WOMEN EMPOWERMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

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WOMEN EMPOWERMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
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• As a woman you have dreams and aspirations.
• You may see yourself as a successful
  entrepreneur, highly educated, happily married,
  financially independent, comfortable, raising a
  family, travelling all over the world.
• Yet nobody prepares you for the hurdles and the
  processes in between the valleys and the
  mountains.

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• Let me begin by celebrating every single one of
  you present in this forum because the mere fact
  that you are here means that you have overcome at
  one point or another.
• I do not know what you have gone through, but my
  instinct tells me that you have been through a lot

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Possible Hurdles

• As women, some face, emotional and physical abuse
• Sexual abuse
• Divorce
• Death of a loved one, whether through
• sickness or violent death
• Diagnosed with hiv/aids
• Children that you have invested so much in, but
  have not turned out the way you desired
• Rejection

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• We are talking about empowerment. The the
  beginning of empowerment is in the ability to
  deal with your hurtful past and present and the
  forging ahead towards a brighter future.

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Why is it important

• Entrepreneurship is about creativity, its about
  birthing what the business dream. It means you
  thread on grounds where others have feared to
  thread. Its about risk taking. Its about
  believing in yourself.
• In this room there are market women, cross border
  traders, teachers, lawyers, nurses, doctors,
  scientists, miners, shop owners, property owners,
  farmers, politicians, etc.
• What is common among all of these is that they
  all began with a vision. If they have made it,
  you can also make it.
• The things you have gone through affect the way
  you think.
• E.g. as a result of rejection or poor background,
  some of us have very low self esteem. You see
  others better than yourself and you think you can
  not amount to anything.
• Even when opportunities come, you do not see them

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My Journey

• As a university student with a job as a cleaner
  and as a waitress in a foreign land
• It was in my days of struggle that I conceived a
  vision of owning properties.
• Every evening I would draw the sort of structures
  that I would like to have
• It does not matter what situation you are in,
  there is always a dream that is bigger than you
• As I said in earlier, no one tells you about the
  hurdles. I encountered a whole lot.

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• There are certain things that happen in our lives
  as women that do not leave us the same.
• My family situation changed and this affected my
  outlook in life
• My father married a second wife which changed the
  priorities in the home.
• I was rejected by the man I looked up to and I
  therefore found myself an alternative father
  figure who, unfortunately, was married.

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• 12 years later, I had an encounter with the Lord
  in a near plane crash experience which awakened
  my conscience to the pain I had caused to the
  other woman.
• I, therefore, had to walk out of that marriage
  with two children.
• The crucial thing is not to see yourself as a
  victim, but you have to acknowledge your
  mistakes/ wrongs, learn from them and make the
  right decisions going forward.
• What has all of this got to do with
  entrepreneurship?

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Dream Killers

• Divorce, death, disappointment, hurts, sometimes
  your spouse can kill your dream through putting
  you down and discouragement have a way of killing
  your vision because they cripple you.
• However, in the midst of all this you can make
  the decision or choice to rise up
• I rose up and pursued my property business
• It grew from 3 apartments to a 49 room hotel with
  conference facilities, employing 40 people

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Challenges In the Business

• Business is not for the faint hearted.
  Challenges are the order of the day
• The current economic down turn has had adverse
  effects on many businesses, including mine.
• The demand for our services reduced drastically
  while operational costs remained the same.
• Difficulty in paying wages in time. Backlog of
  creditors some resorting to litigation out of
  pressure
• In my situation it resulted in inability to
  service loans and it posed a major threat to the
  business where the bank was calling the loan.
  What do you do when you see all your investment
  and staff looking helpless.

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Lesson learnt

• Getting professional advice get as much advice
  as you can from different people and get the
  worst case scenario and then work backwards
• Only you can save yourself from the situation/
  only you can find the solution to the problem.
• The solution is always nearby, but fear blinds
  you
• Do what has to be done, cut down what needs to be
  cut down
• Stop being sentimental with things. Sell what you
  can in order to salvage the situation
• I had to sell one of my properties which I
  treasured.
• Maintain communication with the bank
• You need to have support from family or religious
  group.

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Health

• The effects of the pressure on your business and
  life in general is deadly.
• Many have developed all kinds of illnesses,
  others plunged into depression, others have lost
  their marriages and children. Such maybe the
  price of success.

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Conclusion

• There is a way out and there are great
  opportunities out there. The storms do pass.
• Do not give up

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Government Policies

• We all know that SMEs are the engine for
  economic growth
• In most countries SMEs employ more 50 of labour
  force.
• Our various governments have put in place
  excellent policies that support SMEs
• E.g. in Swaziland we have SME policies that are
  aimed at addressing deprivation, poverty,
  economic empowerment and adjusting economic
  disparities through increased wealth creation.
• Despite the good policies in place, SMEs still
  face a myriad of challenges from economic
  downturns to under-capitalization with difficulty
  in gaining access to bank credits and other
  financial markets