the U.K. and the U.S. Compelled by the contrast between her educational opportunities and the untapped potential of millions of young people in Africa, Misan returned to Nigeria, moving to Lagos to launch West Africa Vocational Education (WAVE). WAVE bridges the opportunity divide between unemployed West African youth and stable jobs in the high-growth industries, including the hospitality and retail sectors, changing the paradigm of youth employability in West Africa. Chris Ategeka is a perfect example of an emerging leader who shows a key characteristic of entrepreneurs: resilience. When Chris was about 7-years-old, he lost both of his parents to HIV/AIDS, and took on the responsibility of looking after his siblings. But Chris persevered, and received funding to attend UC Berkley, later getting his master’s in mechanical engineering. In 2013 he created Rides for Lives, an organisation that builds and brings mobile hospitals to those in need of medical aid in Uganda. Additional Sources: www.forbes.com; http://emzingo.com

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C winner

Logistics & Shipping Women need a collective voice, especially in the supply chain, logistics, and transport sectors. The Women in Logistics and Transport (WiLAT) was founded in 2010 to encourage, empower, and support professional women in the logistics and transport industries. The organisation understood that they needed to introduce women to the industry and encourage, motivate, and support their growth. Ultimately, it is believed this will create the leading professionals that the country and the continent so desperately need.

From South Africa Brenda Horne

WiLAT South Africa is in talks with the Transport Education Training Authority and the Institute of Logistics and Supply Chain Management. Together, they are developing a programme for newcomers to the industry, which provides a broad perspective, so that participants can decide in what area they would like to specialise. Once their training is completed, proper enterprise development can start and they will be able to decide what mode of transport to pursue.

It is hoped that with such initiatives, more women will be honoured in this regard. Kenya Airways the flag carrier airline of Kenya, wishes to congratulate the women who have taken the baton and led the way for other women in this sector.

ADC South and South African country winner in logistics, Brenda Horne is CEO of the Southern Africa Shippers Transport and Logistics Council. Brenda strategically directs transformation of the council into an all-inclusive public private partnership through a shippersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, transport and logistics council for Southern Africa in support of regional integration. She grew the council from 18 members to 38 and 30 associate members from other related industry organisations in South Africa, the region, the continent and globally. Brenda aligned with the African Union of Shippers Councils, Cameroon, Congo and Democratic Republic of Congo as well as SADC and the tripartite to facilitate trade, reduce the cost of transport and improve operational efficiencies across corridors to support, grow and sustain global competitiveness. In spite of semi-retirement Brenda continues to be active in the African transport corridor arena as a senior advisor, mentor and role model to other women and youth organisations.

Countrywinners From Kenya Bishop Margaret Wanjiru Kariuki In Logistics and Energy Africa Limited, Bishop Margaret Wanjiru Kariuki is the only woman who seats on the board of directors overseeing the financial strategy of the company. In the last five years directly under her leadership the company has experienced over 70% growth in sales annually. She is responsible for the 10 year financial growth plan of the organisation. On a day to day basis she deals with managing and supervising managers and senior staff to ensure full delivery of services and efficiency. Bishop Kariuki is a country winner in logistics.

AFRICAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

Case in Point

Foreign EgyptAir

Opening Up

Markets

by Andrew Ngozo

EgyptAir is one of the most valuable aviation companies in Africa. It is the major employer in a sector that boasts 197 000 jobs in Egypt. This total, says, Ashraf Hakim Alsayad, Regional General Manager of EgypyAir South Africa, is further broken down in the following manner: 53 000 jobs are directly supported by the aviation sector; 97 000 jobs indirectly supported through the aviation sector’s supply chain; and 46 000 jobs supported through the spending by the employees of the aviation sector and its supply chain. In addition there are a further 1 384 000 people employed through the catalytic (tourism) effects of aviation, he states.

visionary, Ashraf says African countries ought to apply the open skies policy, even internally amongst themselves, in order to cut costs and have more profitable operations as well as faster intermodal transportation. “Operating in this space has several challenges of its own. These include, but are not limited to, the following: air traffic rights difficulty especially on the fifth freedom; the transport of cargo from one African nation to the other sometimes may not be possible. That we have to fly to Europe in order to fly back to Africa contributes to the enormous costs added to the movement of cargo from/to sister African countries. Local currency devaluation has a negative impact on the trade exchange between states. Movement and governmental rules are stricter on transferring airline dues,” he points out. A Rich Heritage EgyptAir has a rich heritage and aviation leadership role in the Middle East and North Africa and will continue to ensure that they build on this successful track record. Captain Bassem Goher, chairman EgyptAir Cargo elaborates that within five years EgyptAir Cargo will acquire a mixed fleet comprising of long, mid and short range aircraft. It will consist of five freighters (three aircraft type A330-300F and two aircraft type A320F) to cope with its expansion plan on the network. He continues that the

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future of air transport is bright with regards to efficiency and economic growth. To validate this fact, Ashraf cites a study done by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and Oxford Economics. The aviation sector contributes EGP15 billion (1.2%) to Egyptian gross domestic product. Declares Ashraf: “This total comprises EGP7.7 billion directly contributed through the output of the aviation sector (airlines, airports and ground services); EGP4.9 billion indirectly contributed through the aviation sector’s supply chain; and EGP2.3 billion contributed through the spending by the employees of the aviation sector and its supply chain. In addition there is EGP81.1 billion in catalytic benefits through tourism, which raises the overall contribution to EGP96.1 billion or 8% of GDP.” To conclude, Ashraf says the aforementioned positively impact air transport with regards to Egyptian economic growth. It means that it opens up foreign markets to Egyptian exports and lowers transport costs, particularly over long distances, thereby helping to increase competition because suppliers can service a wider area and potentially reduce average costs through increased economies of scale. It also increases the flexibility of labour supply, which should enhance allocative efficiency and bring down the natural rate of unemployment. Lastly, it encourages Egyptian businesses to invest and specialise in areas that play to the economy’s strengths.

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GLOBAL Expand your business Horizon

Manufacturing & Engineering With growing literacy levels Africa has seen a rise in womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s contribution to its national economies. Women have become leading industry players in their different sectors including manufacturing that was for long a preserve of men.

From Cameroon Ngo Yetna Augustine Audrey Chicot African women have become incredibly business savvy, determined and resilient, and many have created a name for themselves in the business world. While some have succeeded by moving up the corporate ladder, others have made it through entrepreneurship.

It is in respect of the above that the CEO Global would like to pay homage to the women who have shown their steel in the Manufacturing and Engineering Sector.

or over 10 years, Audrey Chicot, Cameroonian citizen, has been a vital cog in the area of metal processing, a job traditionally and primarily exercised by men. Audrey, country and regional winner in the Manufacturing and Engineering sector is the president and CEO of Multi-Services and Materials Industrial. Known as a specialist in industrial production in Cameroon, Audrey also invested in beauty. She owns the Institute Audrey Chicot (IAC) in Douala. The SME that initially employed 18 people has experienced some difficulties in its development particularly because of energy problems facing the country. But the CEO of MSMI does not despair. She has not only boosted the image of the beauty care industry in Cameroon; but, also established subsidiaries of MSMI in five countries in the CEMAC region. Besides being virtually the only woman to work among men in her company, Audrey is not intimidated by males.

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From Ghana

From Rwanda

Awurabena Okrah

Epiphanie Mukashyaka

wurabena Okrah, CEO and founder of Winglow Clothes and Textiles, a textile and fashion business in Accra, Ghana is but one of the many women that are in business. She wears many hats in the company including doubling up as the marketing manager as she seeks orders or advertise Winglow and its products through social media platforms, bulk text messaging, flyers and networking through associations and meetings. Awurabena says she maximises output on her low operational budget. She founded Winglow Enterprise in 1985 as a sole proprietor. Looking back over the past 30 years, she says success was a combination of factors. These include hard handwork, good management skills, careful risk taking as well as building relationships every step of the way to the top. She notes that, all this while, the company has been evolving and Winglow Clothes and Textiles of 2016 is not the same one that was founded by a sole woman many years ago.

piphanie Mukashyaka is a dynamic business woman and a source of inspiration to countless other female entrepreneurs in Rwanda’s coffee sector and beyond. She is the founder of Buf Coffee which she manages with her sons, Samuel and Aloys. The title ‘Buf’ derives from ‘Bufundu’, the former name of the region in which its washing stations are located. During the Rwandan genocide era, Epiphanie was widowed but chose not to leave her family’s small coffee farm. Instead she set about rebuilding and developing her business and, with it, the local community. She started Buf Café in 2003, when she established Remera washing station with a loan from the Rwandan Development Bank and the assistance of the USAID-financed PEARL project. Buf Café now owns two coffee washing stations as well as its own coffee trees, and buys coffee cherries from as many as 7 000 surrounding smallholder farmers, including five different local cooperatives.

AFRICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

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From Kenya

From South Africa

Ester Passaris

Thato Kgatlhanye

enyan Ester Passaris is a marketing and public relations professional with over 20 years’ experience. As an entrepreneur, she has successfully conceptualised, started and nurtured two businesses, establishing them to growth and trend setters in their respective segments, namely Adopt A Light and Shaper Images Ltd. Currently, Ester is the chairperson of Adopt A Light Ltd and is credited with successfully introducing the concept of public private partnership in Kenya by implementing a multi-million project to install street poles in the city of Nairobi. Previously, Ester served as the CEO of Adopt A Light between 2002 to 2013. During her tenure, she was responsible for sales and marketing, business development, operations and human resources. In 2009 she was awarded the UN Habitat Business Award. That same year, she represented the women of Africa at an International Conference on entrepreneurship under the theme “Woman – A Creative Personality of the Third Millennium” in New York.

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s the CEO of Rethaka, Thato Kgatlhanye has been responsible for business development and growth activities and sustainability within the organisation. She has overseen the implementation of skills development programmes which has led the company from employing five people to 20 employees in a period of two years. Most of these are primarily women. She has overseen the successful pilot followed by a launch to market of the company’s commercial brand “Repurpose” which has two product lines: Repurpose Schoolbags and Repurpose Conference bags. Her role encompasses strategic planning and execution of sales and distribution of the brand’s product lines locally in South Africa and export into countries such as Namibia, Austria, Brazil and Turkey. The company has been recognised for its innovative nature through multiple awards. Highlights include: the SAB Innovation Award, SA Innovation Summit award winner, the Anzisha Prize and the Design Indaba Most Beautiful Object in SA Nominee.

