East African techpreneur Neema Iyer works at the intersection of data, design and digital to eventually enable products, policies and programs that take into account the needs of African women.



ARE GENDER DIFFERENCES AS RIFE on the world wide web as in the real world? When technologist Neema Iyer returned home to Africa after graduating from Emory University in the United States with a degree in epidemiology and statistics, she was bent on addressing gender from a technology perspective. 



Born to Tanzanian and Indian parents and raised in Nigeria, 34-year-old Iyer is today running Pollicy, a firm she founded in Kampala, Uganda, as a civic technology organization that works at the intersection of data design and technology and understanding how data can be used most effectively for improving service delivery through research, digital literacy, digital security and products. 



When she first touched down, she took up a job in Uganda where she worked in the ICT sector, but under predominantly white, male founders from the West. There was also a lack of touch points in governments with the African context. So Iyer decided she needed a fresh perspective using a gender lens.



“When you really look at it like a lot of technology, a lot of data, the systems are developed in Silicon Valley and I don’t feel that African women are particularly the end users when they design different technology,” says Iyer. 



Pollicy, funded mostly by grants from big tech like Facebook and Mozilla, more broadly focuses on gendered data and feminist data, that takes into account power dynamics and the person researching. 



“If you don’t have this kind of data, then it would be very difficult to make platforms or policies of programs that really take into account the needs of African women and what are the challenges and what are the gaps,” she says. 



For instance, field research or product development would usually involve talking to the head of the household or people in authority, which would usually be men. There are many other situations where women may not be allowed to take part in research, and Iyer thinks challenging this status quo is more important now more than ever. 



“Women in Africa are least likely to be connected to the internet, so there’s a very big digital gender gap. And they tend to have lower digital literacy, they tend to have lower ownership of mobile devices, they tend to have lower access to information. So, when you take all of these things into account, you can’t just have a one-size-fits-all solution for everyone.” Iyer notes cultural differences in even who can answer a phone call or who can own a phone. 



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Afrofeminist-Data-Futures-7-914x1024.png" alt="" class="wp-image-51400" width="315" height="353" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Afrofeminist-Data-Futures-7-914x1024.png 914w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Afrofeminist-Data-Futures-7-268x300.png 268w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Afrofeminist-Data-Futures-7-768x860.png 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Afrofeminist-Data-Futures-7-1371x1536.png 1371w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Afrofeminist-Data-Futures-7-1829x2048.png 1829w" sizes="(max-width: 315px) 100vw, 315px" /></figure></div>



These restrict women’s voices and participation. And even those can be online, as substantiated by online violence and gender disinformation. “It basically leads to the censorship of women, it leads to them leaving online spaces…if you don’t really think about these issues from the gender nuance, then you can replicate a lot of the discrimination that already exists in the physical world.” 



For her, these aspects need attention to meet the different needs of people, and to build products accordingly. Iyer is also interested in combining art and data. 



“So, moving beyond just spreadsheets and trying to make data more accessible to people.” 



For example, her team worked on a project in Uganda called ‘Create Your Kampala’, where they collected data from local communities on different social services, and then worked with them to create wall murals as a way to share back their data and get people involved in the conversation. 



“[We wanted to say] ‘you own this data; this is your data; how are you going to use it to improve your situation’?” 



But the challenge is that a number of African countries are not moving as quickly as they should in using, supporting and protecting data. Data collection is expensive, there are many administrative hurdles, and it needs a lot of trustbuilding. Pollicy is about four years old and Iyer had hoped it would have made more headway in this time, thinking there would have been be so many competitors in the space by now. 



“When I look back, I don’t feel like so much has changed, like we’re still very much lagging in the conversations. A lot of the artificial intelligence conversations are dominated way more by other countries, and even though funders are trying to do more in the African context, there is just not enough happening. So, I would love to see more organizations coming out and doing much, much more work on everything from collecting data, to analyzing it, to processing it, to getting value from it… with a feminist lens.” 



Iyer asserts that data will really help drive innovation and improve services, because if people know where the gaps are, then they can improve business, creativity and products. There is, of course, the fear that governments could use these systems to oppress dissenting voices. 



