In 2020, I came across a study by the World bank, that examined the impact of laws and regulations on the economic opportunities of women across 190 economies. It focused on key indicators such as assets, entrepreneurship, mobility, pay, pension and workplace balance. While it revealed some improvements in the area of gender equality across these categories, it revealed that high-income countries performed better low-income countries.

Another 2020 study by the world economic forum across 153 countries, focused on four parameters – Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment. It posits that while the gender gap can potentially be closed in 54 years in Europe, it will take Sub Saharan Africa and North Africa 95 years and 140 years to do so.

These findings are the foundation on which this blog was built on. African women are some of the most hardworking women but they face quite a number of barriers that hinder their growth and opportunities. Several studies have discussed their entrepreneurial role as a catalyst to the growth of the continent’s economy so this is no longer a question of why. It’s now a question of how. How might we support the women of Africa as they climb to the summit of their careers, their businesses, their education? How might we support African women to make certain that it does not take almost two generations before they are recognized for the impact they make on the continent?

Personally, I believe it starts with granting women access. Access to information, access to the tools and resources, they require to create magic. Hence the idea behind Dukky’s business blog. It will serve as a platform for bringing women one step closer to their goals by through inspiration, education, promote and connection.

Through the series “business of the month”, I aim to promote and give more visibility to women who are thriving on the African business scene as I believe every bit of media mention and visibility helps to validate the work women do.  To inspire other women to “start”, the series “my business story” will showcase excerpts of startup stories from female founders across Africa. They will work us through the challenges they encountered and how they were able to surmount them.

On the resource section, vacancies, trainings, internships, grants, scholarships primarily targeting women will be published to help give women a boost. Should you have such opportunities available, please feel free to send us an email and it will be up in no time.  Also welcome are invitations to trainings, webinars, workshops and seminars for women across the continent.

Finally on the series titled “Frankly Dukky”, I will be sharing life from my perspective as a millennial, African female entrepreneur. It will be a no holds barred type of post and I will be touching on everything from trying to grow a business to navigating workplace politics. All posts shared under this series are based on my opinion and perspective. It promises to be fun and engaging so stick around as bring you exciting new posts every week.

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