Celebrating Women Breaking Down Barriers In Male-Dominated Industries

The work to empower and celebrate women in Africa continues beyond the month of August.  In South Africa, August is Women’s Month – and each year August 9th is celebrated as Women’s Day. Women’s month celebrates the strength and resilience of women and their contribution to society and country. There is a specific need, however, to continuously celebrate and empower women even beyond the month, and to achieve gender equality across the economy.

It is for this reason that the African Women in Supply Chain Association (AWISCA) in partnership with its global partners is announcing the launch of the Top 100 Women In Africa Supply Chain to highlight their achievements in a predominately male-dominated industry. The Association has launched this in partnership with Sincpoint with the specific goal of celebrating and awarding these women for their tenacity leading the cause for transformation in these industries through their professional careers and entrepreneurial ventures.

The Top 100 Women In Africa Supply Chain identifies women who are leading change and making a difference in the supply chain profession and in business, according to Lebo Letsoalo, who is the Supply Chain Coach, Founder of AWISCA and CEO of Sincpoint, saying: “These women are not just employees or businesswomen, they have identified the need to bring many more women along with them in their journey of achieving economic emancipation. They have thus taken up the role of mentors and coaches for women such as themselves and girls who are aspiring for careers in this industry.”

“We have also seen them acting on matters of procurement and logistics, to combat pertinent issues of corruption and unethical business practices, as well as enabling an environment that is conducive for female drivers, for instance, in logistics.”

“The list also honours and includes women who have retired in the profession and were previously never recognized. They have previously become the torchbearers especially in the logistics sector which is still predominately male-dominated”, adds Letsoalo.

The Top 100 Women In Africa Supply Chain is the continental version of the Top Global 100 Women and was founded by Lebo Letsoalo who was nominated amongst Top Global 100 Women in 2018 and Top 100 Influential Women In Supply Chain (No. 20 globally) in 2020. Letsoalo was the only woman in Africa recognised by the global awards.

“I saw the need to do the same for Africa. Being the woman from the continent being recognised and celebrated got me thinking that we should absolutely bring this home and celebrate many more women that are doing incredible things for other women in the industry”, she added.

The Top 100 Women In Africa Supply celebrate women from various African countries that have used various platforms to impact the industry in a positive way. The women are in entrepreneurship, professional careers and labour intensive subsectors of the industry. They’re from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Botswana, Uganda, Egypt, DRC and will soon expand across the continent to include the other remaining countries.

See the detailed list of the women here https://www.linkedin.com/posts/lebogang_here-is-the-remainder-of-the-list-you-have-activity-6839212130860855296-dtEB and https://www.linkedin.com/posts/lebogang_finally-the-list-is-outwe-have-an-honour-activity-6838853236296830976-zBOv  . For more information contact mentorship@awisca.org