“Everything we do is grounded in ethics and equity and inclusiveness, so that when you do build technology, it’s not used to harm marginalized people… we need to come together now to think about that and to come up with solutions… I feel like there’s this urgency that we need to come up with better laws that work for everyone.”



Another challenge Iyer notes is the need to make data as intersectional as possible. 



“You don’t want power to be concentrated… so really thinking about power dynamics when you use data, I think it’s that intersectionality of gender and class and tribe and ethnicity, so that you can really make equitable products from the data.” 



Iyer also hopes to expand beyond Africa’s borders and continue working with government and civil society to create a better world. “You know, crafting our futures together in a way that works for everyone; that’s equitable and that’s inclusive and we want to make our own decisions for ourselves; so I really want to push that narrative.”



BY INAARA GANGJI

Ninnojackjr 2

Driving Feminist Data For Change

Long before the ubiquity of Covid-19, Tiffany Dufu had plans to kick off a seed round in March 2020. Then the pandemic hit and both she and her husband contracted the virus.&nbsp;



While juggling childcare responsibilities and an illness that has claimed the lives of about 200,000 people in the U.S., the mother of two and the founder of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thecru.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Cru</a>, a peer coaching service for women, scheduled video sessions with hundreds of investors, taking ten-minute naps in between calls.



“I knew it would be a daunting task but the reality was that we weren’t yet at a place of cash flow break-even and I needed to raise more capital to ensure the sustainability and the health of my business,” says Dufu, who closed a nearly $2 million seed round in July, led by the early-stage venture firm Alpine Meridian and Bloomberg Beta.



For Dufu, who raised a $1 million round in 2019 and already had a solid network of investors with a vested interest in her company, her fundraising experience was on par—or even better—than the ordeal for most female founders, who now face greater headwinds due to Covid-19.



Since the onset of the pandemic, female founders, particularly those of color, report lower capital buffers and a higher likelihood of pausing prior plans to raise capital, according to a recent survey of early-stage founders by the advocacy group All Raise.



“Women don&#8217;t have access to the same opportunities for raising capital and they entered this pandemic in a capital deficient modality,” says All Raise CEO Pam Kostka. “As a result, they have substantially less runway to figure things out, make mistakes and weather storms.”



Just 26% of female founders report having at least 12 months of runway, compared to 38% of male founders. That number drops to 19% for female founders of color. Dufu, a Black female founder, says she had five months of runway in February 2020.



Women entrepreneurs have long faced barriers to raising capital, but 2019 saw a record number of female-founded startups land deals and reach&nbsp;<a href="https://news.crunchbase.com/news/female-founded-unicorns-are-being-born-at-an-unprecedented-rate-in-2019-data-shows/#:~:text=Venture-,Female%2Dfounded%20Unicorns%20Are%20Being%20Born%20At%20An,Rate%20In%202019%2C%20Data%20Shows&amp;text=When%20Rent%20the%20Runway%20and,points%20for%20being%20twin%20unicorns." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">billion dollar valuations</a>. With the emergence of the coronavirus at the top of the year, advocates and underrepresented founders warned of a gender regression on what had been slow but still considerable progress in the VC world, as investors adopted a more risk-averse approach to capital deployment and doubled down on their current portfolios and networks amid shelter-in-place orders and travel restrictions.



“In the near term, there&#8217;s been this sense of hunkering down and supporting your existing portfolio companies. But there are also people saying, ‘Yeah, I&#8217;ll take that Zoom call and maybe I&#8217;ll invest in this person because my friend tells me that they&#8217;re great,’” says Jenny Abramson, founder and managing partner of Rethink Impact, a venture capital firm that invests in female leaders.&nbsp;



This new normal could also have the opposite effect, she says, and investors may soon realize that they have to intentionally broaden their networks and hire diverse talent in order to remain competitive, given their limited mobility. “The pandemic made the fundraising process far more efficient because everyone was meeting over Zoom and you could schedule 30 or 40-minute calls back-to-back,” Dufu says.



