She Leads Africa aims to turn African businesswomen into global powerhouses
|||By Helen Herimbi
Since its inception in 2014, She Leads Africa (SLA) has established itself as an organisation that puts the dreams of women entrepreneurs from the continent and the diaspora first. By seeking out business partners throughout the globe, the online platform strategically places their community of over 140 000 in a space where they can be mentored, guided and financially assisted to start or maintain their businesses.
Through a four-day seminar called the SheHive, SLA - which was founded by Afua Osei and Yasmin Belo-Osagie - puts those who are just starting out in their business in a position to network with those who are already making it. On Thursday and Friday, there is also an intense workshop component where women will receive insights from the likes of Sibonile Dube (Comms Director for South and Southern Africa and Director at Unilever South African (Pty) Ltd).
Dorothy Amuah (PR Guru and Reality TV Star: Being Mandela) and Irene Charnley (Chief Executive Officer, Smile Group) will deliver talks on Saturday and on Sunday, Nomfanelo Magwentshu (Partner, McKinsey and Lead Organiser for SA Fifa World Cup) and Nomsa Daniels (CEO, The Graça Machel Trust) will speak. They will be joined by panelists.
We spoke to Afua Osei who not only co-founded SLA but also worked at the White House in the office of Michelle Obama and is an ex-McKinsey consultant amongst other titles.
Why is SLA specifically geared towards women?
We believe that young African women are innovators, influencers and decision-makers. That’s not reflected in the way that young men are represented in the media. We wanted to create a platform where we could share relevant skills and opportunities to help them build their businesses and careers and also connect them with brands that can provide more information to them.
Most of your community is online and the “hive” is also online slang for stans. Tell me about the SheHive?
Well, Yasmin really, really loves Beyonce and she has the Beyhive. If you love Beyonce and you love creativity, innovation and really cool things in pop culture, this was supposed to be culturally relevant. We wanted to use a concept that resonates with millennials and makes sense to them. We wanted to demonstrate the community aspect. It’s not just about the people at the front of the stage. It’s about who is sitting next to you and how you can work with them and build relationships and business opportunities.
This year, you had SheHives in Accra, Abuja, Lagos, New York, Nairobi and London. What have been the similarities?
We’re really excited to close with South Africa. We love the culture, art and innovation and passion of young South African women. There’s definitely nuances and differences of each city. One thing that was overwhelmingly similar is that at the end of the programme, everyone was like: ‘this is the first time i’ve been in a room with young women like myself and we actually talked about our dreams and aspirations.’ When young people come together now, they’re talking about music and what’s on reality TV but it’s rare for them to say: ‘this is the dream I have for my business, how can you help me or give me feedback?’
Black Enterprise called you one of the Global Power Women of Colour to Watch in 2016 and Forbes Africa said you are one of their Youngest Power Women in Africa in 2014. What advice do you have for women who want to walk in your shoes?
I don’t know why those people said those things about me! I think that is probably the thing that helped me. I was a consultant before and being a consultant, there’s only time to solve the problem. For me, it’s always about: ‘how can we do this better? How can we reach more people? How do we consistently create a distinctive thing?’ It’s not just talk, it’s actually going out and doing things.
• She Leads Africa’s Joburg leg of the SheHive is at OPEN inside The Main Change in Maboneng until November 6. Tickets are available at www.sheleadsafrica.org