The Council of Governors Chair, Anne Waiguru, has asked women entrepreneurs to mentor their fellow women as a way of bridging the gender gap that exists in the world of business.
Waiguru who is also a second-time governor of Kirinyaga County said that many women who are in the business world lack skills to run their enterprises with only 5pc of them having prior business skill training while 70pc of them get training from social contacts.
She said that while small firms record the highest percentage of the presence of a female top manager at 22.1pc, this number decreases with the growing size of the firms to only 8.8pc in large firms.
She was addressing participants in the Women In Business Awards ceremony held in Nairobi on Friday. She noted that 50pc of MSME’s are run by women and therefore sharing success stories is very crucial in the collective progress.
“One thing I ask us today as Women In Business is that we strive for one goal only. Keeping women in business long and deep enough to ensure that we don’t have business dropouts. That we do not leave before the end has arrived.
Women in Business should stay long and deep enough until we not only own large firms but also manage large enterprises at the top level,” said the governor.
She said that awarding successful business women was a way of celebrating women who have worked hard to excel in business noting that the space for women is growing in terms of value and impact and therefore women should strive to work together and motivate one another as they expand their space.
Waiguru shared that she has come a long way from being a financial professional, a governance practitioner and a politician, roles she has had to balance with being a wife and a mother.
She noted that success, however, comes after long days and nights of strategy, persuasion, negotiation, compromise, prayers and networks. She added that she has had to survive many battle fronts but she kept going.
The Women in Business Awards seek to honor outstanding women in business for their impact on the society’s socio-economic development.
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