Industry-wide, VC firms scaled back their investment pace during the first half of 2020, and although most early-stage founders can attest to feeling the capital crunch, women have shouldered a disproportionate burden. Overall deal activity for female-founded companies has declined in 2020, with women founders receiving 4.3% of venture deals in the first quarter,&nbsp;<a href="https://pitchbook.com/news/reports/q2-2020-pitchbook-nvca-venture-monitor?utm_medium=nl-na&amp;utm_source=reports&amp;utm_campaign=q2-2020-pitchbook-nvca-venture-monitor" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">down from 7.1%&nbsp;</a>in the first quarter of 2019.



After a year of some forward momentum in the VC space, these numbers are discouraging for female founders, and even more so for founders of color who receive less than 1% of all venture capital investment. About 14% of founders of color started the year expecting to fundraise but have since scrapped those plans, versus 7% of white founders, according to the All Raise survey. Kotska says this is the wrong response.



“We’re in a moment where we need to drive change and so we need entrepreneurs coming forward with their innovation and ideas, and we need [investors] to meet them. This a two way street.”



After the death of George Floyd, some investors have become motivated to seek out underrepresented founders and create or amplify diversity and inclusion practices. Firms like Sequoia Capital and Benchmark publicly pledged to ramp up their support of Black founders, while others like SoftBank and Andreessen Horowitz dedicated&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ruthumoh/2020/06/03/softbank-creates-100-million-fund-to-invest-in-entrepreneurs-of-color">new venture funds</a>&nbsp;to invest in startups led by Black and brown entrepreneurs. Earlier this month, GGV capital led a&nbsp;<a href="https://labusinessjournal.com/news/2020/aug/17/valence-5-million-raise-black-professional-network/#:~:text=Santa%20Monica%2Dbased%20Valence%20Enterprises,to%20just%20over%20%247.7%20million." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$5.25 million Series A</a>&nbsp;for Valence, a professional network that connects Black entrepreneurs to partners at firms like Greylock and Upfront Ventures.



“Investors are realizing that entrepreneurs who have been under-invested in can drive financial performance,” says Abramson, whose female-focused venture fund raised $182 million in July, far exceeding its $150 million target.&nbsp;



“Underrepresented founders are disproportionately tackling some of the biggest societal challenges because they see them in their daily lives, and they provide very-of-the moment business opportunities and real value.” Some of those challenges include access to clean drinking water, mental health support and childcare provisions.



Investors are also reading the writing on the wall: By 2030, women are expected to control two-thirds of the nation’s wealth, while people of color are projected to make up the<a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2018/03/14/the-us-will-become-minority-white-in-2045-census-projects/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;demographic majority</a>&nbsp;by 2045. “With that, you’re getting more and more people saying, ‘Wait a minute, I want to invest in people who represent a range of perspectives on society,’” Abramson says.



The 2008 recession ushered in a wave of digital-first startups, like Uber and Airbnb, that capitalized on the economic climate at the time and helped expand the gig economy. While the current pandemic-related economic downturn shares some similarities to its predecessor, it’s also uniquely different, Kotska says.



“The future Googles and Facebooks are going to emerge from this and we have a unique opportunity to ensure that the funding, founding and scaling of those companies is done with  diversity, equity and inclusion built into their very fabric.”



-Ruth Umoh, Forbes Staff

Young woman wearing a protective face mask and using a laptop in a restaurant

Female Founders Face Funding Hurdles And Report Less Runway Amid Pandemic

Assumpta Uwamariya makes wine out of beetroot and has become a sparkling role model for other Rwandan women. 



The beautiful hill country of Rwanda is typically not known for its wine industry, but is reputed for its innovative entrepreneurs. And 30-year-old Assumpta Uwamariya is one such, making red wine from an unconventional source – beetroot.



Based in Rubavu district in western Rwanda, Uwamariya started off farming different types of vegetables, and at first, decided on making juice out of beetroot.&nbsp;



August 2015 marked the beginning of what she describes as a “tough journey”. She had no working space of her own and could only produce 20 liters of juice.