Countrywinners From Uganda Prudence Ukkonika Prudence Ukkonika, managing director at Kroma Limited started making wine on a small scale in 2000 drawing an inspiration from her departed son Godwin who initiated the project. With just USD28.5, Prudence kicked off the project inspired by the heaps and volumes of leftover fruit dumped along the streets and markets. She always looked at the dumped fruits as wastage yet they could be put to fruitful use. She took a decision to start making organic wines and juices using the abundant fruit and now makes an average of 50 000 litres of wine per month.

AFRICAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN 2016/2017

Skills Transfer

Turning managers into coaches to improve

Business Success by Michelle Moss

and productivity

The 21st Century workplace is characterised by change, uncertainty, complexity, increased competition, and globalisation. Leaders are expected to continually adapt and keep themselves, their people, and their businesses on track despite these challenges. Coaching is a powerful way to provide support to leaders and help them to navigate current and future challenges in a practical, relevant way.

oaching is not training. It’s not coffee and a chat and an excuse to get out the office. It is not corrective and is not a form of punishment for poor performers. Rather, it is future focused and helps individuals to gain insight into their current situation, to challenge their current thinking, attitudes and behaviours and to explore the options of what to do differently to be more effective. Coaching is a reward and is ultimately aimed at helping leaders to realise their potential and be the best they can be. Coaching and mentoring are built first on the relationship between the two individuals. It is sometimes a luxury but usually best for the manger to choose their coach from a pool of potential coaches, rather than be told who they will work with. This adds to the creation of a genuine, trusting, twoway working relationship. Mentoring can be implemented formally or informally within an organisation and research suggests that informal mentoring relationships last longer,

100

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although both are effective in helping the protégé to on-board, fit into the organisation’s culture, develop their functional skills and competencies to be ready for promotion, address attitude and engagement, and develop commitment to the organisation. There are many attributes that managers need to nurture within themselves to become better managers. Interpersonal and communication skills such as influence, listening and empathy are key topics across all levels of leadership. Self-awareness is rated as a topic of crucial importance across all leadership levels but is at the top of the list for C-Suite leaders. Alarmingly however, research shows that this area is in low supply, meaning not many leaders are good at it. Self-awareness is key because through assessments, learning to ask for feedback from others, and self-reflection the manager becomes aware of their personal strengths, weaknesses and blind spots, their attitudes, their performance, and their effect on others.

Skills Transfer

When in a coaching relationship, the coach can help the manger to overcome defensiveness, which can be a major block to self-knowledge. The coach will also help the manager to self-monitor so they do not begin to over-use this skill and start divulging too much personal information or become obsessed with soliciting and analysing feedback. This can be just as destructive as under-using the skill. Coaching and mentoring must focus on what managers need to do and learn in order to improve their performance. Coaches need to be trained. There is a difference between a professional leadership coach and a leader as a coach. Organisations need to train leaders to coach and need to provide supervision and support to them. Research shows that the overarching leadership competency is ‘developing others’ but data shows that developing others is often neglected and rated as a less important competency. Perhaps it is still viewed as human resources’ job. A coach is not the fountain of all knowledge, rather they listen and do not instruct. They trust the leader to find the answers for themselves. A coach needs to help the leader to challenge their current thinking and actions and to introduce new mind-sets that help them to continually adapt to personal and business challenges, leading to greater performance and effectiveness. A coach should help the leader to keep it simple. Complex coaching programmes are not always the most effective but a simple, tailor-made, focused programme can help the manager to navigate through very complex situations. One cannot replace practical, relevant experience with book knowledge. Coaches can help managers to navigate through real life, on the job challenges and build up their toolkits so they are better equipped to apply and adapt their experience when dealing with problems in the future. Coaches can help managers to monitor their attitudes towards themselves firstly and also towards those they interact with, be it bosses, peers, subordinates and customers. Mentors can guide their protégées towards finding situations outside of the workplace to practice their skills if the protégé feels they are not getting sufficient exposure in their current roles. For example, if a young, high potential employee is aspiring to a leadership role but there are no leadership opportunities at work, options include getting elected onto a body corporate, helping to coach a kid’s soccer team, or offering to take the leadership role on a social responsibility initiative. This leads to proactively doing and gaining real experience, whilst being supported by a mentor, rather than nurturing a sophisticated list of good intentions that will get the protégé nowhere. Coaching is strengths-based, and there are various assessment tools available to diagnose strengths and weaknesses, blind spots and hidden strengths, career stallers and stoppers. This is just the beginning however, and once

feedback has been given on the results of the assessment, the coaching programme can be designed to suit the specific needs of each individual. Coaching follows particular methodologies as a guideline but it is not a one-size-fits-all, vanilla programme. Amongst other relevant assessments, Talent Africa offers a variety of 360 assessments. This is a particularly useful tool as it focuses on discrepancies between self and others’ ratings. A certified coach can help the manager deal with different perceptions and plan how to adjust their behaviour towards more effective and productive practices. Assessment tools are selected based on the type of coaching intervention required thereafter. One 360 focuses on a library of leadership skills, while another focuses on learning agility and developing the ability to adapt to change and complexity on a business and an interpersonal level. A variety of coaching solutions are available to suit an individual or a team, such as: Transition and onboarding coaching: Focuses on accelerating performance and improving leaders’ success during the first 100 days of a critical transition, whether onboarding from outside the organisation, or transitioning internally through a promotion, international assignment, or a lateral rotation. Executive Coaching: Fosters the development of strategic leadership competencies, whether it is part of an enterprise-wide initiative or an individual development plan. Systemic and Enterprise leadership coaching: Accelerates organisational development through multiple executive coaching engagements that are aligned to the business strategy, building personal, team, and strategic leadership. Cohort and team coaching: Enables small groups of leaders with shared development goals to improve individual and organisational effectiveness while also forming new business partnerships. Reinforcement coaching: Reinforces new leadership behaviors through ongoing coaching and practice. Specialised, topical coaching: Builds effectiveness for leaders that are exposed to unique challenges. Communications and executive presence: builds presentation skills, stronger messaging, and personal brand in both small and large group settings. Women in leadership: focuses on the unique challenges of women as executive leaders. Cultural dexterity: for executives working in crosscultural environments, including expatriate assignments. Efficacy coaching: for executive leaders from underrepresented groups who face unique challenges. While coaching and mentoring relationships can be interesting and enjoyable, they should also be productive and provide opportunities for both learning and action. The best relationships have the potential to create value for the employee, the mentor and the company as a whole.

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Media A peer review journal by the African Communication Research states that women are still battling old ghosts in gender and African media. Author Audrey Gadzekpo states that there has been more attention paid to the nexus between gender and media in Africa, since re-democratisation spurred the growth of pluralistic media on the continent.

From Zambia Watchdog Media Monitoring Africa also asserts that women represent half the population, yet [they] are dramatically underrepresented in the media. This global phenomenon was outlined by the third Global Media Monitoring Project conducted in 2005. Locally, MMA has done several monitoring projects on gender representation in South African media, which has made gradual improvements. However, the level of women speaking in the media is still way below 50%. When women do speak, their roles are often limited to victims, family of somebody or when they are celebrities. Professional people, when quoted, on the other hand are almost all men.

But there are women that are raising their voices to be heard in this sector throughout the continent. It is to these women that Unique Speaker Bureau, the home of top speakers for your event or function, pays tribute.

Catherine Ndashe Phiri

ambian and SADC North regional winner in the Media sector Catherine Phiri, managing director of Media 365 is a seasoned and insightful founding partner and managing director of Media 365, based in Lusaka, Zambia. Media 365 is a boutique innovation agency using creative mediums for social transformation, the first of its kind in Zambia. Since 2011, Catherine has provided strategic direction for the company and manages high-level clients and produces all audio-visual content Media 365 creates. On a day-to-day basis, she directs the management team to ensure the company is cost efficient, and effective while overseeing all strategic operations. She also serves as an executive producer of all Media 365 productions. She has a post graduate diploma in journalism and has since pursued an MBA (marketing), and is a highly motivated communications professional and specialist in maximising occupational awareness. In 2014, Catherine became the first Zambian to speak at TEDxEuston in London.

RegionalWinner

From Nigeria

From South Africa

Comfort Avunze Sakoma

Liezel van der Westhuizen

omfort Avunze Sakoma is the founder and CEO of Poize Centre for Entrepreneurial Development in Africa - an international non-profit organisation providing education, advocacy and research focused on improving the entrepreneurial ecosystems for women in Sub-Saharan Africa. She is the publisher of Poize Magazine-Africaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most active online community of women entrepreneurs. Comfort was the founding executive director of WEConnect International in Nigeria where she pioneered the first Meet the Buyer event sponsored by ExxonMobil Foundation. The objective was to help women break down the mental limitations when approaching multinational corporations for contracts. Through her leadership, she has increased corporate spending on women owned firms in Nigeria by over USD10 million since 2013. She spearheaded the only side event on gender at the World Economic Forum Abuja and has engaged over 3000 women entrepreneurs in Nigeria. She is the Nigerian and West African regional winner in the Media sector.

iezel van der Westhuizen, a KFM presenter, was the first woman to model menswear on the runway of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Cape Town. The regional and country winner in the Media sector is also a television presenter. She obtained a Masters in Communications Degree in Communication Management from the University of Pretoria in 2002 and has an Honours Degree in Communication Management from the same institution. Her previous posts include that of publicity manager at Total Exposure where she, among others, developed a marketing communications plan including strategy, goals, budget and tactics, coordinated all public relations activities, managed media inquiries and interview requests, created content for press releases and articles as well as established links with the local media. Liezel has presented many a television show including the following; The Super Cycling Cycle Tour on Supersport, the Next 48 Hours, the Expresso Breakfast Show and the 2010 Idols Season Six on MNet.

