Bereng Mpaki
SPEAKERS at the Standard Lesotho Bank’s Women Entrepreneurship Conference this week said women’s multi-skill set makes them suitable for them to contribute positively towards economic growth.
The two-day conference which started on Monday and ended on Tuesday deliberated on the role that women entrepreneurs play in driving the economy. The conference was held in commemoration of women’s month, August.
Consultant and Inspire Innovation founder, Likeleli Monyamane, moderated the virtual conference. Inspire Innovation partners with SLB in women empowerment initiatives.
Basotho Enterprises Development Corporation (BEDCO) chief executive officer (CEO) Idia Penane, said unlike men, women were resilient and patient in business.
“The attributes that we possess as women help us drive entrepreneurship and economic development,” Ms Penane said.
“Women are resilient, patient and tend to look at things differently from men. For instance, women are do not have the get rich quick type of mentality like their male counter parts. They are prepared to put in the required efforts to build their enterprise over a number of years before starting to reap financial benefits.”
She said women were also good at relationship building, which is a requirement for success in business. By virtue of constituting a larger part of the population, women must play a bigger role in economic development, she said.
Ms Penane said one of the factors that restrict women from playing a bigger role in driving economic development was the lack of equitable pay.
On her part, Mahlompho Mojakhomo, SLB’s head of relationship banking said they have multiple enterprise support platforms that women can take advantage of to develop their businesses.
Among these is the Africa-China agent proposition, which enables local entrepreneurs to directly link with sources of their stock in China through a secure and affordable platform.
She said they also provide a match-making opportunity for local entrepreneurs to network with their Chinese counterparts to share product sourcing and supply opportunities.
“Through the match making-facility, our local entrepreneurs will not only get a chance to source products from China but will also be able to export to China,” Ms Mojakhomo said.
