On building systems, handing over, and what comes next for the ELG

In the months since the Women Creating Wealth Entrepreneurs Summit 2025, one message from Dr Tukiya Kankasa-Mabula has continued to resonate: lasting inclusion depends on systems change, not good intentions. Reflecting on the summit, she described a generational shift — women who were confident, ambitious, and “ready for a revolution.” On a panel examining where capital sits, how it is allocated, and who is left out, she was direct: progress will not come from intentions alone, but from reshaping the systems that determine access and opportunity.

“It’s not automatic that being a woman makes you gender-sensitive.”

As the outgoing Chairperson of the Graça Machel Trust’s Expert Leaders Group (ELG), Dr Kankasa-Mabula has drawn a consistent line from convening to outcomes. The ELG was co-created in 2020 when Mrs Graça Machel brought together a small team — including Dr Monique Nsanzabaganwa, then Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Rwanda, and Dr Charity Dhliwayo, former Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe — to build a platform that could move financial inclusion for women from policy aspiration to institutional reality. Work began with national convenings in at least seven countries, expanding into regional platforms across the East African Community (EAC), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

This approach has deep roots. More than two decades ago, the New Faces, New Voices (NFNV) Zambia chapter grew from an early engagement Mrs Graça Machel held with Zambian leaders. Its founding members, including Dr Tukiya, came largely from the central bank and the wider financial sector — establishing a durable way of working that the ELG has built on ever since.

Dr Kankasa-Mabula laid out concrete steps for systems change: run a gender audit to identify gaps; establish a permanent Gender Specialist role within the central bank; encourage commercial banks and financial service providers to use the ILO’s FAMOS Check (Female and Male Operated Small Enterprises); and ensure the consistent collection of sex-disaggregated data so that policies, products, and communication genuinely meet women’s needs. She noted her contribution to a 2012 Making Finance Work for Africa Policy Brief on women’s financial inclusion and distilled the principle simply: “Systems should be fair, transparent, and responsive.”

“Systems should be fair, transparent, and responsive.”

Leadership, she emphasised, is a relay. The ELG’s convening role is intentionally rotational, recognising country champions who drive progress at home. Acknowledging Ms Gail Makenete, Second Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Lesotho, for her year of convenorship, and welcoming Mrs Aishah Ahmad’s leadership for the next phase, she was clear: “Recognition matters. We should correct omissions quickly and graciously.”

Her handover is a continuation, not a pause. Aishah Ahmad now carries the work forward — keeping women’s leadership central on national and continental agendas, strengthening links across Graça Machel Trust networks, and aligning the financial sector from within. The spine of the work remains the same: convene, listen, use data, and measure what matters.

Dr Kankasa-Mabula sees ELG convenings as more than forums for discussion — they are where policy becomes implementable, where regional work gains traction, and where national efforts learn from one another. The funding-landscape discussions she shaped carry a practical message: to widen participation, systems must reduce friction and sharpen accountability, from boardrooms to branch-level processes. Even when speaking about structures and mechanisms, she holds a human-centred lens — acknowledging contributions, making space for others to lead, and keeping the work moving forward with purpose.

From left to right, Shiphra Chisha (Director of Programmes, Graça Machel Trust) stands with regional women leaders and partners – Dr Theopista Ntale (NFNV Uganda), Dr Graça Malindi (NABW Malawi), Gisèle Yitamben (NFNV Cameroon), Andia Chakava (Managing Partner, Afrishela), Aishatu Aminu (NFNV Nigeria), Dr Tukiya Kankasa-Mabula (Outgoing Chairperson, GMT Expert Leaders Group—Zambia), Penny Mapoma (NFNV Zambia), Aishah Ahmad (ELG Nigeria), Emma Kawawa (NFNV Tanzania), Korkor Cudjoe (Entrepreneurship Programme Manager, GMT), and Maureen Sumbwe (Chair, ZFWEB & COMFWB—Zambia), captured at the Women Creating Wealth Entrepreneurs Summit, where Dr Kankasa-Mabula emphasised that inclusion is built through systems change, and marked the ELG leadership relay as Aishah Ahmad steps into the next chapter.