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The art of attracting blue chip corporate’s most influential women to excitedly spend their invaluable time at a conference is rare. The most experienced marketing professionals know that not only do you have to offer them an exceptional speaker, the speaker themselves have to own the type of influence that those women will admire and respect.

owever, it is really only the most exceptional marketers who are able to pair the right speaker with the right event and enjoy seeing those speakers charging the atmosphere of a room with electric energy. How do they do it? Little known and seemingly counterintuitive, these exceptional marketers seldom book key note speakers and programme directors based on their biographies and “celebrity” status alone. They also don’t rely on the conference venue and surroundings – they recognise that these are secondary to the powerful delivery of a meaningful and inspiring message delivered by a consummate communicator. Professional marketers choose keynote speakers, MCs and programme directors (facilitators) based on recommendations from professional agents, who can substantiate their qualifications, experience and ability to deliver original content in a dynamic manner. This is followed by a speaker briefing

Premier League The

of Africa’s Professional Speakers Lynn Baker is a Certified World Class Speaking Coach for Unique Speaker Bureau (USB). She’s a Professional Speaker who has worked for large corporates both locally and internationally, with a specific focus on Sales, Marketing and Customer Experience.

meeting, where the specific goals and objectives of the event are identified and the speaker has the opportunity to tailor their content to meet the client’s needs. This secret is shared by Lynn Baker, a certified World Class Speaking Coach, Executive Presence Consultant and Professional Speaker who is Programme Director for the Executive Speaker Programme presented by Unique Speaker Bureau (USB), in collaboration with the Henley Business School.

Case in Point Unique Speaker Bureau

Baker excels at training, mentoring and consulting with local and international professionals, with a world-wide proven track record. In her distinguished career, Baker has witnessed the reality of speakers across Africa igniting a room and giving mesmerising presentations that inspire action, catalyse change and motivate progress. She’s also seen influential speakers taken into the confidence of the continent’s most powerful leaders from the USB stable and become trusted advisors to them. Speaking from her office she outlines that some events require more than one speaker which is why USB also bases their selection on the speaker’s presentation content, professionalism, expertise, experience, depth….and ability and willingness to collaborate. In this case, the bonus of using USB is the cohesiveness that they can quickly generate. Baker explains: “When you’re leading an organisation and influencing the shape of our continent’s socio political landscape, you become highly discerning and are only interested in investing your time and attention on a masterful speaker who can truly teach you something.” To this end, the bureau has assembled outstanding experts across various business disciplines ranging from social media, scenario planning, marketing, sales and change management, amongst other subjects. She outlines how, by doing this, USB has already started to impact businesses outside the borders of South Africa - evident from the growing demand for USB’s speakers.

They also have the unique understanding of markets and the knowledge and experience to ensure the conference is relevant and aligned to its objectives – the best investment to guarantee success. Economically, Africa finds itself in paradoxical circumstances with strong potential for growth, whilst contending with some of the most taxing systemic issues and challenges that require unconventional means to inspire, create and drive sustainable change. Baker says USB delivers well-matched speaker solutions to Africa’s businesses because it is committed to building capacity and expertise through speaker development throughout Africa, thereby delivering a blossoming pool of talent to further enhance the current reputation as the “preferred speaker bureau” in South Africa. USB now also offers a presence in Zambia, Malawi, Mauritius and Zimbabwe. Amongst others, it has plans to expand into Namibia, Botswana, Tanzania, Kenya and Ghana. Baker also points to USB’s key success factor that they train speakers to build conference delegates into brand ambassadors, something she herself has excelled in. They achieve this by consistently delivering bespoke, relevant and cutting edge content and solutions to Africa’s businesses. This positions the company to take their place as the bureau of choice on the continent for those sourcing exceptional talent for both their large scale and intimate

The bureau has assembled outstanding experts across various business disciplines ranging from social media, scenario planning, marketing, sales and change management, amongst other subjects. She elaborates: “I specifically chose to partner with USB because I recognised the type of excellence that has been instilled throughout USB as an organisation by its founder Paul Mc Connon. He embodies that rare talent that continually identifies charismatic speakers and creates innovative opportunities for them to collaborate with each other and up their game. Speakers are capable of enthusing and inspiring audiences of diverse cultures, skills and backgrounds.” Some of USB’s speakers are native to South Africa; others have entered South Africa from their birthplace in other countries of the continent. And yet other international speakers fly into South Africa when booked by USB for conferences – from their home towns and directorship roles assumed and executed in locations around the world.

events because it provides the highest level of support when it comes to planning, coordinating and managing speakers – a key differentiator that attracts their clientele of master marketers. Baker concludes by asserting her admiration for USB being resolute in questioning conventional ideas and exemplifying a company of thought leaders who break barriers in relentless and passionate pursuit of creating magical and impactful moments. If you would like to attend one of the showcasing events offered by USB or would simply like more information, contact their experts on +27 11 465 4410 or check out www.uniquespeakerbureau.com. Alternatively contact: paul@uniquespeakerbureau.com.

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Skills Transfer

How to

facebook CREATE WINNING

by Gordon Geldenhuys

POSTS FOR BUSINESS

Facebook is becoming an increasingly important part of the marketing mix for South African brands, with many organisations investing heavily in creating content to share on Facebook and dedicating resources to engage with their audiences.

s the usage of Facebook becomes more sophisticated, marketers need to start thinking more carefully about the content they post, when they post it and how they package it. But luckily there is an abundance of real-world data that marketers can use to craft Facebook strategies that better meet their overall business objectives. Buddy Media – a Salesforce.com company - analysed user engagement from more than 1,800 Facebook Pages from the world’s largest brands over a two-month period. Here are some best practices for Facebook posting, gleaned from its data, that can help nearly any brand to improve Facebook engagement:  Some days of the week are better than others for social media engagement, but this may vary according to the type of industry you are in. The data shows that midweek is the best time for clothing companies to engage, while Mondays work well for retailers and weekends for entertainment, automotive, food and beverage and telecom brands.  On the weekends, there is less clutter and competition for the user’s attention from news media and other brands.  During the week, post between 8pm and 7am to present fans with content when they are not busy.

 Post once or twice a day at most, and space posts out to avoid posting more than seven times a week.  Shorter posts of 80 characters or less get more engagement.  Use photo attachments or text-only status updates to increase interaction.  Show users a display URL on posts including a link, but track link clicks internally with a shortened URL.  Ask questions and seek opinions to drive dialogue among the community – and put the question at the end of the post.  Use “caption this” and “fill in the blank” formats to drive more comments.  Use calls to action, as well as “gateway” words like “winner”, “win”, “deal” and “giveaway.”  Don’t hard sell – use softer language to drive interaction. As a closing note, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to social media engagement that will work equally well for all brands, all markets, all industries, and all social media channels. These best practices are a good starting point, but using a good social media monitoring tool to track social media engagement against the brand’s business objectives can help any organisation to create winning social media content.

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GLOBAL Expand your business Horizon

Medical & Veterinary By their nature, women are nurturers and people who bring healing to the distressed. But to determine the level of representation of women doctors in medical professional organisations in Africa historically and currently, there is a need to ascertain the reasons for womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s limited participation in medico-political activities.

From Kenya Dr Betty Muthoni Gikonyo In general terms, the number and percentages of women doctors as members and at executive level in medical professional organisations is very low compared with the number of registered women practitioners. Women are inadequately represented at all levels in a great majority of organisations. In view of the rapidly increasing number of women doctors, the profession and its professional bodies, need to take active steps to promote the participation of women in these organisations.

CEO Global would like to congratulate the women in the medical sector. They have not only been home builders but carers for the entire African continent. We acknowledge you.

r. Betty Gikonyo, Chief Executive of The Karen Hospital graduated from the University of Nairobi in Kenya with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery and a Masters in Paediatrics. She has a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Paediatric Cardiology from the University of Minnesota in USA. Dr. Gikonyo is the chairperson of the University of Nairobi Alumni Association, an association that helps create links and networks for the Alumnus of the University. She is also the Vice Chair of the University of Nairobi Council. She is the founder of the Heart to Heart foundation, a not for profit organisation that was formed in 1993 and helps children from poor economic backgrounds get open heart surgeries. She is a professional member of the Kenya Medical Association, Kenya Cardiac Society, Kenya Paediatric Association, Kenya Medical Women Association, Heart-toHeart Foundation, Life Member, and University of Nairobi Alumni Association. She is a regional and country winner in the Medical and Veterinary sector in Kenya.

RegionalWinner

From South Africa Prof Cristina Stefan

rofessor Cristina Stefan is the Vice President of the South African Medical Research Council and 2016 South African and SADC South winner in the Medical and Veterinary sector. She is responsible for the strategic planning of medical research, as well as education, building up capacity, providing leadership and assuming accountability for the strategic and operational planning of the organisation. Professor Stefan is active in international networking, leading to MRC collaborations on the African continent. She chaired the paediatric haematology oncology unit at Tygerberg Hospital, Stellenbosch University until 2014. During that time she founded the African Cancer Institute, following on her activity across several African countries. She has published two books in oncology (a third one in press) and is associate editor of the Journal of Global Oncology and board member of e-cancer and Advances in Modern Oncology Research. Prof Stefan was the first woman president elect of the African Organisation for Research and Training in Cancer.

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Empowered Leadership

Biggest Fan Turn Your Boss into Your

Many an individual in South Africa and across the continent will relate to this short tale. Newly qualified in your area, you are ready to tackle and conquer the world. After the normal job hunting process of sending hundreds [if not thousands-the situation is indeed that much dire] of applications, you get an interview. You are tempted to think ‘well there may be no second interview’. But, alas, there is and, even more to your surprise, there is a job offer. You are nervous at the world of opportunity that has just opened up to you. You put your long term goals and dreams aside and focus on the immediate mountain to climb. How do you fit into the company culture and, most of all, how do you ensure that your new boss likes you and hopefully they become your fan?

