Women are having a significant economic impact globally and are becoming an increasingly important economic force. They contribute more to economic growth than new technologies or emerging markets. They also influence areas like fertility rates, workforce participation and consumer spending. As women gain more education and financial autonomy, they make decisions that shift household spending towards categories that are more important to women and families. Women reinvest over 90% of their income in their communities. However, more can be done to support women in leadership positions and help them access business opportunities. Mentorship is key to creating support and empowering women. Both organizations and individuals must work to promote strategies that advance women's careers and productivity.

1. Women In Business
Access to the World of Business
September 2015
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Presented by: Ali Engelbrecht

2. Access to the World of Business

3. Topics to be discussed:
• Women Impact on the World Economy.
• Women as an Economic Force.
• Women Leadership Positions.
• Accessing the Business World.
– Challenges and Initiatives.
– What can women do?
– Where to from here?
• Conclusion
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4. 4

5. Globally, the women-effect is already driving
dramatic changes in:
• fertility rates, (Statistics SA’s Recorded Live Births
2014 report records a general decrease in births
countrywide over the last three years, with an
expert believing we are in for a major decrease in
less than a decade)
The Witness Tuesday 2nd September 2015 pg 2 Jonathan Erasmus
• workforce participation,
• consumer spending,
• powering the doubling of the global middle class
over the next two decades.
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Women Impact on the World
Economy

6. 6
• A Goldman Sachs report, “The Power of the Purse ,” contends education for girls
is increasing women’s decision-making power, shifting household spending
patterns toward food, healthcare, education, childcare, apparel, consumer
durables and financial services, categories more important to women. In
microfinance, it’s well-known that women clients are more likely to repay their
loans.
http://www.bloomberg.com
• Education allows women to have fewer children and number of women of
reproductive age is decreasing.
Nompumelelo Nzimande UKZN population and development studies department.

7. Women as an Economic force
• Women contributed more to the expansion of the
world economy than new technology or the emerging
markets of China and India.
• Dividends for wider community: women re-invest
more than 90% of their income
• Women generally control resources of the household
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8. Women are the single biggest and least
acknowledged- force for economic growth on
the planet.
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Women as an economic force

9. • One thing is certain: Women’s rise to power, which is
linked to the increase in wealth per capita, is happening
in all domains and at all levels of society.
• Women are no longer content to provide efficient labour
or to be consumers
• We have entered the age of “Womenomics, the
economy as thought out and practiced by a woman.”
Aude Zieseniss de Thuin, Financial Times, 10.03.2006
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Women Leadership Positions

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11. • One Avon lipstick sold every four seconds!
• One in every five women buy Avon products!
• What does that tell you about women buying power?
• Interesting – Avon SA, based in Johannesburg is headed up
by a man – Mafahle Maraletse.
• Employ 6 million independent representatives worldwide
and get this……”mainly women”.
• 75% of representatives reported that Avon had helped them
to achieve financial autonomy.
• Nearly 90% said they had learned skills from Avon that could
be transferred to other employment.
Sunday Tribune. Top Brands 2015. A Times Media Supplement. August 2015
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Avon Question??

12. Accessing the Business World
• Challenges?
• What can women do?
• Where to from here?
• Jot down thoughts for Panel Discussion
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13. 13

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Women need to get to the point
where they aren’t apologising.
It’s fine to take ownership in their
success.
Tory Burch. CEO & Designer
It’s equally as good to take
ownership of failures!

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Forget everything and run………..
Face everything and rise?

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It’s important to
be willing to
make mistakes.
The worst thing
that can happen
is you become
memorable!
Sara Blakely. Founder Spanx

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http://www.ga.businessgrowthservice.greatbusiness.gov.uk
Make social platforms work for you!

18. Personal Branding
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• Reputation takes:
– Time
– Dedication
– Honesty
– Integrity
– Determination
– Longevity
– Profile

19. “Your brand is what other people say about you when
you’re not in the room.”
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com

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Impressions and
Business Cards

21. Put yourself out there!
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23. www.womeninbusiness.org.za 23

24. Every occasion tells a story

25. Get involved

26. It’s worth the effort

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On average, women and men possess a
number of different innate skills. And
current trends suggest that many
sectors of the twenty-first-century
economic community are going to need
the natural talents of women.
Helen Fisher, The First Sex: The Natural Talents of Women and How They Are Changing the World

28. • Mentorship is key in creating a supportive
infrastructure to further women in their careers.
• Both organisations and individuals are
accountable for putting effective strategies in
place to promote the empowerment of women,
thereby positively influencing the productivity
of the labour market.
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Current challenges and initiatives

29. What can women do and what
should be done?
• A nation‘s competitiveness depends significantly on
whether and how it educates and utilises its female
talent.
• In the current global financial and economic crisis, it is
more vital than ever that women‘s economic
participation does not shrink, but is in fact seen as an
opportunity to make headway.
Laura D Tyson
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30. What can women do and what should
be done?
• Become a mentor
• Find a mentor
• Attitude
• Leadership style
• Contradiction of
empowerment
• What are your core skills
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31. What can women do and what
should be done?
• Identify your
personality type
– Introvert
– Extrovert
– Combination?
www.womeninbusiness.org.za 31
http://www.quietrev.com/the-introvert-test/

32. Education
• Life Long Learning
• Vehicle to impart cultural values, norms and
standards
• Imparts knowledge, skills, attitudes,
behaviour, competencies
• Knowledge is power
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33. Where to from here?
• What are WE, as women, doing to uplift
other women, to empower them, to prepare
them for leadership positions?
• What are WE teaching our young girls?
• What are WE doing in our communities?
• What are WE doing in our work
environments?
• What are WE doing to protect our girl
children? How are we preparing them to be
LEADERS, right NOW?
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So what are you going to do?
• Believe in yourself and in your product/service
• Have a support system
• Find your passion
• Patience and perseverance
• Be flexible, adaptable
• Be willing to take risks
• Priorities
• Only you are responsible for your life and your future
• What you do today, will determine who you will be tomorrow
• Take control of your life, otherwise someone else will
• Live with positivity
• Enjoy your life
• Dare to Disagree (Margaret Hefferman 2012)
• Be an opportunity maker (Kare Anderson 2014)

36. Conclusion
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“So often, it takes only one woman to make a
difference.
If you empower that woman with information, and
training, or a microloan, she can lift up her entire family
and contribute to the success of her community.
Multiply that one woman’s impact by a hundred or a
thousand, and perhaps a million lives can change.”
Condoleezza Rice, former US Secretary of State

37. I have 3 challenges for you!!!
• It ALL STARTS WITH YOU!!!
• What happens after this conference?
• What legacy are you going to leave behind one day?
• What is your personal mantra?
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My personal mantra:
Conservative women don’t make history!

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Thank you
• Questions?

39. Readings and References
• http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-10-23/a-billion-women-are-about-to-transform-the-
global-economy
• Sunday Tribune. Top Brands 2015. A Times Media Supplement. August 2015
• http://www.ga.businessgrowthservice.greatbusiness.gov.uk
• Cain, S., 2013. Quiet. London: Penguin Books
• http://www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/focus-on/investing-in-women/bios-pdfs/power-of-purse.pdf
• http://www.microfinancegateway.org/gm/document-
1.9.40253/Women%20and%20Repayment%20in%20Microfinance.pdf
• The Witness 2nd September 2015
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