The turning point came in 2016 when she was chosen the best young innovator at the YouthConnekt Africa Awards, bagging $5,000. That enabled her to hire labor, buy new equipment and acquire more knowledge through training.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="805" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Assoumpta-Uwamariya-arranging-bottles-of-wine-in-her-wine-shop-at-Mahoko-Centre-in-Rubavu-District-on-Thursday-January-19-2017.-Emmanuel-Ntirenganya-1-1024x805.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-44547" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Assoumpta-Uwamariya-arranging-bottles-of-wine-in-her-wine-shop-at-Mahoko-Centre-in-Rubavu-District-on-Thursday-January-19-2017.-Emmanuel-Ntirenganya-1-1024x805.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Assoumpta-Uwamariya-arranging-bottles-of-wine-in-her-wine-shop-at-Mahoko-Centre-in-Rubavu-District-on-Thursday-January-19-2017.-Emmanuel-Ntirenganya-1-scaled-300x236.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Assoumpta-Uwamariya-arranging-bottles-of-wine-in-her-wine-shop-at-Mahoko-Centre-in-Rubavu-District-on-Thursday-January-19-2017.-Emmanuel-Ntirenganya-1-scaled-600x472.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Assoumpta-Uwamariya-arranging-bottles-of-wine-in-her-wine-shop-at-Mahoko-Centre-in-Rubavu-District-on-Thursday-January-19-2017.-Emmanuel-Ntirenganya-1-768x604.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Assoumpta-Uwamariya-arranging-bottles-of-wine-in-her-wine-shop-at-Mahoko-Centre-in-Rubavu-District-on-Thursday-January-19-2017.-Emmanuel-Ntirenganya-1-1536x1207.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Assoumpta-Uwamariya-arranging-bottles-of-wine-in-her-wine-shop-at-Mahoko-Centre-in-Rubavu-District-on-Thursday-January-19-2017.-Emmanuel-Ntirenganya-1-2048x1609.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



For a long time, she was making wine from beetroot but later, expanded production to also make wine from fruits such as pineapple and banana. Beetroot wine remains her principal product with the highest demand.



But it was a journey filled with impediments.



&nbsp; “For many, it was too good to be real and their assumption was that I imported [wine] from other countries and just packaged it,” she says.



Even more discouraging to her were comments that a woman had no place in the wine business.



“Money knows no gender. Is it profitable, am I passionate?” That is all that matters, she says.



“I was subjected to mockery from people who consider agriculture an area of the backward and the primitive.”



That didn’t dampen her spirit as she had already had a taste of the industry and knew how profitable it was. She says more young people should be encouraged into the sector.



&nbsp;“We recently went for a field trip to Kenya where a group of 80 young people traveled to visit industries with the government footing the bill.”



Uwamariya sees agriculture as the cornerstone of Rwanda’s economy.



“When you try agriculture, there’s no turning back. I also never thought I would stay in it this long but now I’m proud and determined.”



Her brand, Karisimbi Wines, is also available in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uwamariya’s aspiration is to expand the reach of her products across the globe in the next five years.



Prior to wine-making, she had tried her hand at various businesses. Today, she produces 300 liters of wine every week and has bigger ambitions.



The entrepreneur takes pride in having made money at a young age but her greatest satisfaction lies in showing others what young women are capable of.



“I believe that men and women are equally able and I think it’s high time people started to see that women can be broad-minded, self-reliant and visionary just like our male colleagues,” asserts Uwamariya.



&nbsp;The positive feedback from her consumers motivates and keeps her going in the face of challenges.



When asked what she would have done differently if she could turn the clock back, Uwamariya says she would have entered the agricultural sector even sooner than she did.



But she has invested her time well.



&#8211;Steven Muvunyi

Assumpta Uwamariya showing a beetroot ( in her right hand) at Mahoko Centre in Rubavu District, on January 20, 2017 (Emmanuel Ntirenganya)

Red Riches: This Entrepreneur Makes Wine From An Unconventional Source – Beetroot

At the 2020 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Leading Women Summit in Durban on March 6, for the first time on the same stage, South Africa’s minister Dr Naledi Pandor and her entrepreneur-daughter Dr Aisha Pandor revealed their secrets to continued success.



It’s not often we get to witness a famous mother and daughter on the same stage sharing their lessons on success and legacy. And this duo was certainly doing so for the first time.



At the 2020 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Leading Women Summit in Durban, South Africa, on March 6, Dr Naledi Pandor, the country’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, and Dr Aisha Pandor, CEO and Co-founder of SweepSouth, engaged in a stimulating and thought-provoking panel discussion titled ‘How To Raise A CEO’.