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by Andrew Ngozo

aced with this question, many will be quick to curtly remark: “I have been hired for my skills and therefore I neither need friends nor fans in the workplace; let alone to have my boss as my biggest fan.” Reality check- the truth is that even in the work place we all need a fan, one who will literally worship the ground in which we tread on and sing our work praises at every turn. It would be a bonus if that fan is your manager. Peter Swanson, a career coach at the PayScale career portal says like all relationships over time, “our relationships with bosses can grow stale, distant, or simply confusing. And many people believe it’s a part of the reason [why] their work doesn’t feel fulfilling”. He elaborates that most people are frustrated at work because they feel unwanted by their boss. However, in his work navigating the world of start-ups, freelancers, and entrepreneurs, to make your boss your biggest admirer is not an event but a long term investment. It may be hard to imagine in reality, but, achievable in the long run nonetheless. There are at least five ways in which you can become the boss’s favourite, states Peter. He is quick to point out that the five habits discussed in the following pages have been seen and tried by experts and bosses themselves (and they seem to think they are

Empowered Leadership

Stay Humble Your manager is aware that some of the menial tasks in your day are below your salary grade. “In fact, that’s probably why you were hired,” says Diane Gottsman, an etiquette expert. But just because your potential exceeds making copies, that does not give you an excuse to refuse or get upset at small tasks. Your boss is more than likely aware of your skill set, so do your best to show that you are willing to do any job they ask. In the long run, it will benefit you in two ways: proves both loyalty and humility.

the key to winning over your manager). Start applying these to your own work and see how it begins to transform your relationships in the office, Peter advises. Update Your Style Peter suggests that mimicking your boss’s work style is a smart way to start winning them over. While it can be tempting to think that your work style is superior, that’s probably more likely to produce conflict than it is a change in other people’s behaviour. He observes: “Get to know your boss’s management style and adjust your style accordingly so you are both aligned.” If that means opting for a different mode of primary communication, so be it. Don’t Lay Blame It’s easy to play the blame game, states Peter. In fact, it’s so easy that a study reported by Fast Company found that about 50% of workers blame their co-workers for their own lack of productivity. What’s interesting to note is that, the same report highlighted a study that managers spend almost a quarter of their days simply managing conflict. “The answer to the blame game is simple: stop blaming your co-workers, rightly or wrongly, for problems around the office. Rather than trying to leverage an opportunity to look better than someone, buckle down and find the solutions your boss is craving for from you as members of their team,” he indicates.

Keep Calm and Carry On You would have probably seen the t-shirts, posters, and coffee mugs emblazoned with the immortal phrase, “Keep Calm and Carry On.” But it’s no joke. You may find that most people in this world are not so great at keeping calm. Lolly Daskal, president and CEO of Lead from Within, recommends this strategy: “When everybody else is losing their temper or showing their irritation, the smartest thing to do is to keep your reaction level-headed and reasonable.” Say “No” This may come as a surprise, but according to workplace communications consultant Diane Amundson, good bosses are appreciative of an employee who can say no. Ultimately, if you’re on the same page with your boss, and you are not simply using “no” as an opportunity to leverage power, the art of the “no,” is one that can be extremely beneficial for your team. Don’t doubt your instincts. Perhaps it would be prudent to end with some guidelines on how you land that dream job where you will be able to practise the traits discussed above. While a written account of your past performance can leave off a multitude of sins, it can also be an inadequate vehicle to capture some of your best traits. Simply put, there are skills that can’t be summed up on a resume that make you a truly stellar employee. If you possess any of following qualities, you are a gem of a hire: be fearless about conflict, be good at getting people to do things and be able to summarise effectively. But above all be able to separate yourself from your work while you can triage like a boss. If you’re able to keep from drowning and throw others the lifeline they need, rest assured that you will be in high demand and become a ‘firm’ favourite in the workplace.

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Public Enterprises The 2012 Grant Thornton International Business Report on Women in Management concluded that women occupy only 21% of top managerial positions, worldwide. Luckily, in South Africa, women occupy 28%, which is slightly more than the international average.

Statistics reveal that women are underrepresented at top management level. The challenges faced by women in top level managerial positions from different perspectives include the following: the glass ceiling; balancing work and family responsibilities; organisational culture; human resource policies; politics of power and the Queen Bee Syndrome. A study unveiled a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by women employed in top level managerial positions, useful in enabling women at this level to overcome their challenges and thereby assist them to function to their utmost capacity, while at the same time attempting to increase womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s representation at top management level.

The Armaments Corporation of South Africa (ARMSCOR), an acquisition agency for the Department of Defence which endeavours to establish, enhance and strengthen strategic partnerships with all its key stakeholders through constant engagement, would like to congratulate the top women in the Public Enterprises sector. Despite all the odds stacked against them, may they forge ahead and strive for success.

From Ghana Bernice Dapaah

Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, Bernice Dapaah is a dynamic Ghanaian rising social entrepreneur. She holds a Diploma in Human Resource Management and Marketing from the Institute of Commercial Management UK and Bachelors in Business Administration from the Christian Service University College in Kumasi, Ghana. She has over a decadeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work experience in both the profit and non-profit industries. Bernice is the Executive Director of the Bright Generation Community Foundation; a non-profit involved in sustainable development and also serves as the founder and CEO of the award-winning Ghana Bamboo Bikes Initiative. The initiative is a socio ecological green initiative that addresses the quadruple problems of climate change, poverty, ruralurban migration and high unemployment among the youth in rural Ghana, by creating employment opportunities and sustainable livelihood job skills for the youth, through the building of high quality handcrafted second generation bamboo bikes suitable for the high terrain.

RegionalWinner

From Egypt Rasha Y Tantawy

asha Y Tantawy is the Entrepreneurship and Business Support Department Head at the Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre (MCIT) managing the accelerator programme amongst other business support programmes offered to start-ups, SMEs and entrepreneurs in ICT. Rasha has extensive teaching experience at Nile Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Management of Technology Department, Pharos University and University of Senghore. Rasha was also a researcher at the Centre of Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Nile University where her fields of interest include open innovation, strategic management and entrepreneurship. She worked at HartMann Egypt as a regional manager in the construction field before co-founding her own business in the packaging of agriculture exports where she sits on the board of advisors. Rasha was part of the team that compiled the ICT2020 strategy for the ICT cluster for the Egyptian government. She enjoys mentoring and guiding young entrepreneurs with a special focus on empowering women entrepreneurs.

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Countrywinners From Zambia Faith Margaret Musonda Faith Musonda, born in Lusaka, Zambia is her country’s winner in the Public Enterprises sector. She began her career in media and public speaking 15 years ago all the national broadcaster, Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation. Her current projects include producing and presenting the Standard Chartered Banks’ ‘Business Review’ TV program which has featured numerous interviews on African Development Bank (AfDB) Projects in Zambia and the upcoming AfDB 2016 Annual Meetings in Lusaka. She also serves as a moderator and master of ceremonies.

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Dawid Mocke Four-time World Surf Ski Champion

Colour could save your life. Wear a life jacket and bright colours when out paddling.

Case in Point

ARMSCOR | Armaments

Corporation of South Africa

A Leader in

Defence Acquisition by Andrew Ngozo

Advocate Vuyisa Ramphele, General Manager of Corporate Compliance at the Armaments Corporation of South Africa (ARMSCOR)

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ARMSCOR | Armaments

The defence of any sovereign nation is critical to its survival. Not only does the country need a well-trained and reliable defence force but it requires a well-oiled defence material acquisition arm. South Africa has Armscor, the Armaments Corporation of South Africa which is the only entity of its kind in the country and on the continent. Advocate Vuyisa Ramphele, General Manager of Corporate Compliance at the Armaments Corporation of South Africa (ARMSCOR), says her organisation is a leader in defence material acquisition.

RMSCOR’s primary mission is to meet the defence materiel needs of the South African National Defence Force, states Adv. Ramphele. As the only defence materiel acquisition entity of its kind in the country and in Africa, ARMSCOR hosts a number of highly technical research and development and strategic capabilities. It is known for its technical excellence, acquisition of strategic capabilities and technologies, research and development in particularly sensitive areas such as chemical, biological, radiological, as well as research and development of armour technology. “Our Research and Development Divisions deliver innovative, effective and efficient defence analysis solutions, research and development outputs, test and evaluation services, intellectual property management services as well as products to its targeted client base. Our experts engage with the domestic and international defence industry and acquire products of world class competitiveness,” she says.

Case in Point

Corporation of South Africa

ARMSCOR has competencies and capabilities that have contributed to the broadening and deepening of the defence industry. To meet its mandate, says Adv. Ramphele, ARMSCOR has developed competencies and capabilities which enable the corporation to, amongst others: manage technology projects efficiently and effectively from concept phase to implementation. “We strategically ensure that the local defence industry is introduced and participates in international markets. Our industry is thereby exposed to international competitors and markets. This programme broadens the footprint of the local defence industry and promotes collaboration with companies from other countries,” indicates Adv. Ramphele. Transferring Capability and Technology Through its Capital and Technology Acquisition Projects, ARMSCOR bears the responsibility of implementing the defence industrial participation programme (DIP) which is aimed at developing and maintaining the local defence capabilities. In order to broaden and deepen the competencies and capabilities in the defence industry, ARMSCOR ensures transfer of capability and technology from international to local companies through DIP. ARMSCOR’s acquisition and research programme includes development of intellectual property jointly with the industry. This on its own contributes to the advancement of technical and technology competence. Pronounces Adv. Ramphele: “In all our programmes the acute awareness of the need for transformation and development of SMMEs is taken on board.” ARMSCOR is fully committed to the principles of good corporate governance and subscribes to the recommendations of the King III Report. As a public entity, ARMSCOR implements and adheres to the prescriptions of the Public Finance Management Act, its Regulations and the Protocol on Corporate Governance in the public sector. ARMSCOR embraces business standards and principles that are ethical, professional, performance focused and service orientated, concludes Adv. Ramphele.

“We strategically ensure that the local defence industry is introduced and participates in international markets. Our industry is thereby exposed to international competitors and markets. This programme broadens the footprint of the local defence industry and promotes collaboration with companies from other countries,” indicates Adv. Ramphele.

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Case in Point

Kathrine Neonakis, Senior Manager in the Strategic Planning Department at the Armaments Corporation of South Africa (Armscor)

ARMSCOR | Armaments

Corporation of South Africa

Closing the Gap in

Defence by Andrew Ngozo

When compared to 1998, the year in which Kathrine ‘Kathy’ Neonakis, Senior Manager in the Strategic Planning Department at the Armaments Corporation of South Africa (Armscor) joined the Department of Defence and Military Veterans’ arms acquisition agency, today’s defence industry landscape has changed. Both the industry and Armscor have done a lot of work to ensure that not only more women are brought into the fold but they are judged based on merit instead of their gender. Kathy’s main mandate at the organisation is to drive and implement the company’s strategic direction. She says: “We break up the strategic plan into measurable objectives in order that we can deliver on all our expectations. The effective operational management of the chief executive officer’s office is also one of my main duties.”

