Johannesburg, South Africa – 13 to 19 November marks World Entrepreneurship Week and the Graça Machel Trust Women Creating Wealth programme decided to pay homage to the women entrepreneurs it has been working with in South Africa. Held in Houghton Johannesburg, on November 14th, the Women Creating Wealth Entrepreneurs’ Day brought together entrepreneurs, business coaches and stakeholders to learn from each other, identify potential opportunities to collaborate and celebrate successes.
“We are a Pan-African organisation that works in 18 countries advocating for removing structural barriers and transforming institutions to enhance women and girls’ economic advancement and leadership. Women Creating Wealth (WCW) is the Trust’s flagship programme that focuses on entrepreneurs and has already had an impact in Eastern and Southern Africa. So we are delighted to be able to host such a wonderful event that brings our strategic partners and the entrepreneurs we serve, together.” Shiphra Chisha, Director of programmes – Graça Machel Trust.
Attended by over 100 women entrepreneurs dressed in bright African prints, the day was designed to facilitate learning, sharing and inspiration conversations. Hosted by the very capable Mpho Mashita, there were panel discussions focused on key issues affecting entrepreneurs, followed by robust engagement with the attendees.
“Being part of Women Creating Wealth opens up many opportunities to collaborate with women entrepreneurs in other African countries. You get to network and identify potential opportunities with other like-minded and driven women who are part of the programme. It has helped me shift my mindset around trying to be a 100% owner of everything, everywhere. I now have a business I own 100% in South Africa and I am part owner in other businesses in Botswana and Zambia. This creates opportunities for us to expand, bring other women into the market and lift others as we grow. This allows us to not just be successful alone but be destiny helpers for others.” Thato Mokhothu was on a panel with Angela Senocha, and Nthabiseng Serite talking about compliance and collaboration.
Nthabiseng Serite, a compliance expert, said: “A lot of entrepreneurs don’t think compliance is critical, particularly in industries where certain certificates are required upfront. The sad thing is that this becomes a barrier as many financing institutions require compliance documents. This means entrepreneurs who can actually deliver the work and deserve funding miss out. I appeal to all entrepreneurs to please have their compliance up to date and not miss out on much-deserved opportunities.”
Joining Phuti Mphelo and Kgobati Magome who are WCW business coaches in addition to their professions, was Faith Wesson, a life coach who participates in the current WCW – intergenerational cohort. She took guests through breathing techniques and showed practical mind- mind-conditioning hacks for entrepreneurs to start the day with. Their panel discussed the importance of personal mastery and wellness in entrepreneurship.
Nondumiso Nsibande, Grace Nsomba and Alan Fok were part of the panel that looked at women’s challenges in accessing supply chains, particularly in male-dominated industries. They spoke to entrepreneurs about the importance of understanding the ecosystems they operate in, how to form healthy working relationships with different stakeholders and learning to navigate harmful gender norms.
The programme also provided some of the entrepreneurs an opportunity to pitch their businesses to coaches and get valuable feedback, which they need to be able to pitch to investors soon. The winner received R10 000 worth of business development services – something most entrepreneurs need but can’t afford.
In addition to the entrepreneur community, the event was also attended by the Graça Machel Trust (GMT) donor and strategic partners; The Mastercard Foundation, the Industrial Development Corporation, and the Finance and Accounting Services Sector Education and Training Authority (Fasset). All of them share the Trust’s mission of women’s economic advancement and spoke about their plans to help even more women have the skills they need and access to finance to be able to grow their businesses. Other partners, the African Development Bank and Visa Foundation were not able to attend the event.
“We are proud of how far we have come and are even more excited about our big audacious goal to identify 10,000 entrepreneurs across Africa, inspire and equip them with skills, tools, and networks to create $1 Billion (US) in revenue and create 200 000 jobs, most of them for youth. We are grateful to have partners who understand the importance of supporting women entrepreneurs. We are also intentional in bringing both young and mature entrepreneurs together and will be working with stakeholders in different countries to facilitate young people working with entrepreneurs to multiply our growth. Entrepreneurship requires bravery and a willingness to learn, that’s why we want to support these incredible women who have chosen this path and are willing to do what it takes to grow their businesses from income generation to wealth creation. This is why our theme for the day was ‘enabling entrepreneurs to thrive’ said Korkor Cudjoe – Senior Entrepreneurship Manager, Graça Machel Trust.
November 15th saw the IDC collaborate with GMT to host a workshop for a group of entrepreneurs who are part of the programme and helped them get funding ready. Investors need to know that their money will be put to good use and entrepreneurs need to know how to attract the right investors. We are delighted to partner with IDC to provide awareness on funding readiness and IDC offerings to women-led businesses. We have partnered with great ambition and action to see more women’s businesses funded and are most grateful to be working with a very committed IDC team to see this through ” Korkor Cudjoe, Entrepreneurship Manager, Graça Machel Trust.
We are opening another cycle of call to the application as The Trust celebrates women entrepreneurs. Keep an eye on our social media accounts (@Graça Machel Trust) for updates and links to the programme application.
For more information about the programme, call 011 325 0501
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