Make-IT in Africa and the Stellenbosch Business School (SBS) in Cape Town have teamed up to offer the Women in Leadership Programme (WiLP).
This programme has been designed to help female African leaders in hubs and tech entrepreneurs become the business leaders of tomorrow. Out of fifty applicants, twenty women from eight countries in Southern Africa were chosen to take part in the program, which will run until July 2023. WiLP is focused on providing essential entrepreneurial and leadership skills to mentors working at business incubators across the region, which they can then pass on to other entrepreneurs.
It provides coaching on topics such as Leading Innovation, Writing Skills, Negotiation Skills, Change Management, Women in Leadership and Presentation Skills. With this programme, participants are able to come up with an innovative plan, write a business plan and pitch it to potential sponsors. They can also assess the issues surrounding diversity and inclusion in the tech sector and identify areas to grow personally and professionally. The course is said to be ‘a gamechanger’ and ‘an eye-opener,’ and already participants have begun to apply the lessons learnt in their companies.
With this programme, Make-IT in Africa is striving to close the gender gap in the tech sector and create a more equitable future for African women. Sheryl Sandberg, until recently Chief Operating Officer of Meta, once said that “the female gender in front of a position always invites surprise. That should not be the case.“ She argues that soon there will be no ‘female’ leaders, just leaders. That is exactly what WiLP is trying to accomplish.
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