ARMSCOR | Armaments

eflecting on the journey travelled in the defence industry thus far, Kathy points out that it was quite difficult for a woman to thrive in the sector. “It was a mostly male dominated industry with women in the minority. For instance, it was quite strange for me as a woman in a senior position when I had to interact with clients who were mostly male army generals. They had been used to interacting among themselves and suddenly there was this woman who had to do the same with them. So, funnily enough, at first you had to seek written permission in order to do this. It was quite interesting because, for me, it wasn’t so much of a challenge but a confusing factor because; for the life of me, I just could not understand why the process had to be so onerous. However, I eventually understood that women had not been a common feature in the industry in general and at Armscor in particular. So I gathered that the notion of having a woman in the upper echelons was going to be a process of getting used to instead of an event.” A Different Ball Game Because of the mind-set Kathy adopted from day one, she shares that she did not encounter any problems when dealing with clients. “If anything, my working relationships with external and internal [male] stakeholders grew from strength to strength.”

Case in Point

Corporation of South Africa

developed a Black Economic Empowerment Charter (BEE), which is currently in a draft stage. By implementing this Charter we will ensure that slowly, but surely, both Armscor and industry will get there.” Obviously, she elaborates, in such instances, there are companies which will do extremely well while others fare poorly. Kathy says what is important to note in this regard is that it is only a matter of time before the industry is transformed to desired levels. It is no wonder then, that women are given first preference for employment. She says: “Now, more than ever before, we have more female pilots in the industry. Slowly, the industry is allowing women to move into the sector.” Kathy holds a Master’s Degree in Technology: Business Administration MBA (Tech). She holds many other qualifications and has received numerous awards. On an ad hoc basis, she is also an external supervisor/examiner for the Master’s Degree Business Administration Students (MBA). This degree is offered at the University of Wales, but is obtainable at the Tshwane University of Technology on behalf of the University of Wales. With nearly two decades at Armscor, Kathy has intensive and extensive business experience. It has brought her into contact with almost all areas of Armscor’s business and all levels of the organisation. It has equipped her well in understanding

“It was a mostly male dominated industry with women in the minority. For instance, it was quite strange for me as a woman in a senior position when I had to interact with clients who were mostly male army generals.” When she joined Armscor, Kathy reminisces that there were only about five women at senior level as compared to some 66 odd male executive and senior members. “What we found more concerning, rather than a challenge, was that a woman had to do more prove to herself. But, I think, once you start showing results, you tend to build up your credibility and their confidence in you. Hence, today it is quite a different ball game,” she highlights. Kathy points out that the playing field changed dramatically when former Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Lindiwe Sisulu, took the reins. “The fact that the entire department was led by a woman started to shift people’s perceptions about women in the defence. One has to keep in mind that she was the first ever woman to occupy that post. As a result a woman in the sector is now accepted more easily which leaves them to focus more on the job at hand,” she declares. Kathy firmly believes that the industry is doing its utmost best to close the gender gap that previously existed. “Women aren’t completely represented in the areas that we feel they should be present. However, the environment has started to acknowledge that and is on track to introduce such things as mentoring women into higher positions both in our company and in the industry. In that regard, together with industry, we

Armscor’s core business activities, its strengths and weakness, and the challenges it faces. Dale Carnegie’s Strategic Presentation Workshop has refined her professionalism. Kathy’s previous leadership roles include: President for Toastmasters International, Immediate Past President for Toastmasters International, Toastcor Club and Board Member of the DIDTETA board. Currently, she is an advisory committee member for the Tshwane University of Technology. In 2001 she was elected chairperson of the Armscor Employee Consultative Group, i.e. spokesperson for the Employees of Armscor, and was re-elected in 2003. Recently, the Presidency selected the Department of Defence and Military Veterans and the public entities within this department as the benchmark for strategic planning for all government departments and public entities. On 15 March 2016 the Presidency invited Department of Defence and Military Veterans and Armscor to present to the other national departments and public entities to help them improve on strategy, strategic alignment and implementation of the strategic plan/corporate plan; organisational performance, monitoring and evaluation as well as compliance with deadlines and statutory reporting.

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SME According to the World Economic Forum, these are exciting times for Africa and its people. Over the past decade, economists have witnessed the region become the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most exciting economic frontier, transforming nation states and offering hope to a new generation of accomplished and engaged youth.

From Kenya By 2035 the number of Africans joining the working age population will exceed that of the rest of the world combined, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Africa grew despite the global recession and it shows no signs of abating. There is something unique about what is happening on the continent now. This time, the heart of the story is the boom in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Today, these small and growing businesses create around 80% of the regionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s employment, establishing a new middle class and fuelling demand for new goods and services.

To these engines of our regional economy, the Small Enterprise Finance Agency would like to salute each and every SME owner who has taken that gem of a idea into a thriving business entity.

Catherine Mahugu

atherine Mahugu is the founder of Soko, a supply chain innovation that connects mobile-enabled artisans from developing countries directly to brands, retailers, and online customers around the world. Soko, a female-owned and operated social enterprise, has developed the first mobile driven value chain that enables artisans to engage the international marketplace, even if they lack access to the Internet, a computer, or a bank account. She has been involved in various ICT for Development projects including Stanford University and Nokia Africa Research Centre Design Projects focused on building mobile applications targeting informal communities. At Soko, she leads innovation to foster new scalable and appropriate solutions. Catherine is an International Telecom Union (ITU) Young Innovators fellow, the United Nations specialised agency for information and communication technologies, infoDevâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mobile start-up camp fellow, a global programme in the World Bank Group and Ashoka-American Express Emerging innovator fellow. She has also been featured by CNN, World Bank and BBC.

RegionalWinner

From Zambia

From Ghana

Lee-Anne Singh

Dr Leticia Benewah Osafo-Addo

ith more than 20 years’ experience in this business, Event Solutions is Zambia´s most well-established and reputable conference and Event Management Company, thanks to the efforts of its chief executive officer Lee-Anne Singh. Event Solutions, comprises of a group of prime companies supplying equipment and services for events in Zambia. She says they have expanded to other events offering first world solutions in audio visual, designer stands and international publications through their associated companies working within the group, namely, Rooney´s Hire Zambia and Showmasters Zambia, both franchises from Zimbabwe, Conference Systems a franchise from South Africa, Shungu Services, Magic of Zambia and Metrica Relocations. “We have an outstanding team of conference and event managers with an extraordinary depth in the industry, bringing together multi-faceted talents and commitment to excellence. Our vast experience has also given us long standing relationships with leading suppliers in the industry and an extensive network of contacts both locally and internationally,” shares Lee-Anne.

n returning to Ghana in 1982 from Germany where she trained as an anaesthetist and intensive therapist from 1970 to 1979 Dr Leticia Osafo Addo identified a business opportunity-the commercial production and distribution of indigenous pepper sauce Shito-a traditional pepper sauce that forms a major part of the food items in the coastal regions in Ghana, but had been picked on nationally by the student population in boarding institutions. Though every student used Shito, there was no readymade Shito on the Ghanaian market-shelves to select. This was the opportunity that Dr Leticia identified and captured. Having made 10 jars of Shito to test the market and to satisfy herself that it was a product that can be produced, 20 jars of Shito were made in Accra and the results were overwhelming, thus making her company the first to produce, package and distribute Shito in commercial quantities. A new enterprise was born and was christened Samba Foods with Dr Leticia as the CEO.

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From South Africa

From Uganda

Suzana Moreira

Winnie Olive Lawoko

owoza founder Suzana Moreira works closely with non-governmental organisations and academic institutions to conduct research and provide thought leadership on under researched and challenging topics. She is best known for founding Mowoza, an innovative supply chain solution which enables micro, small and medium sized enterprises to group buy products across borders. With Mowoza she promotes intra-African wholesaling and retail. She works closely with government institutions, informal trade associations, and informal traders to ensure that policies and grassroots initiatives align and empower all stakeholders. She also pursues consulting projects which will create opportunities to develop recommendations for progress or transformation e.g. land demining project in Mozambique. As a mentor, she coached Southern African Development Community agency professionals to advance their country’s major transport programmes so that access within and across the region can facilitate sustainable development. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce, Hons from Unisa and an MBA from Imperial College, London.

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innie Olive Lawoko, the president, CEO/founder of WilioTrains is a passionate social entrepreneur, a woman activist and social development specialist with a diverse network derived from the corporate and civil society engagements. In 2006-8 Winnie was involved in the Government of Uganda/LRA Juba Peace Talks as a delegate seconded by Lawi Rwodi David Onen Acana II, Ker Kwaro Acholi. She holds the post of Minister of External Affairs and Investment in Ker Kwaro Acholi. She possesses an invaluable knowledge, experience and skills in sales and marketing, entrepreneurship and ICT4Development. A holder of an MBA Entrepreneurship and a BA Degree in Social Sciences, she is the founder and programme director of Associated Children’s Empowerment Network (ACEN), coordinator of Northern Uganda Girls Education Network and a FAWEU Uganda Model of Excellence where she has served twice as the Representative North Region. In the public sector Winnie is a board member of the National Physical Planning Board.

Countrywinners From South Africa Elsabe Hoal Elsabe Hoal, managing director of Garner Wafers started working in an ice cream shop. As the year panned out, she was offered an opportunity by the business owner to help him grow his business. After two years working with him, she set up his central kitchen in her personal capacity and became the manufacturing arm of his sugar cones and sweet toppings. She says it was a lot of tears and begging as she could not afford the automatic sugar cone machines at the age of 24.

From Ghana Jacquelyn Adwoa Kessie Jacquelyn Adwoa Kessie is the chief executive officer of Adwoa Kessie Photography and Ghanaian country winner in the SME sector. She has worked in the photography industry for more than five years where she has been an understudy to some of that countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s notable photographers. A graphic designer by profession, she says that her passion for all things artistic makes her love for photography grow daily. She says it is a privilege to be able to mentor young women in her field.

From South Africa Judy Jennings Judy Jennings is a country winner in the SME sector. She spent her early years working in banking, where she started off as switchboard operator and was later promoted to being a service branch controller based on her excellent work ethic and leadership skills. Eager to broaden her knowledge and seeking change, she joined Vodacom as a Dealer Sales Manager supporting Vodacom franchised stores, dealers and retail stores selling Vodacom products. Judy currently owns four Vodacom franchise stores.

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Countrywinners From Ghana Mary Naa Adoley Bruce Country winner Mary Naa Adoley Bruce of Cazabella Ghana started helping her mother in her shop at the age of 14 years after close of Preparatory School. During the Rawlings coup in 1979, when the shop was looted and later demolished, she had a savings of 50 cents which she used as seed money to start her own business with the intention of indemnifying her mum. And so began the journey of Cazabella Ghana which she heads.