“Thank you very much to FORBES WOMAN AFRICA for the opportunity to be here with Aisha. I don’t often get a chance to see her. So it’s lovely to see you Aisha,” opened the much-loved minister, to laughter from the audience in the large ballroom at the international convention center in Durban.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="517" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Forbes-LWS2020KZN-2778-e1586614377306-1024x517.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-44166" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Forbes-LWS2020KZN-2778-e1586614377306-1024x517.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Forbes-LWS2020KZN-2778-e1586614377306-300x151.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Forbes-LWS2020KZN-2778-e1586614377306-600x303.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Forbes-LWS2020KZN-2778-e1586614377306-768x388.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Forbes-LWS2020KZN-2778-e1586614377306-1536x775.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Forbes-LWS2020KZN-2778-e1586614377306.jpg 1623w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Gugu Mfuphi, Dr Aisha Pandor, and Dr Naledi Pandor </figcaption></figure>



The panel’s moderator Gugu Mfuphi began with a comic disclaimer that Dr Naledi has four children and that Dr Aisha is certainly “not the favorite”. As the audience lapped up the moment, the minister, with a broad smile, shook her head in disagreement, saying: “They are all my favorite!”



<figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote>“It was very clear – just nurture them in a wide range of things. That’s really important.”<cite>&#8211; Dr Naledi Pandor</cite></blockquote></figure>



There was more laughter and life lessons in store, as the audience got to see the lighter side of the minister.



“As a mother, what I tried to do is nurture her where she wished to grow, but also, to encourage her to have as much experience in a range of areas as possible. We would encourage academic work. We also encouraged sport, creativity; all my kids had to do speech and drama at school, it was very clear – just nurture them in a wide range of things. I think that’s really important,” said the senior Pandor.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="711" height="883" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Forbes-LWS2020KZN-2806-cropped.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-44176" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Forbes-LWS2020KZN-2806-cropped.jpg 711w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Forbes-LWS2020KZN-2806-cropped-300x373.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Forbes-LWS2020KZN-2806-cropped-600x745.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Forbes-LWS2020KZN-2806-cropped-242x300.jpg 242w" sizes="(max-width: 711px) 100vw, 711px" /></figure>



While she mapped out her daughter’s career path, she later came to an important realization.



“She was really good in science. I love science but I’m bad at it. So I thought ‘God gave me Aisha, she’s going to achieve you know, because she was good at math and science’. And so she did very well at school, and went into the science faculty, did very well at the undergraduate level, was invited to carry on with an honors degree. She did very well and was asked to proceed to her Masters prior to finishing the honors. So, I was over the moon. It’s my dream, right? She continues from Masters into the PhD track, and completes her PhD with much fanfare and celebration on our part because now I’m thinking ‘here’s our senior research partner’. All these things I’ve been talking about science and technology, my child is going to live the example. Well lo and behold…”



The minister went on to offer more life-changing anecdotes about her daughter.



“One day, Aisha comes with her husband – who happens to be a software engineer – they tell us about this plan they’ve cooked up; that they’re going to start this tech start-up. And so I say to her ‘what about your research career?”. And she goes ‘this is what I want to do”. I say ‘what, but you’ve got a PhD, you could be a professor at the University of Cape Town, what are you talking about?’ And she says, ‘no mom, we’ve designed this program, we’ve started our company’. They began to tell me and her father all about it. Both of us were livid. I must tell you we thought ‘these kids are going to be a problem for us, they’ll be coming to beg for money and everything’. Few years down the line, and here we are! I’m very proud of her. I’ve learned my lesson. Let your children go where they wish to go!”



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="681" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Forbes-LWS2020KZN-2807-1024x681.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-44169" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Forbes-LWS2020KZN-2807-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Forbes-LWS2020KZN-2807-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Forbes-LWS2020KZN-2807-600x399.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Forbes-LWS2020KZN-2807-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Forbes-LWS2020KZN-2807-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Forbes-LWS2020KZN-2807.jpg 1623w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Dr Aisha Pandor</figcaption></figure>



Aisha, along with her husband, learned quickly that being a CEO will require significant sacrifice.



