Women in business: Two steps forward, one step back | Zelensky's African charm offensive | Ghana's gamble
Women in business: Two steps forward, one step back.
Women in Africa are leading the way when it comes to establishing their own businesses. A quarter of all businesses on the continent are started or run by women, in contrast to Europe where the share of entrepreneurial activity by women is a lowly 5.7%. Women’s strong participation in business in Africa is linked to a number of factors, including survival – formal job prospects can be limited, necessitating innovation and self-employment by women.
Conversely, it is also likely that strong economic growth in many countries, widespread urbanisation and changing laws around women’s rights across the continent have enabled much greater female participation in businesses in recent years. There are also now far more initiatives that encourage women’s participation.?
Despite considerable progress, structural, social and infrastructure challenges persist. Whereas more and more women are participating in the private sector, it is is not always sustained higher up the career ladder. At the board and CEO level, “women almost become a rarity,” according to an expert from the World Bank's Gender Innovation Lab.?
Finance is also a problem - women have a harder time raising funds for their businesses and are too often the objects of male scorn or jealousy. This International Women's Day, businesses on the continent should think about the structural issues that are holding their female employees back, and redouble their efforts to ensure the workplace is an equal space for all.
For more coverage around International Women's Day, see African Business's Women in Business dossier or subscribe to the print magazine to receive the March issue
- David Thomas, Editor, African Business
BUSINESS BRIEFS
ZELENSKY'S AFRICAN CHARM OFFENSIVE | Ukraine promises more grain and investment for Africa as well as a historic first visit to the continent by President Volodomyr Zelensky, reports Chris Bishop in Kyiv. >> Read more
GHANA'S GAMBLE?| Ghana’s finance ministry suggested that?an anti-LGBT+ law approved by parliament would jeopardise $3.8bn of World Bank funding over the next five to six years, meaning that Ghana would have to cut its 2024 budget by $600m. >> Read more
SMALL TRADERS AWAIT AfCFTA BENEFITS?|?As Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe hosts the UNECA 2024 Conference of Ministers, cross border traders share their trading experiences and frustrations with the AfCFTA. >> Read more
ON THE GREY LIST?|?The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force announced that Kenya?and Namibia have been found to have inadequate measures in place to combat money laundering and terrorism financing. >> Read more
STAR INTERVIEW
“We need to focus on a practical, collaborative and regional approach.”
Interview with: Claver Gatete
Speaking at the UNECA 2024 Conference of Ministers in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, UNECA executive secretary Claver Gatete discusses the ways for?African countries to achieve their mutual ambitions, from macroeconomic management, to the role of financial institutions and?philanthropies.??>> Read more?
In partnership with Ecobank
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"Every organisation must be deliberate about creating an environment that enables female employees to put their best foot forward."
Nana Araba Abban is group executive, consumer banking at Ecobank and co-chair of the Bank’s Diversity and Inclusion Council. How has being a woman in such a position been for her, and what can be done to take advantage of diversity? >> Read more
GUEST INSIGHT
“We need to focus on a practical, collaborative and regional approach”
Opinion by: Faten Aggad
The Brazilian Presidency of the G20, followed by the first G20 meetings on African soil, in South Africa in 2025, present the African Union with an opportunity to seed ideas on its ambitions.?
Faten Aggad, member of the African high-level panel on the reforms of the multilateral system, discusses Africa's top priorities.??>> Read more
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