From South Africa Prof Shirley Zinn Country winner, Professor Shirley Zinn, is the CEO of Shirley Zinn Consulting. She is a wellseasoned, strategic, global HR professional who is a catalyst for inspiring a collaboratively driven performance culture that engages all members of the workplace community in implementing new age, innovative, integrated people management solutions that will drive business success. She is committed to nurturing and enabling the growth of people through designing formal learning programmes, coaching and mentoring people and giving them developmental feedback so that they can grow and thrive.

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Skills Transfer

Listen up

Generation X by Martin Pienaar, COO of Mindworx

here’s how to future proof your working life… and have a lot of fun in the process. If you’re aged between 36 and 56, you’re a member of Generation X. This means you have another 10-30 years of work ahead of you. They should be the best years of your career, right? You’ve gained wisdom, maturity and experience, and you can add real value to even the most future-focused of start-ups. Right?

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Skills Transfer

o why do you feel vulnerable when you watch a group of Millennials at work? There is a good reason. Millennials (also known as Generation Y) have no fear of technology, especially at the young end of the spectrum. This is why every 19-30 year-old seems a lot more relevant than you do. Certainly, they can be bolder, faster, more collaborative. What’s more, they appear to be having more fun than you do! It’s time, Gen X, to get your stuff together! Start with this premise: any wise, mature, experienced professional with an agile mind and an ability to solve problems, can master even the most out-there technology and harness it to catapult their career, comfortably riding the wave of the fourth industrial revolution. Let’s briefly clarify this revolution. According to the World Economic Forum, “[It] will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another. In its scale, scope, and complexity, the transformation will be unlike anything humankind has experienced before. […] It is

characterised by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres.” We know this to be true. Already we see the entire human knowledge base double approximately every 12 months and this is expected to keep accelerating. Traditionally manual jobs are fast being automated, the global economy is increasingly driven by data, the Internet of Things is a thing, and smart cities are being built as we speak. 80% of the jobs that our children will hold don’t even exist yet! In this world, Gen X, your job is to focus on welcoming change, embracing technology and upskilling. I hear you: how do you ensure you are best positioned to remain relevant and able to deliver quality work when you don’t know what skills will be important and in demand 5 or 10 years from now, let alone 10 to 30 years from now? My recommendation is that you stick to basics. After all, the more things change, the more they stay the same. The trick is to apply the basics with real confidence.

Skills Transfer

1. Train yourself to roll with the punches In a world where the rate of change and the rate of knowledge creation exceed the rate of learning, one of your most valuable abilities is to become truly comfortable with change and to adapt quickly. There is so much information and knowledge at your fingertips today, it is easy to actively and constantly read and learn about developments in technology and the world of work. 2. Cultivate curiosity and creativity Curiosity and creativity are critical in an ambiguous and ever-changing world. Be brave enough to ask questions – allow yourself to appear stupid – and then show that you have the will and ability to learn. You will earn so much respect among the Millennials if you’re open to creative thinking so be prepared to experiment and allow your mind to go places it’s never been before. You can do this!

Millennials have been playing WoW since they were teens, so they already have the skills you need to hone to contribute and collaborate in the future workplace. Indeed, they think of these skills as fun, rather than work. 6. Learn to collaborate I’ve used the word ‘collaborate’ quite a lot and I’m emphasising it because it’s such an essential futureproofing skill and it’s one Millennials have in abundance, Gen X not so much. You’re more of a delegator than a collaborator but delegation is become increasingly oldfashioned as people expect to contribute their skills in an open environment.

3. Get yourself a mentor Remember when your mentor had grey hair and wrinkles? Think the opposite and get yourself a bright young thing – in fact, get several. Watch, listen and learn.

7. Stay close to your network Gen X-ers are very good at networking. You grew up with real people and no doubt still have friends from school and university. This gives you a distinct advantage over Millennials who grew up in a virtual world and have a lesser concept of friendship and loyalty. This is the time to draw your network close and extend it in every direction, making sure everyone in your orbit is up to date on your skills and experience and vice versa.

4. Prepare yourself for huge diversity among your colleagues Diversity is no longer about age, gender, race… today it is about having team members in different countries. It is also about collaborating with professionals whose skills and world views vary completely for yours. As Henry Ford said: “In business, if two people think the same, one of them is redundant”. Even if your Millennial colleagues have never heard of Henry Ford, the adage will make them stop and think.

8. Re-think skills training and learning Consider this: having grown up in a digital world, Millennials expect to receive the information they need quickly, interactively, and on the go. It’s an ongoing process which suits the rate of new knowledge creation. Manuals are increasingly irrelevant in this world; mentors and quick, easily-accessible reminders are the norm. Learn to learn this way. If you’re worried about your current skills becoming obsolete, think about acquiring analytical, programming and development skills, as these types of tech skills will be needed in the future.

5. Get the WoW factor With upwards of 10 million disciples worldwide, World of Warcraft offers great insight into the future workplace. It’s complicated, very fast, and played by teams, so it’s highly collaborative. Because it’s online, team members can be anywhere in the world. WoW is also very demanding. As each team negotiates a series of quests, each player must contribute to resolving them or become irrelevant and lose their place. The player who makes the greatest contribution becomes the leader… until another player contributes more. It’s classic survival of the fittest – what did I say about the more things change, the more they stay the same?

9. Enter the world of the permanent contract worker The future world of work will see companies “recognise that access to a large base of contractor skills is a prerequisite for innovation and growth.” We’ve been supplying contractors long enough to know that there will be no shortage of work for them. The bottom line for Gen X is that constant innovation and rapid change do threaten the status quo you’ve become comfortable with, but that needn’t be a problem. Over the years of running Mindworx and learning from the best at large international events like Singularity, I know that the future workplace brings with it more opportunities everywhere, certainly for those prepared to grab them.

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Tourism & Leisure One of the fastest growing and most dynamic spheres of the global economy, tourism is not only ideally poised to ensure prosperity, but also to promote women’s empowerment, gender equality, youth employment and children’s rights. Moreover, women are exceptionally well-placed to plan and establish tourism products based on the wealth of cultural heritage across Africa, whether in the form of handicrafts, folklore, dances, or gastronomy, towards inclusion in lucrative tourism value chains.

From Kenya Chania Tundo

Since more equal and diversified businesses and organisations produce better results in terms of productivity, sustainability and overall quality, the entire sector stands to profit from the active and equitable participation of women. To date, the tourism sector has played a significant role in empowering women politically, socially and economically. However, decisive action on behalf of both men and women, at all levels, remains vital in order to close the gender gap, particularly by ensuring equal pay for equal work, raising the quality of women’s employment and ending all forms of discrimination.

Air Mauritius, which flies from South Africa to Mauritius - daily out of Johannesburg, three times a week from Cape Town, and twice weekly from Durban, would like to wish the torch bearers in this sector all the best for their achievements.

he is the founder and the managing director of The Safari Company based in Nairobi since 2008. Chania Tundo’s focus is on training staff, managing the company and providing thorough information to worldwide safari operators. She also assists other tourism related companies with their standards, with their marketing and with social media. She does not see ‘competition as competition’ but as another avenue to promote her country and region, to support her people, wildlife and their places. Chania personally produces a thorough Tourist Map of Kenya, used by many lodges, hotels and tour operators for their clients. She explains: “I produced this because there was no good map of Kenya with all of the current roads, tourist attractions etc. It took four years to produce including mapping the country.” Chania is the Kenya country and East African winner in the Tourism and Leisure sector.

RegionalWinner

From South Africa

From Madagascar

Nina Freysen Pretorius

Sylvia Pages

ina Freysen Pretorius has 20 years’ experience in the conference industry and started her own company, The Conference Company, in 1996, organising corporate events and conferences, which has evolved to specialise in national and international association conferences as well as association management. Nina is passionate about conferencing and lives up to her company’s mission and vision of ‘bringing people together to learn and aspire’. In a highly competitive industry, she has proven to be one of the top South African ambassadors for business tourism while attending overseas conferences and shows. Nina has had a long association with the Southern African Association for the Conference Industry (SAACI), firstly as a member then as patron member, which led to serving on the SAACI KwaZulu-Natal Branch Committee then as Chair of the SAACI National Board. Currently Nina is a member of the Tourism Grading Council South Africa Awards Committee, and is a member of the Meetings Professional International.

ylvia Pages is the Director General of Foreign Trade in the Malagasy Ministry of Commerce, Her experience and involvement allow her to continue the work she began over 15 years ago to advance economic equality with a wider dimension through various areas of African markets that she manages in Madagascar. She supports and assists other women so they do not have to face the same difficulties that she faced. She says in her time, they did not have much opportunity to be coached for there were still very few female entrepreneurs. She provides tools and resources for women to be independent in the long-term. She works mainly for sustainable actions. Sylvia says: “We are here to empower women; be it in micro enterprises or larger structures. We help them to have more technical skills to produce better and also to sell their product through possible economic exchange across the platform.”

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Countrywinners From Ghana Jacqueline Obeng-Ansong Jacqueline Obeng-Ansong is a Director and Deputy Chief Executive of Sunlodge Hotel and Sunseekers Tours; a family owned business which has been in the hospitality industry in Ghana since 1974. She joined the company in July 2001 as the head, finance and administration and was promoted to her current position in 2006. She has made positive strides in moving Sunlodge Hotel from a 12 room and a one conference room hotel to a 50 room and a seven conference room hotel.

From Uganda Joan Kantu Kamya Else Having first set up shop in Kenya and later in Uganda, Joan Kantu Kamya Else’s Let’s Go Travel is among the market leaders in the destination and travel sector in Uganda. The country winner says she understands that travel is all about meeting people and experiencing incredible places. Thus she believes that her people make the company and this is evident in their highly professional team of travel consultants that are devoted to providing exceptional and personalised tours and travel services.

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THIS ADVERT IS NOT ABOUT THE PLANTS. Well…it is. But mainly it’s about our dedicated fieldworkers who work tirelessly to protect southern Africa’s environmental surroundings and who need your support. Visit www.ewt.org.za to find out how you can help to protect another precious resource – our people.

