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ENTREPRENEURS OF THE WORLD CONVERGE FOR AFRICA FOR AFRICA WOMEN'S CONFERENCE
By Nando Fayo and Siphumelele Mdyodyo

In commemoration of International Women’s Day, women and men across the entire world converged in Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality at the International Convention Centre in Boardwalk from the 08th – 10th of March 2015 to share information on how best the African continent can further improve the quality life of its women.

The African Union announced that 2015 is set as the ‘YEAR OF WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT AND DEVLOPMENT TOWARDS AFRICA’S AGENDA 2063. The main purpose of the conference was to create a vibrant and dynamic network of women leaders and entrepreneurs to actively champion the cause of women emancipation, accelerate intra-African trade and improving access to markets of developed countries and also to create a platform for Women of Africa to share knowledge with respect to leadership and entrepreneurship.

The event hosted by the Department of Social Development and its stakeholders was dubbed Africa for Africa Women’s Conference with an astonishing creative theme: "locating women at the centre of the global economy for sustainable development”. Calling for greater equality and intense women empowerment, guest from outside counties such as India, United Kingdom, Kenya, Belgium, Netherlands and Ghana made great presentations, sharing their success stories and best practices when it comes to realizing the full potential of women in their respective countries.

The event was graced by the presence of the South African State President, Honourable Jacob Zuma, who gave speech during the event gala dinner prepared on the opening day of the conference. Zuma outlined the lengthy path that the country is taking to reach gender equality and also attributed on the strides and progress the country has made since democracy emerged.

On Day 2, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Honourable Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma delivered an overwhelming speech when she was officially opening the conference through a tele-conference call. On her speech she said although she was outside the country during the conference, she was part of it because she watched it through live stream initiated the conference’s top sponsor Vodacom.

The notion of poverty experienced by women due to socio-economic inequality in their respective societies was raised in almost all the presentations made on the first and second day of the conference.

Development of Women’s Bank, intra-continental trade promotion, capacity building, training and skills development, Business unity amongst women of Africa, Government support through provision of funding and involvement in Women empowering initiatives, formulation of gender empowerment policies and utilization of new effective communication approaches for business development, Women leadership development and accessibility of land to women, were the suggested as direct remedies during the conference.

Nokwanele Ivy Mzazo who won the Eastern Cape Citrus Farmer of the year in 2014 also took a stand presenting her victories as a female citrus producer for the export market. Her farm produces citrus fruit and export to Middle East, Europe, United Kingdom, Russia, Canada and China. She encouraged other women to stay focused on what they want and remain unshaken in order to fight poverty. She says she uses the skills and training she has to reach out to other women, to help them empower themselves.

Ms Margaret Chacha who championed the establishment of Women’s Bank in Tanzania in 2009 also gave a presentation on “African Innovation on Financial Inclusion of Women”. She said when focusing deeper on African women and their challenges, the challenges are many and varied. She said economic dependency, limited access to education and information, discriminatory cultural and social attitudes and negative stereotypes are the causes of lack of women economic emancipation.

In an effort to culminate the crosscutting discussions and topics, commissions were arranged on the third day, with all representatives from various provincial government departments to present their programmes and initiatives that are aligned to women development. Deliberations and recommendations were thoroughly articulated at the assembly.

During the conference it was also resolved that the conference be held annually, hosted by the Department of Social Development in partnership with the Office of the Premier and the Legislature in the Eastern Cape Province for the next coming three years.