The first ever African Women’s Economic Summit was held at the Windsor Hotel, in Nairobi, Kenya from March 18-20, 2010. The Summit was jointly organized by the New Faces & Voices Network (NFVN) and the African Development Bank (AfDB). This initiative brought together African and global leaders, majority of who were women who could influence and effect changes within their respective institutions. And who collectively could influence change through different strategies to bring women in Africa to centre stage, assuming key positions and contributing to the decisions that shape the African continent and a new global financial system.

Participants were drawn from financial services providers, regulatory bodies, development finance institutions, think tanks and advocacy groups, women’s right activist organisations, business and professional organizations, prominent business men and women and government leaders.

The Summit had the following objectives:

• Identify the opportunities and challenges to expand women’s access to financial products and services, and to advance women within the management and leadership structures of financial sector institutions
• Expand innovations to massively expand the amount of finance and scale of outreach of financial services and capital to women, as retail consumers of finance and as owners of businesses.
• Identify measures that will ensure women take their rightful place as decision makers within the governance and management structures of national, regional, continental and global financial institutions.
• Collectively identify the leadership needed to introduce new ways of thinking, and the actions required to build an African financial system that is more inclusive of women

Prominent speakers at the Summit include Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of the Republic of Kenya, Ms Speciosa Kazibwe Wandira, former vice-president of Uganda, Dr. Luisa Diogo, former Prime Minister of Mozambique, Prof. Njuguna Ndung’u, Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya, Ms Linah Mohohlo, Governor of the Central bank of Botswana, Dr. Mamphela Ramphele, a former managing Director of the World Bank, Prof. Wangari Maathai, Nobel Laureate and Founder of the Greenbelt Movement, Mr. Arnold Ekpe, Grouyp CEO, Ecobank, Togo and Charles Abugre, Deputy Director for Africa, UN Millennium Campaign.

The two-day Summit was organised in a practical and participatory manner, encouraged honest discussions between the diverse interest groups present. This highlighted practical experiences and challenges of women in assessing various forms of finances at different levels. It also allowed for responses from policy and decision makers on strategies and commitments that could ensure acceptable access to financial services by women of all categories.

The Summit was very insightful and educative for me, it did not just touch on increasing or making financial services accessible to women, but it also went deep to explore women’s access to finance and decision making positions and its implication on the social structures at the community and household levels. It discussed the cultural and family implications for women in higher decision making positions. This included the ability to detach ourselves from cultural barriers, having fewer prejudices and courage to refuse to pander to stereotypes for example. By the end of the second day these conclusions among others were clearly defined:

• That women should form the centre stage of the financial sector because women bring talent, energy and creativity to the table, women are both policy makers and consumers of financial products and services.
• The need for accessibility to higher education among women; an appropriate level of ethics; and the use of advocacy and activism to improve the visibility of women’s cause.
• The need to have more reliable and prudential regulations in place that are gender sensitive and responsive to women’s needs.
• That while land ownership is crucial for women in many part of the continent, it should not become a limiting factor for women to access financial services. Instead it is important for women to diversify their asset base-one that is dynamic and consists of knowledge, excellence and networks.

So many profound statements were made, very inspirational and action oriented but one that has stayed with me for some time now was made by Donald Kaberuka, president of African Development Bank Group; where he acknowledged the benefits of improving women’s economic opportunities by saying ‘it’s a way to enhance women’s contributions to the growth of our economies and the well-being of our communities”. And that he strongly believes that “investing in women differently is essential to revitalise our economies”. I was not surprised when he put forward a wish list including access to finance, infrastructure, a skilled workforce, and a stable continent without episodic instabilities as the requirements for women to prosper in business.

Moving forward, l hope the energies, rich action plan and commitments will be followed through and the ideals of the economic summit sustained for future generations. I look forward to collectively supporting the agenda of the summit in its future activities.

The New Faces & Voices Network (NFVN) is an association of African leaders in business and finance across the continent that was established under the patronage of the African Women’s Foresight Network and was founded by Madam Graca Machel. The Network is committed to dynamically engaging the relevant institutions to create opportunities for women to contribute to the decisions that shape the African continent.

By: Nafi Chinery

Capacity Building Officer (AWDF)