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Women in Business

Advancing women into senior leadership positions is everyone’s responsibility The burden of increasing female representation in senior positions needs to stop being a women-only agenda – in the same manner that topics affecting minority groups are erroneously assigned to individuals from those groups instead of the majority groups that are in a position of influence. In business, the main decision-making power still primarily rests with men. Research shows that less than 5% of businesses globally are led by women, and women fill less than 25% of senior leadership positions. That means the views and decision-making at the top remain biased towards one gender. Merely empowering women to own the “women” agenda is not really helping anyone as those women are not in the position of influence needed to effect impactful change. Worse, in the instances where there is that one woman who has managed to break through the supposed glass ceiling, she is...

Business in africa

Learn from youth’s street smarts Informal learning helps mould new leaders. With Youth Day having been celebrated this week, at a time when the economy is in the state it is, I cannot help but be reminded of the increasing role that today’s young people will play in driving economic growth. They are the leaders of tomorrow who must be groomed today. They will be responsible for ensuring that our businesses and institutions are led in ways that will help us revive growth and achieve the long-term goals of the country. They will also need to learn how to become the kind of leaders who understand how to build an economy that creates opportunities for the youth, especially when all the numbers show that Africa will have the world’s biggest and youngest population of working age within a few decades. This is something we need to turn into an advantage, rather than a disadvantage. We...

Entrepreneurship

Learn from youth’s street smarts Informal learning helps mould new leaders. With Youth Day having been celebrated this week, at a time when the economy is in the state it is, I cannot help but be reminded of the increasing role that today’s young people will play in driving economic growth. They are the leaders of tomorrow who must be groomed today. They will be responsible for ensuring that our businesses and institutions are led in ways that will help us revive growth and achieve the long-term goals of the country. They will also need to learn how to become the kind of leaders who understand how to build an economy that creates opportunities for the youth, especially when all the numbers show that Africa will have the world’s biggest and youngest population of working age within a few decades. This is something we need to turn into an advantage, rather than a disadvantage. We...

Leadership

Passion gives ideas a life of their own On Sunday last week, I found myself on a panel adjudicating business pitches presented by entrepreneurs from around South Africa. They entered the Legends in the Making Competition and won the opportunity to attend a weekend entrepreneurship boot camp in Pretoria organised by Somafco Trust, a social enterprise focused on youth development. I was intrigued to see young people, mostly from underprivileged backgrounds, following their dreams and committing to build businesses. It was truly courageous of them to stand up, speak their minds and receive a barrage of questions from a panel of adjudicators. Such behaviour puts them leaps and bounds ahead of those who have not even started turning their ideas into reality. I have been coaching people on effective presentations for many years – anything from personal talks to presentations for the boards of big businesses. One thing that I have found time and again is...