Case in Point Air Mauritius

Producing by Taryn Moir

Leaders Carla da Silva, Regional Manager for Southern Africa and Latin America, Air Mauritius

for the

Case in Point Air Mauritius

The young African work force is expanding exponentially and is expected to be above that of the combined world average in the foreseeable future. This comes with concern as there is currently job scarcity and a mammoth task in fulfilling the quota for job creation for the next generation. Where then does this leave our future leaders of Africa?

he mandate is a simple one of a ‘set up and go’ nature. Business leaders need to recognise and push our young entrepreneurs forward. Embracing this change is imperative for future leaders to have a chance of excelling particularly for skills transfer. Whether it is in small to medium businesses or in corporate sectors, these skills must be pushed forward and for business leaders to find innovative ways to incorporate and create new kinds of opportunities. In the aviation industry, not one day is the same and one needs to consistently, review the business and anticipate the changes that occur. One needs to be perfectly agile and focused to reach further and find innovative ways to address this leadership progress for the future of the sector. This sector of aviation is showing great economic growth and our continental flight partner, Air Mauritius and its Regional Director for Africa and Latin America, Carla Da Silva, understands the importance of embracing such changes and highlights a few principles needed:

businesses. What is needed by the youth is to develop all-rounder skills, show initiative and work hard to fulfill their dreams. “Ongoing willingness and eagerness to keep learning, do new things and remaining humble is always a key to success for both.” In Carla’s own extensive experience, establishing a wonderful circle of mentors and coaches in her own life, both women and men alike, has uplifted her and has given meaning to her. She feels it is very necessary to have and maintain these kinds of meaningful engagements which assist in growth and development. What does it take to stand up and be counted? “A positive outlook and optimism plays an import role in a success story - the ongoing willingness and eagerness to keep learning.” Carla gives a fresh start and outlook on the future of aviation and its leaders by having an exciting vision. This vision is in achieving success that displays passion and joy that will excite others to get involved and be a part of. This is to achieve a true sense of a belonging feeling, to make employees experience a true feeling of being part of a family. How to lead this into fruition? The value chain of aviation is extensive and plays a vital role that engages with suppliers, airport operators to ground handling companies and marketing to make up a successful operating airline. These businesses grow by providing services and working with the aviation chain which is an economic enabler and job creator. “Driving this chain is important and the ability to understand situational leadership in order to take these people on a journey alongside you is key,” believes Carla.

Future Africa Carla enforces that the youth of today and that of future generations need businesses to stand behind them and development their entrepreneurial skills. They need to embrace change and push for innovation in order to get the youth ahead, create leaders and grow the longevity of

“A humble leader understands the importance of humility and has the ability to inspire, uplift, persuade, positively influence and grow others.” Carla is dedicated to driving this initiative that will see individuals only growing. At Air Mauritius – a team means….everything and that is effective leadership.

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Welfare & Civil Society Organisations The last decade has witnessed a tremendous growth of non-governmental actors, such as NGOs or labour unions, commonly referred to as Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). This has followed the trend of the globalisation of social, economic and environmental issues which are less and less limited to a specific country or field.

From Rwanda Donatha Gihana CSOs play a central role at a national and regional level. Their weight, capacity, sustainability, impact and structure differ greatly depending on the social, cultural and economic background of countries. It is clear that CSOsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; role and influence in global governance depends on the field of intervention and of the international institution concerned. The major civil society actors at a global level are not necessarily the same as civil actors which act at a national and regional level.

Whether at local, regional or global level, the world needs organisation who will be our guiding mast. Transman congratulates all the winners in this sector.

rom the 1st August 2012 to date, Donatha Gihana has worked for Girl Hub Rwanda now Girl Effect as the Country Director. The Nike Foundation senior management appointed Donatha a Country Director in June 2015. She has been involved with Girl Hub Rwanda from the outset (2011), as a member of the advisory committee, which is a team of Rwandese national girl champions that supported Girl Hub in its initial stages. She later joined the organisation to support its policy and partnerships work in 2013; and was appointed as a Deputy Country Director in 2014. She also assumed the role of Interim Country Director in September 2014 and led the Rwanda team through the DFID/UK phase two business case process. She has extensive experience and knowledge in gender policy related issues especially in education, youth and women leadership. She serves on various local and international boards.

RegionalWinner

From Cameroon

From Zambia

Gisèle Mankamte Yitamben

Kalongo Chitengi

ameroonian and Central African winner in the Welfare and Civil Society Organisations sector Gisèle MankamteYitamben, an economist by training, is a dynamic leader and expert on entrepreneurship development, information and communication technology and gender equality. She is the founder and president of the Association for the Support of Women Entrepreneurship, a social enterprise. An ardent defender of the rights of underprivileged persons, and notably women and youths, her actions have always targeted improving the welfare of those around her through searching for access to productive resources and technical services. Gisèle is a member of the Reference Group of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, the 10 world experts group that advises the Director General of UNESCO on issues related to education for sustainable development. She is a researcher and member of the research network GRACE through which her expertise has led to two books on women and ICT.

alongo Chitengi is the Self Help Africa country director for Zambia. A Zambian citizen, she was the first woman to take the role of director of an African country programme within the Self Help Africa group. She has previously been deployed in the private sector, state enterprises and nongovernmental organisations at senior management level. She has also worked extensively on environmental, community development, and infrastructure development programmes with government, donors, the private sector and; rural communities. Kalongo worked as a consultant for several years on regional and inter regional assignments across southern and west Africa in the field of community led development and environmental management. Kalongo has played a leading role in policy formulation work for the government of Zambia and was a founder member of the pioneering pressure group that lobbied the government for deliberate government policy on the provision of low cost housing. She is a regional and country winner.

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From Kenya Roseanne Mbaya

ounder and executive director of Servant Leadership and Environmental Conservation (SLEC) International, Roseanne Mbaya is country and regional winner of Kenya and East Africa in the Welfare and Civil Society Organisations sector. SLEC works with grassroots community leaders to promote sustainable community development while helping steward their environmental resources. Roseanne is a skilled community facilitator and Servant Leadership practitioner who graduated from the Centre for Sharing’s 2005 SL class. She founded SLEC over two years ago and is working to make a difference in her community. As the CEO, Roseanne actively participates in policy formulations and creation of the strategic development plans for the organisation. She oversees design, quality, promotion and successful delivery of programmes and services, develops annual budgets and prudently manages the organisation’s resources within those budget guidelines according to current laws and regulations. She effectively manages human resource according to authorised personnel policies and procedures that fully conform to current laws and regulations.

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Countrywinners From Kenya Adv Joyce Majiwa Joyce Majiwa (OGW) (SC) is an advocate of the High court of Kenya (Senior Counsel) with over 20 years’ experience in successful legal practice. Joyce is now an independent consultant who is active in civil society where she has 20 years’ experience spent serving several organisations in various capacities. She has provided leadership as the Chairperson of the Federation of Women Lawyers (Kenya FIDAK), the National Vice Chairperson and founder-member, the League of Kenya Women Voters.

From Namibia Kasee Ithana Kasee Ithana was appointed Country Director of The Synergos Institute for Namibia in June 2011. In this role Kasee provides overall leadership for the initiative and serves as the executive decision maker for the projects in Namibia. Kasee also served as senior programme manager of the Bill & Melinda Gates funded programme: African Public Health Leadership and Systems Innovation Initiative, from January 2008 to May 2011. She is her country’s winner in the Welfare and Civil Society Organisations sector winner for Namibia.

From Nigeria Kazanka Comfort Dada Kazanka Comfort Dada was director of operations for Fantsuam Foundation from 2009 until 2015 when she took over as the CEO. As director, she had responsibility for five heads of departments whose remit is to run financially sustainable services. In order to enhance their capacity for achieving their targets, she organised capacity building sessions locally and internationally and had regular meetings with, them to monitor their progress. Kazanka supported each department to develop their annual work plans and budgets.

From Zimbabwe Lois Chingandu Lois Chingandu has over 25 years’ experience working in health with a special focus on HIV, Family Planning, Sexual Reproductive Health and Gender Based Violence working with young people, women, and children in Africa. During those years she grew up the management ladder while managing international USAID funded organisations before joining her current organisation, SAFAIDS, in 2003 as the executive director. Her key skills include leading and managing NGOs, developing and leading the execution of innovative strategies to address HIV and GBV prevention in Africa.

Countrywinners From South Africa Dr Lydia Abel As director of ORT SA CAPE since 2011, Dr Lydia Abel has promoted Robotics as a tool for learning. She has overseen a trajectory of training from Grade R to 9 in Science, Technology, Mathematics and Language – the key gateway areas for learning and development. Under her guidance, ORT SA CAPE has won three tenders for monitoring and evaluation of projects for the Western Cape Education Department. Recognising the critical need for Early Childhood Education, ORT SA CAPE offers training of childcare workers, and Grade R teachers.

From Malawi Mirriam Faith Namanja Country winner Mirriam Faith Namanja is the executive director of the Parents of Disabled Children Association of Malawi (PODICAM). Hers is an organisation that has been credited with the implementation of an inclusive education programme in selective districts in the Malawi central region aimed at mainstreaming children with disabilities into normal schools. She says her main responsibility is to advocate and lobby for the rights for children with disabilities in Malawi. Her tireless and countless efforts have managed to change the mind-set of many Malawians towards disability.

From South Africa Noelene Susanne Kotschan Noelene Susanne Kotschan, founder and director of Cause Marketing Fundraisers (PinkDrive) established her own event management company in 1995. With over 30 years’ experience in the industry, Noelene has assisted in the organisation of small and large conferences, launch functions, road shows and trade forums, counting among her clients many of South Africa’s largest blue chip companies. A pioneer in fundraising for CSR initiatives, Noelene has become an acknowledged leader in the industry and in 2005 founded Cause Marketing Fundraisers and the initiative, PinkDrive.

From Uganda Rehmah Kasule Rehmah Kasule is an entrepreneur running Century Marketing, a branding and marketing agency she started at 26 years. She is the president and founder of CEDA International focusing on Mentoring, Leadership and Entrepreneurship. Her Rising Stars Mentoring Programme has impacted 12 000 girls, and the Youth Engaged Programme centre has skilled 947 youth and 200 single mothers as leaders and entrepreneurs. The Strengthening Young Women’s Civic Participation and Leadership Project in Uganda is currently impacting 1 500 young university girls for active citizenship.

A laid-back salon in the heart of Rivonia, Burgundy Beauty Salon offers a holistic approach to beauty, wellness and grooming.

