Ideas & Debate

Pave the way for women leadership in era of soft power

women

Female leaders have the advantage that they are not perceived as pushy in modern, fast-paced workplaces. PHOTO | FILE

Women had for decades remained on the benches of African corporate management structures. A myopic excuse advanced to support the management imbalance back then was that women were better managers at home and on the farms.

On the other hand men were portrayed as better managers of the family well-being, welfare and development. Surprisingly, women had accepted the brain wash and were comfortable with roles designed for them by the society in the yesteryears.

But things have greatly changed with time and with the advent of digital transformation and affirmative action, more women are taking over corporate leadership in Africa today.

It is common to see most African corporate boards in the current business environment dotted with women. In fact, most shareholders worldwide are now insisting on public announcements concerning diversity issues in listed companies.

According to Catalyst’s most recent report, The Bottom Line: Corporate Performance and Women’s Representation on Boards, Fortune 500 companies with the highest representation of women in corporate management boards attained significantly higher financial performance on average than those with the lowest representation. 

In addition, the report points out notably stronger-than-average performance at companies with three or more women board of directors.

The study, which is the second of Catalyst’s Bottom Line reports, looked at three critical financial measures: return on equity, return on sales and return on invested capital, and compared the performance of companies with the highest representation of women on their boards to those with the lowest representation.

In Kenya, we have vivid examples of companies run by powerhouse women that have grown to report stellar performance over the years.

The first one is Keroche Industries. Keroche Breweries founded by Tabitha Karanja and her husband in 1997 initially started out selling locally brewed wines after which they graduated to making gins and whiskies before making a foray into beer-brewing.

The company is the first Kenyan owned brewery that is non multinational. Among other numerous awards, Tabitha Karanja was recently named as the CNBC business woman of the year at the All African Business Leaders forum.

Another example is Melvin’s Tea. Flora Mutahi, Founder and CEO of Melvin’s Tea first got into business with funds her mother lent her.

The business she set up was later leveraged to secure a bank loan. She started off with manufacturing salt and progressed into the tea business.

She has since diversified to rice and has managed to grow her brand into a household name, competing with a rival that initially had 100 per cent market share.

Susan Wokabi, founder and CEO Suzie Beauty, after university in the United States, returned home with a dream to start the first Kenyan make up and beauty line.

She used what she had learned from beauty company M.A.C where she had trained to come up with her own brand of make-up.

Her work has been featured in Italian Vogue, Tusker Project Fame, and Samantha Bridal not to mention an endorsement by Lupita Nyong’o when she wore her lipstick on the Queen Latifah show.

Influential person

Last year she won the award for the most influential woman in business and government in Africa. Currently, Suzie Beauty makes over Sh20 million in sales yearly.

According to J. Fraser in her publication titled “Where are the women: Inclusive boardrooms in Africa’s top listed companies,” unlocking the potential of Africa’s successful transformation requires concurrently removing barriers to women’s leadership and participation.

The African private sector can ensure that they improve their bottom line if they invest more strategically in women’s leadership.

Talent is critical to staying competitive, but despite the growing number of qualified women in the workforce in all areas, the female talent pool continues to remain underutilised, which the publication says is a worldwide phenomenon.

On the local political scene, things are not quite rosy but we have something to smile about. The current Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed is set to exit the cabinet should she win a post in the African Union.

We have enough inventories on inspirational stories about women taking leadership positions and managing their mandates professionally for positive gain.

In the United Kingdom, we have Theresa May as the Prime Minister. Liberia has Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. In Germany, there is Angela Merkel. In America, Hillary Clinton is likely to be the next manager of the world’s leading economic superpower.

Women possess a valuable skill that men do not have. Leaders need to  influence a wide range of groups they have no direct authority over and must have the ability to communicate with practically anyone.

That kind of world demands a new kind of leadership, and that is where most women easily beat men. Women can appeal to a whole group and not a section of their target audience.

Men are known to have opinions and stands that divide people into you and me. I know you must have heard severally leaders calling on people and scaring them with slogans such as, “You are either with us or against us.” Men hardly tolerate divergent views and spend little time in trying to win over more numbers on to their side.

Extensive research shows how women are better suited to this kind of leadership. They’re better than men at empathy —sensing the thoughts and feelings of others and responding in some appropriate way. They value reciprocal relationships more highly than men do.

In a world that favours leadership based on skills of personal interaction rather than on authority, women have a head start.

Soft power is the new business mantra in Africa, so let us step aside and give our women a chance in leadership and judge them on their performance.