April marks GAIA AFRICA’s 3rd Anniversary. In the three years of the club’s existence, work has gone on tirelessly to carve a special niche for Africa’s top 5% female C-suite executives. Creating a close-knit community of business founders, c-suite executives and senior professionals at the helm of leadership who inspire each other, those they lead and others who admire them.
Listening to the stories of women leaders from around the globe, we realize that every success story comes with compelling pluses and minuses. The stories from across the continent give better clarity on the gaps and how women leaders have been able to move forward in their respective endeavors.
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Liberia’s Former President and Nobel Peace Prize Winner, made history in 2006 as the first female head of state in Africa and the first black woman head of state. Since then, the world has witnessed a tremendous increase in female political leadership in Africa. According to 2020 data from the IPU-UN Women Map of Women in Politics, Rwanda now has 65% women in parliament – the highest percentage of women in parliamentary positions in the world, along with South Africa, Senegal, Namibia and Mozambique. Unfortunately, Nigeria still lags way behind. For example, Nigeria’s 9th Assembly has only 8 female senators out of 109
Regardless of the obvious disparities in representation and the desire to witness significant increased numbers in female political leadership around the world, the journey continues to be an interesting one. 2020 was an unprecedented year; one that showed that empathy, resilience, grit and inclusivity were the success factors to ride the storm. Qualities held by female leaders.
Last year, GAIA AFRICA celebrated her 50 founding members- women from various industries including finance, technology, oil and gas, fashion, law, architecture, design, manufacturing, beauty & cosmetics, development and many more. Since then, the club has continued to expand horizons attracting members from across the world.
GAIA AFRICA has a simple yet profound mission: To create a nurturing environment for women leaders to meet, network, support and validate one another, enjoy themselves while growing a strong business community where diversity and inclusion thrive to produce unlimited business success.
The Club is diverse and embraces the uniqueness of every member. Each Member is empowered and empowering others for impact We are grateful for our growth and are excited by what the future holds.
