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On July 2 and 3, the first edition of the Africa CEO Forum Women in Business was held in Paris, at the initiative of Jeune Afrique Media Group, in partnership with the International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF) and Essec Business School.
Sharing of experiences, co-optation on boards of directors, information on business opportunities … All this information usually goes through the formal or personal networks of managers. But Sandra Sancier-Sultan, senior associate at McKinsey and co-author of the Women Matter report, said: "Different studies have shown that we are more likely to go to people who look like us, and that women, who are in the minority in management positions, often more brakes than men on the idea of soliciting potential partners or mentors. "
Invited on the occasion of the Women in Business Forum, organized in Paris, July 2 and 3, by Jeune Afrique Media Group ( JAMG) in partnership with OIF and Essec Business School, the consultant shared the results of her work with 150 women leaders from all over the continent.
Called to be an annual event, this event embodies JAMG's commitment to feminization of the business community (see our gallery, p.60) . This approach dates back to the launch of the Africa CEO Forum, which in a few years has become the most important meeting place for the African private sector. In the first editions, women were rare, very rare even
I always went ahead saying that my failure would be that of all African women. "- Daphne Mashile-Nkosi
" From In 2015, we changed the program of the conference by devoting panels and workshops to these questions, which increased the participants' share from 13% to 20%. We also imposed that there should be systematically at least one woman among the panelists. But we have to go further, "says Amir Ben Yahmed, General Manager of Jeune Afrique Media Group and President of the Africa CEO Forum.
That's why during the Women in Business Forum, six circles of regional women's influence covering all of Africa and internationally, through the Women In Business Network (read below) . During the event, between conferences, workshops and informal meetings, women entrepreneurs like Anta Babacar Ngom, general manager of Sedima in Senegal, Ibukun Awosika, president of First Bank Nigeria, or Oluwatoyin Sanni, who "wanted to be CEO at 37 "And actually took the lead of United Capital Plc at the right time, told the audience about the obstacles they encountered and how they went about it to cross them.
" J ' It took me a long time to succeed, but during the phases of discouragement I always went ahead and told myself that my failure would be that of all African women, "said Daphne Mashile-Nkosi, executive president of the South African mining company Kalagadi Manganese
The moment to act
For Viviane de Beaufort, a professor and researcher at Essec Business School, it's time to take action: " In France, the Coy-Zimmermann law already requires companies employing more than 500 employees to have at least 40% of women (or men) on their board of directors and will soon involve companies with more than 250 employees. In the United Kingdom, they have preferred an incentive policy for the imposition of quotas, but the same dynamic is taking shape. This is an opportunity to seize because all these companies, in Europe but also in their subsidiaries in Africa and elsewhere, will look for female candidates, preferably international, likely to join their board . It's up to you to go beyond the psychological brakes, to make yourself known and to prepare your candidacy, "she explained, before Marlyn Mouliom-Roosalem and Françoise Remarck-Le Guennou – who joined, for the first time, the council. of Afriland First Bank and, for the second, that of Bicici (a subsidiary of BNP Paribas) and Canal + Côte d'Ivoire, which it chairs – do not adduce any evidence to that effect.
> >> READ: Let's feminize our boards of directors!
And if African countries have not yet taken such initiatives, the leaders who participated in the conference committed themselves to work in this direction, in the image of Rebecca Enonchong, CEO and founder of Appstech, Cameroon, who expressed her hurry "to no longer be the only woman within [son] own board of directors."
This dynamic joins a another project launched by Jeune Afrique Media Group during last Africa CEO Forum, March 26-27 in Abidjan: Women on Board. "This is a networking approach that involves bringing together companies seeking to open their board of directors and women wishing to bring their expertise," says Yves Biyah, Deputy CEO of Jeune Afrique Media Group. in charge of development
Six regional networks
The six clusters of the Women in Business Network, officially launched at the end of the conference, will operate autonomously. Each entity, voluntarily led by a pair of businesswomen, will have to choose a concrete objective to work on ( mentoring, creation of an investment fund, lobbying on issues of diversity …). For Yves Biyah, Deputy Director General of Jeune Afrique Media Group in charge of development, this organization "devoted to the private and apolitical sector" comes "in addition to the initiatives that already exist at national levels".
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