Women Entrepreneurs

It’s World Entrepreneurship Week and throughout this week globally the world will be celebrating the work and the achievements of entrepreneurs.  I am particularly excited that on Wednesday 19th November, as part of World Entrepreneurship Week, globally the work, the courage and the talents of women entrepreneurs will be celebrated under the auspices of Women Entrepreneurship Day.  It’s our day!

Some may gape at the thought.  After all, why would we need a special day dedicated to women entrepreneurs?  We don’t, after all, have a day dedicated to male entrepreneurs.  My response and posit is that men have always been in the Boardroom, and whilst we must and should also celebrate the work and innovation of the world’s amazing male entrepreneurs, it is necessary to celebrate women entrepreneurs in particular because it takes a particular, brave, courageous kind of woman to venture into the world of entrepreneurship.  Far fetched?  I don’t think so.  Here’s why.
Business enterprise involves massive risk taking.  Risking the stability of a regular monthly salary for irregular income. Risking the stability of working in a controlled environment of the workplace, to an environment in which you, quite frankly, are not sure what tomorrow will bring and how and if you will close a deal and earn income.  Risking knowing that from 9am to 5pm you are working and can be home by 6pm ready to do homework with the children, have dinner with them and read them a bed time story.  Risking that for days and nights of not knowing even if the money in the bank can stretch to pay next term’s school fees.  Yes, it can all be very exasperating.
And that is precisely why I think we must celebrate women entrepreneurs.  For not only have they dared to trade off certainty, they also have the courage and the tenacity to literally come out of the closet and say to the world, ‘I have a product and/or a service that I think the world needs, and I will provide you with that good and or service in a manner that no-one else has ever done.’  That is entrepreneurship.  That is also courage.  Particularly in the African context, this is even more significant.  For, like it or not, we live in a patriarchal society.  There are clearly defined roles for men and clearly defined roles of women.  Any waiver for either of these puts you in the spotlight for both criticism and acclaim.  It’s a painstaking journey, but we must never give up.
If I can use my personal story as an example, I came into entrepreneurship quite by chance.  I had enjoyed a successful international career for 20 years.  I had travelled the world, met with Presidents and Prime Ministers, mingled with heads of corporations and earned an attractive remuneration in the process.  But I realized that I wanted more than my current work life was offering – despite the seeming desirable benefits.  I wanted to impact my world.  It was a painstaking decision and I lost sleep negotiating the pros and cons.  But I realized that the call to use the skills, knowledge, and insight I had acquired over the past two decades to support women entrepreneurs and CEOs to reach their full economic potential through executive and business coaching was more urgent than a seemingly comfortable life in the corporate world. I had to oblige.
I took a risk, and I am glad I did.  Yes, there are uncertainties – but there is also much joyfulness in the process.  The feedback from clients, engaging with clients, supporting clients to transform their business and the lives, growing my network, meeting new people, forging new partnerships, realizing new opportunities, having more time to do what I want to do, living my life.  All of that takes courage for many wallow in seeming stability only to trade of joy and fulfillment.
My hope and my dream for all women entrepreneurs in Africa today is that through our businesses, we take up the challenge to offer the world our best.  That we take up the challenge to be co-creators with The Creator as we offer goods and services to the world around us in a way that He, The Creator, would be proud of; and that we continue in courage to realize our full personal and professional potential – transforming our world and our bank accounts even as we do so!  Here’s to you, women entrepreneurs!