We offer a wide range of beauty treatments, and mobile services to cater for various functions, corporate and social events. The salon encourages relaxation and helps patrons find the time for a pamper session.

Treatments on offer:      

Massages Facials Waxing Laser Lipo Nail treatments Manicures and pedicures

info@burgundybeauty.co.za  076 7327584  10 Wessels Road, Rivonia, 2128

FINALIS FI

FINALISTS 2016 Agencies & Regulatory Authorities

Arts & Culture

Jane Mufamadi,

Angela Katatumba,

Priscilla Mulenga Isaac, Zambia

South Africa

Uganda

AWA F

Business & Professional services

Education & Training Academic

Education & Training Private

Claire Amanya R. Kakeeto, Uganda

Juliana Y K Arhin, Ghana

Alison Moschetta,

Elaine Schlechter,

South Africa

Financial Services

Namibia

Jill Girard,

Funke Susan Medun, Nigeria

Lerato Tshabalala,

Gail Cameron,

South Africa

Fatema Dewji Jaffer, Tanzania

Phyllis Klotz,

Harmony Seyram Attise, Ghana

Mariam Luyombo,

Natalie Cunningham,

Mirriam Magala,

South Africa

Agriculture

Evelyn Namubiru Mwaura, Uganda

South Africa

Zambia

South Africa

Joy Oldale,

South Africa Business and Professional services

South Africa

Omaima Abdel Fattah Idris, Egypt

Patricia A. Ojangole, Uganda Dantagos Jimmy-Melani,

Education and Training Academic

Namibia

Prof. Romeela Mohee, Mauritius

Florence Okot,

Uganda

Dr Diane Bell,

South Africa

Christine Muthoni Kamunchuluh,

Kenya

Rwanda

Financial Services

Automotive and Components

Nicola Jackson, Dr Evelyn Nguleka,

Uganda

Sophie Nkwe Dimbungu,

Delphine Maidou,

South Africa

FINALIS INALISTSARD FINALISTS

FINALISTS 2016 Government Employed Official

Cynthia Sebentile Dlamini, Swaziland

Manufacturing & Engineering

Lorna Rutto,

Kenya

SME

Teboho Lebohang Mphuti,

South Africa

Manufacturing and Engineering

Kicongo Sharon Sabiiti, Uganda Carol Annang,

Media

Ghana

Patience, Kalusanzhi Chisanga, Zambia Alethea Conrad,

South Africa

Victoria Muzumara,

Zambia

Welfare & Civil Society Organisations

Colleen Larsen,

Mariella Kayat,

South Africa

Grace Ruvimbo Chirenje,

Ngaite Nkomo Mgeni, Rwanda

Zimbabwe

Tourism and Leisure

Jacqui Murekatete Sebageni, Rwanda

Josephine Irene Uwamariya,

Pamela Mwelela Chisanga, Zambia

Rwanda

SME

Tasneem Abdeali Adamji, Kenya Busisiwe Maria Legodi, Rwanda

Welfare & Civil Society Organisations

Purity Kwagiria, Josephine Kanaabo,

Kenya

Uganda

Aprelle V. Duany,

Kenya

Tausi Mbaga Wendy-Ann Alberts,

South Africa

Linda Edna Ngcauzele,

South Africa

Ntshantsha Tafeni-Majombozi,

South Africa

Lynette Jean Cawood,

South Africa

Kida, Tanzania

Out of Office

Get social

with the

VolvoV60

My first meeting with the Onyx Black metallic Volvo V60 Cross Country was in our driveway where the V60 was attracting all the attention. Now to say that the Volvo is an ordinary car or estate or even cross over is far from the truth.

rom its sleek modern form with 18 inch alloy wheels to the immaculate and comprehensive interior this car oozes charisma and charm. Sounds like a lady talking. Well that is what my daughter said after having the opportunity to be driven in the V60 Cross Country. The V60 Cross Country is well built, the finishing is superb and the road manners and handling is on par with the best in its class and even some vehicles in a more upmarket class. What is not contested by any true car fundi is the safety aspects of the Volvo V60 Cross Country with its Five-star Euro NCAP rating. I, being a mature of age driver, did find the console a bit too clustered and technical for my liking and it took me some time to find out how to use certain â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;gadgetsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Ride quality is as good as it gets and with the array of standard features and optional extras I really got to enjoy the Volvo tremendously. The list price of R541 700 is not high taking into consideration what you get and the actual value of the equipment based on true value and need.

Cross Country

D4 AWD Inscription Geartronic

Standard feature highlights

Engine and efficiency 2.4-litre i5 turbo diesel engine 140 kW @ 4 000 rpm 420 Nm @ 1 500 - 3 000 rpm 6-speed automatic gearbox 5.7-litres per 100 km (combined) 149 g/km CO2 68-litre tank

• 18-inch alloy wheels • Tyre pressure monitoring system • Automatic wipers • Heated and electric-folding side mirrors with puddle illumination • Active bending bi-xenon headlights with automatic high beam • Rear parking sensors • Automatic dual-zone climate control with rear seat ventilation • Cruise control • Frameless auto-dimming rear-view mirror • 12-volt power sockets in centre console and boot • Electric front seats with memory • 40/20/40 split-folding rear seats with integrated cargo nets • Active TFT crystal instrument cluster • High-performance multimedia system including USB, Bluetooth, CD/DVD, radio, aux and 8 speakers

The Price as tested is R580 800 with the following options fitted to this vehicle • Techno Pack (R27 000) o Heated front seats o Speed-sensitive power steering o Navigation o Keyless entry and starting o Front and rear parking sensors o Rear parking camera o Interior lighting – high version • Driver alert system including Lane Departure Warning and Forward Collision Warning (R9 750) • Metallic Paint (R2 350)

Standard safety equipment ABS, EBD, BAS, HSA, HDC Stability and Traction Control 6 airbags IntelliSafe incorporating City Safety (AEB) Warranty: 5-year / 100 000 km warranty Maintenance: 5-year / 100 000 full maintenance plan All in all the Volvo V60 Cross Country is not only a very modern, capable and luxurious family vehicle. It is also a very hip young generation or young family everyday vehicle that has all of the performance, efficiency and safety measures that can be had. Looking at all of the above and also the safety aspects I believe it is one of the best cars to be had at the given price.

How to

Dispose by Andrew Ngozo

of Your

Old Office Equipment

They are the unattended items that get left behind when employees get laid off: desks, chairs, computer screens, even cars. Small-business owners looking for extra cash in the budget should turn attention to those unused supplies or equipment gathering dust. Most definitely, keep some items in storage if you expect business or hiring to pick back up soon. Otherwise, it’s time to clean house. But before you make any move there are questions you can ask and things you can do on your own that will help lead you to a solution that not only makes good business sense but is environmentally responsible as well.

f you are in the process of getting rid of some old office furniture, ask yourself some or all of the following questions, says Raymund Flandez, from Team Office Talk, an organisation which helps in providing, planning and managing your workplace. Firstly, he says, you must ask: What exactly are you getting rid of? Create a spreadsheet that includes every piece of furniture you need to get rid of. You don’t need to include every little piece that makes your cubicles, but it should include the manufacturer, sizes, panel heights, quantities, age, components, colours and general condition. It should also include images. “This list is important because it will allow you to share your excess inventory with potential buyers,” he says. What is your furniture worth? Unless you are an office furniture expert, you will probably need help with this one. However, not knowing the approximate value of your furniture will put you at a huge disadvantage when it’s time to negotiate with a buyer. If you [do] know the value, you can confidently work with a buyer and stick to your guns while negotiating a sale. Raymund advises that you should know both the wholesale and retail value of your furniture. Your local furniture dealer should be able to help you determine the value. If your furniture is 10 years old or older, chances are there is very little value in it. It has been fully depreciated by that point and it’s probably reaching the end of its intended life cycle. Your furniture dealer should be able to coach you through this process and help you determine if there is any market for the furniture. Is there any chance you’ll need to reuse the furniture at some point in the future? No one can predict the future, says Ray, but even if there’s a slight possibility you will need to reuse your furniture again, it’s probably a good idea to store it. However, if you store your furniture, don’t overpay. Get several quotes. This could be an ongoing cost and you’ll want to save as much as you can. As long as you have a good inventory and the furniture is placed in storage with care and in an organised manner, there is no reason to overpay for fancy storage space. How quickly do you need to remove the furniture? The answer to this question will play a big role in your decision. If your lease requires you to vacate the space within 30-60 days, you’ll probably need to work with a wholesaler. A good wholesaler has the ability

to remove the furniture at your convenience and store it in their facility. You’ll pay for this convenience, but you may find what you lose by working with a good wholesaler is a lot less than paying a penalty on your lease. You will also need to consider how much it will cost to remove your furniture. States Raymund: “It’s always a good idea to get a bid from a reputable installation company to tear down and remove the furniture. It doesn’t cost anything to get a bid. Whether you’re selling the furniture or giving it away, someone will have to pay these costs.” Can your equipment be recycled? If your old furniture is constructed primarily of wood, laminate or particle board, it cannot be recycled. If it has a lot of metal components, you may want to consider recycling. However, remember there will still be labour costs to tear it down, remove it and take it to the recycler. Chances are very good the money you make won’t pay for the entire cost to remove and transport it to the recycler, but it will help reduce those costs. Next up, Raymund suggests that you find others who really want your old equipment. For starters, try to sell them to your employees. Another way is to look for third-party companies that match sellers and buyers. You can also try bartering or donating to charities that can use them. There is a hidden benefit in going with the last option. This is the tax deduction where a percentage of the wholesale cost of the item as determined by the revenue authorities. Document and report everything According to Nicholas Buccheri of Green Standards, a specialised environmental firm that works with corporations and other large organisations to responsibly redistribute no-longer-needed office furniture, equipment and supplies, project documentation is the single most valuable deliverable. “It gauges the team’s performance, demonstrates transparency and accountability, and shows where everything went at the end of the project. Being able to track every item to its end location ensures that things were actually sold, recycled or donated, and not dumped when no one was looking,” he points out. The additional accountability also helps managers evaluate the project outcome and improve on the next one. “This is particularly valuable for office surplus projects because they only come up every so often. Companies will rarely have an internal expert in redistributing office equipment and should avoid rehashing a new process for each project,” he concludes. Additional Source: www.greenstandardsltd.com

MIDRAND CONFERENCE CENTRE GUEST HOUSES & WEDDING VILLAGE