Career women take bold step in shipping and logistics industry

Elizabeth Wakesho still remembers her first encounter with stereotype that is rife in the male-dominated logistic sector when she began her sea-based career at the Kenya Ports Authority.

The 26-year-old marine pilot vividly recalls when she boarded a ship with her male colleagues for the first time.

“There were moments when I would board the ships and the captains would want to take pictures (of me) while some would even assume I was accompanying my father due to my petite nature or my gender,” she says. “But It has been an exciting journey.”

Because of its long working hours and technical nature of operations, few women aspire for careers in the shipping and logistics segment. But this was before individual firms began to “empower their female staff” to take up some space in the male domain.

And so there are a number of women engineers like Ms Wakesho and Amelia Omollo, who is a Boeing project manager at Kenya Airways. More women are finding their ways into this industry as long distance trucks, as bulldozer operators, and as coxswains.

Sector experts say labour force landscape has evolved over the years to witness the Generation Y woman in leadership positions taking centre stage as the teamsters of business performance to the next level.

DHL Express sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, says it has made efforts in changing the face of its leadership structures in the region, significantly raising the number of female employees since 2011.

“Four years ago, 15 per cent of our leadership roles across sub-Saharan Africa were filled by women, compared to over 35 per cent now and we are committed to further increase the number of female staff members at management level. Similarly, there seems to be an ongoing debate about how to manage and lead the millennial generation (Generation Y) – for us, we see the younger generation as the ones who will move our business forward, therefore, recognising and accepting the differences and similarities between them and Generation X is crucial to business success,” said Charles Brewer, DHL managing director, said in Tuesday a statement.

“Gone are the days of a hierarchical approach to leadership, you have to keep things flexible and open the lines of communication. Employees of today want to have positive work-life balance, do meaningful work and understand the growth paths available to them. If you are able to capitalise on their ambitions and goals, your business will see the benefits.”