Representation matters.
For the founder of the W-Suite Summit it matters especially in the boardroom, where women’s voices need to be heard.
“The demands of true leadership and representation have never
been greater and more tangible because the persistence of inequality
between men and women in the 21st century remains a key point of discussion.
“There are disparities between people of colour, with women and men when it comes to salaries, and many men are seen to be most successful because they collaborate with each other,” Katie Mohamed said.
She added: “We (women) have been guilty of not collaborating with each other and there are so few of us in a lot of these roles that we also try to be the only ones in the room.
“So collaborations have always been seen as a competition and now we are saying, as women, how can we come together and collaborate?”
Since its launch in March, Mohamed has hit the ground running to ensure the inaugural summit, that is set to take place on Thursday, is a success.
“It’s overwhelming, we did some mini dialogues and got the movement going after the media launch,” Mohamed said.
She said the role of the summit was to create a platform for action and to spark conversation and advocacy.
“We are creating a platform where people are coming together. We are bringing more women in operational roles and leadership positions.”
The summit will have high impact interactive plenary sessions and panel discussions over most of the day, facilitated by prominent speakers from the political, economic and academic perspectives, she said.
Panellists include Ipeleng Mkhari, Dr Judey Pretorius, Greg Maloka, Ashraf Garda, Zanele Morrison, Nadia Bulbulia and more.
“We’re giving women and men a unique opportunity to connect, share and engage with each other.”
Mohamed said the summit was not just women talking to women.
“We have to have men in the room because they are equally responsible for this economic empowerment that we talk about.
“W-Suite is a community where people can talk and engage with each other and start creating the networks of collaboration and have tangible outcomes.”
Mohamed said W-Suite wanted to create mentorship programmes and opportunities for sponsorship programmes.
@mane_mpi