Women with a dream build strong economies

SOCIETAL issues confronting women, including strategies for achieving equity and overcoming barriers that hinder their advancement to executive positions, have been and continue to be important topics of discussion.

- DR ANNA MOKGOKONG

Every year in August, we celebrate Women's Month. But, I sometimes think we focus too much on the individual achievements of women, as praiseworthy as they may be, instead of what is holding multitudes of other women back from scaling the same heights, and what is everyone's responsibility.

As we end celebrating Women's Month through the theme "Building Resilient Economies for All," I can relate to this theme. It is one I endorse. Additionally, this year my mantra is "Protect, Defend, Grow."

Resilience and creativity

As a lifelong serial entrepreneur and as a trained healthcare professional, I have seen firsthand how resilience, creativity, and determination can transform lives, whether through a small business or a community clinic.

I always say that what is the use of a door if you can't open it? What is the use of a door if you can't walk through it?

The theme of Building Resilient Economies for All addresses this. We don't all have the means to open locked doors; we don't all have the opportunity to walk through them.

I was born in Soweto and raised in Eswatini. I sold sandwiches and handbags, 'hustling' while studying medicine at Medunsa.

That small venture ultimately gave rise to a clinic, serving multitudes of semi-urban communities that needed a healthcare practitioner.

Later, I delved into corporate South Africa and co-founded Community Investment Holdings, a progressive, black-owned enterprise, with interests spanning across healthcare, logistics, ICT, mining, infrastructure, power and energy. We have been described as a black industrialist entity; this is a result of our substantive manufacturing interests.

Along the way, I have remained committed to enabling previously disadvantaged South Africans to participate meaningfully in our economy and also creating jobs. I want to open doors for others, and I am not alone in this quest.

Patriarchy