Wanted: More women in boardrooms

Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan inaugurates special programme for Female Future in Dar es Salaam yesterday. (Photo

 The Association of Tanzania Employers (ATE) in collaboration with the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO) yesterday launched a programme aimed at opening boardroom doors for more women in the country.

 

The programme is designed to provide executive training on leadership, rhetoric and board competence to potential women leaders from various sectors and companies. 

 

During the launch of the initiative dubbed ‘Female Future’ in Dar es Salaam, Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan noted that some businesses with more women leaders have proved to be more successful than male-dominated ones. 

 

She cited CRDB Bank, National Microfinance Bank (NMB) and Tanzania Breweries Limited (TBL) as examples of organizations that have benefited greatly from the presence of women on their boards of directors, thus contributing more to the country’s development.

 

“Having women in important positions always leads a company or sector to grow well in its business, because women have the capacity to learn very fast and are eager to prove themselves worthy of the position,” Suluhu said

 

She said if the private sector, government and all stakeholders will pool their socks and join the race, then the country could rise very fast.

 

She challenged the private sector and corporate businesses to include more and more women in decision making processes and see for themselves the benefits when it comes to helping shape Tanzania’s economy.

 

The Veep also encouraged more collaborative effort from government and policy makers, private sector and civil society to take the debate to the national level.

 

“This will help get comments from various stakeholders and see how we can merge these with existing policy and initiatives to create stronger mentorship arrangements for women at the top of corporate structures,” she said.

 

 “(Women) should be encouraged by the proposed new national constitution as it is expected to abolish all gender inequalities in this matter,” Suluhu added.

 

According to ATE executive director Aggrey Mlimuka, Tanzania is the third country in East Africa to adopt the programme after Kenya and Uganda.

 

Mlinuka said its launch in Tanzania will also help promote business competitiveness for equal distribution of resources.

 

“It has been seen that women are underrepresented in companies, particularly in management and decision making positions. But having women in decision making is a great opportunity which many our companies haven’t yet recognized,” he said.

 

The ATE boss explained that the programme will be directly linked to participants’ daily work routine and will include professional networking and coaching with different approaches.

 

Also present at the launch was the Minister of State in the Prime Ministers’ Office (Policy, Parliament, Labour, Youth, Employment and People With Disabilities), Jenista Mhagama, who called for the establishment of a similar special programme for female college graduates to mentor them with leadership skills.