The Sunday Mail
Big Business Ideas
Stephene Chikozho
MARCH — which is Women’s Month — is very important to me, as well as enterprising women across the world.
Coincidentally, it is the month when I was born.
In this article, I celebrate my wife, an enterprising young woman who hardly sleeps before 12am.
I rejoice in my mother, a hardworking farmer who never tires and is active every day, except on Sundays.
I also celebrate my mother-in-law, a veteran teacher and prayerful leader who struggles to sleep beyond 4am.
Today, I join multitudes across the African continent in advocating empowered, intelligent and innovative women who are game changers.
Women across the world should shatter the glass ceiling in various fields.
We celebrate all enterprising businesswomen across the African continent, who are embodiments of hard work, consistency, perseverance and resilience. But is hard work, perseverance, consistency and resilience enough to ensure success?
Women have to build their network because it will translate into their net worth. Networking means cultivating and building connections with other professionals, colleagues and peers.
It should always be beneficial to both parties. Networking is important to women as it provides opportunities for mentorship, building a better reputation, increased visibility, a stronger support network, improved business growth and more impactful connections. For example, networking could provide insights into new marketing techniques, information on a competitor’s marketing strategies or advice on how to improve professionally.
As such, knowing how to use it effectively can be a powerful tool for a company’s development.
Everyone should build their network before they need it.
Networking is not just about connecting people, but connecting people with ideas and opportunities as well.
One of the most vibrant networks for African women to consider for their growth is the Female Founders Initiative — Middle East and Africa, which is a growing community for female entrepreneurs and business leaders within the Middle East and Africa.
The organisation was founded by the Dubai-based Rosheen Ngorima in 2020.
On her entrepreneurial journey, she noted a huge gap that existed in the support for female entrepreneurs.
She observed that women often had to work twice as much to gain business contracts in the global market, and this had to change.
The agents of that change are women themselves. As such, the Female Founders Initiative — whose dream is to create a society where women are financially empowered and are safe to share, learn and grow within their desired business industries — was founded.
It offers business support, coaching, access to investment opportunities and enhances the marketing, as well as brand awareness of members’ businesses. To effectively grow their networks and brands, female African entrepreneurs can attend one of the several Female Founders Initiative events lined up for the year, for example, the SheEo Leadership Training Boot Camp in Dubai in May this year.
While the richest women in the world look for and build networks, most African women are either in their homes cooking or, at best, if they step out of them, look for work.
This narrative should change.
Women should mentor and support each other through effective networking.
Business thrives by meeting people through other individuals.
In that regard, another vibrant network for African women to consider is the South Africa-headquartered Circle of Global Business Women.
It was established by women, including African women, to elevate their counterparts to global forums and markets.
The Circle of Global Business Women, which has several chapters on the continent, is led by Sandiswa Mzamo. She is the global president.
In Zimbabwe, it is led by Thelma Chimbganda; she is the chapter president. In essence, the Circle of Global Business Women is made up of intelligent and innovative women who want to create a leadership shift globally.
It supports the rise of women leaders and embodies a power circle of women leading that change.
There are many more national, regional, continental and global networking bodies that are championing game-changing programming for women. African businesswomen, therefore, have to explore networking opportunities available to them, in line with their needs.
The new form of networking is not about getting to the top or winning at all costs, but it is about collaboration, co-creation, partnerships and long-term values-based relationships.
It is, however, worth remembering that all the time and effort put into networking can come to nothing if there is no follow-through on the most promising connections.
Stephene Chikozho is the managing director of Urbane Create Agency — a strategy, marketing and advertising agency. He writes in his personal capacity. You can follow him on social media (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn), WhatsApp +263772409651 or email [email protected]