“I lived with my parents for probably four years after starting our business. We eventually ended up selling everything we had, to fund the business,” she said.



“Our parents brought us up to have the right moral compass. Education and the idea of learning and knowledge have been very important. My parents gave us freedom in the decisions we made based on the fact that they knew they had given us that grounding.”  



Watch the full panel discussion below: 



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<iframe loading="lazy" title="#LWS2020KZN: Mother &amp; Daughter - How To Raise A CEO" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kqJiWcLTgGY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>

Forbes LWS2020KZN-2791

How To Raise A CEO: A Mother And Daughter Share Lessons

One of only two female billionaires in Africa, with a net worth of $1 billion, Nigeria’s oil baroness Folorunso Alakija elaborates on the state of African entrepreneurship today. 



The 69-year-old Folorunso Alakija is vice chair of Famfa
Oil, a Nigerian oil exploration company with a stake in Agbami Oilfield, a
prolific offshore asset. Famfa Oil’s partners include Chevron and Petrobras.
Alakija’s first company was a fashion label. The Nigerian government awarded Alakija’s
company an oil prospecting license in 1993, which was later converted to an oil
mining lease. The Agbami field has been operating since 2008; Famfa Oil says it
will likely operate through 2024. Alakija shares her thoughts to FORBES AFRICA
on what makes tomorrow’s billionaires:



What is your take on the state of African entrepreneurship today? Is enough being done for young startups?



There are a lot of business opportunities in Africa that do
not exist in other parts of the world, yet Africa is seen as a poor continent.
The employment constraints in the formal sector in Africa have made it
impossible for it to meet the demands of the continent’s working population of
which over 60% are the youth. Therefore, it is imperative we harness the
potential of Africa’s youth to engage in entrepreneurship and provide adequate
assistance to enable them to succeed. 



Several governments have been working to provide a conducive
atmosphere which will promote entrepreneurship on the continent. However, there
is still a lot more to be done in ensuring that the potential of these young
entrepreneurs are maximized to the fullest. Some of the challenges young
startups in Africa face are as follows: lack of access to finance/insufficient
capital; lack of infrastructure; bureaucratic bottlenecks and tough business
regulations; inconsistent government policies; dearth of entrepreneurial
knowledge and skills; lack of access to information and competition from
cheaper foreign alternatives.



It is therefore imperative that governments,
non-governmental agencies, and the financial sectors work together to
ameliorate these challenges itemized above. 



The governments of African nations should provide and
strengthen its infrastructure (power, roads and telecom); they should encourage
budding entrepreneurs by ensuring that finance is available to businesses with
the potential for growth and also commit to further improving their business
environments through sustained investment; there must also be a constant push
for existing policies and legislation to be reviewed to promote business
activities. 



These policies must also be enforced, and punitive measures
put in place to deter offenders; government regulations should also be flexible
to constantly fit the dynamics of the business environment; corruption and
unethical behavior must be decisively dealt with and not treated with kid
gloves. We must empower our judicial system to enable them to prosecute erring
offenders with appropriate sanctions meted out. There should be no “sacred
cows” or “untouchables”. The same law must be applied to all, no matter their
state or position in the society; non-governmental organizations can also
provide support for them through training and skills acquisition programs that
will help build their capacity; they could also provide finance to grow their
businesses; more mentorship programs should be encouraged, and incubators of
young enterprises should be supported by public policy aimed at improving the
quality of these youths and their ventures; and also, avenues should be created
where young entrepreneurs will be able to connect, learn and share ideas with
already successful well-established entrepreneurs.



What, according to you, are the attributes needed for tomorrow’s billionaires?



There is no overnight success. You must start by dreaming
big and working towards achieving it. You must be determined to succeed despite
all odds. Do not allow your setbacks or failures to stop you but rather make
them your stepping stone. Develop your strengths to attain excellence and be
tenacious, never give up on your dream or aspiration. Your word must be your
bond. You must make strong ethical values and integrity your watchword. Always
act professionally and this will enable you to build confidence in your
customers and clients.&nbsp;

Tag: Female Entrepreneurs

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