Women in Finance and Entrepreneurship Series

On the 22nd of August 2023 which was the 4th week of our webinar series we were joined by Mamokete Lijane and Nangamso Mankai. The ladies shared their insights on Empowering Financial Success Strategies for Women Investors and Entrepreneurs

Background of the Speakers

Mamokete Lijane is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and currently holds the position of Global Markets Strategist at Standard Bank Group. She joined Standards Bank after almost five years as a Fixed Income Sales Trader and Macro Strategist at ABSA Capital. She has over 20 years’ experience as an analyst in financial markets. Prior to Absa she worked at Aluwani Capital Partners as an investment strategist, and Sasfin Securities and Renaissance Capital as a fixed income analyst. Her career spans all areas of non-equity investment research, including macroeconomics, credit and rates on both the buys and the sell sides of the investment business. Mamokete has a deep interest in the intersection between public policy, economics and financial markets.

Nangamso Mankai is a Chartered Accountant with an MBA from the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science. She is a strategic leader and financial expert with more than 16 years of experience managing Corporate Finance, Private Equity and Project Finance transactions across South- and Sub-Saharan Africa.She is currently a non-executive director and chairperson of the audit committee of Curro Holdings Ltd. She plays a pivotal role in professional structures including supporting the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants as a member of the Legal Compliance Committee.  She previously sat as a non-executive director of Bigen Africa (Pty) Ltd and Tessara (Pty) Limited.

Lessons Learnt

Key challenges in the economy:

• The South African debt level is where it is because of the lack of economic growth, which results in the lack of employment.
• Numerous companies are shutting down due to inadequate economic activity because of general mismatch between expenditure and income.
• From a macroeconomic level landscape, participation is not the same as it was 20 years back, there are so many barriers that have been depleted over time and there is more participation from black people as well as women in the space.
• Women representation remain a struggle within the professional space in the market, finding well established women led organization in South Africa remain the challenge.
• There is a lack of participation of women in debates that influence national decision making.
• South Africa has great policies, however there is no execution and implementation of the policies, which means that gaps will exists.
• Women entrepreneurs have limitations in access to funding or capital and access to markets.

The following are ways of navigating challenges:

• Dialogues and debates are important to influence policy making, so there is a need for women to participate. Culture contributes significantly to experiences; women experiences need to be in the rooms where policy discussions are being held. The perfect solution comes where there is diverse representation in the room.
• Form an opinion, inform the opinion, and defend the opinion. This is a cycle that can be achieved through researching interest areas, so as to have a formulated opinion that can be defended.
• Individuals need to be more civil minded, there needs to be a pro-South Africa approach, where there needs to be realizations that actions at a personal level contribute to the South African economy in general. Corruption is a two-way street, for every one willing to receive a bribe, there is another willing to accept it. Individual reflections need to be made on the stance on the corruption issues.
• There has to be more focus in smaller and medium size businesses as well, although the big corporates have a great contribution especially when it comes to lobbying, there needs to be a concentration on the impact and damage of State failures, e.g., loadshedding on the Small And Medium Enterprises.
• Private equity looks beyond finance, it offers both strategic support and value support in the businesses, so the key socio-economic issues that the business is addressing need to be highlighted.
• There are different principles that apply to venture capital which remain set up businesses versus well established businesses, so investors and investees need to be aware of the stages of businesses and the applicable principles.
• Women are creating networks that make them comfortable and there is no sector that women cannot participate in they are within all the industries including mining, agriculture, engineering, and high-tech.
• More knowledge sharing can be improved, creation networks, to ensure that women are prioritised.
• Women need to be comfortable that they deserve a seat at a table, and bring their all and deliver what needs to. Women need to be confident, well-read, well-prepared, however, be comfortable in not being experts in everything, therefore there will be areas that require further research.
• Emotional Intelligence is key for breaking barriers, to sift through conversations, being aware of what requires attention and what does not require attention.

Women investors and entrepreneurs should consider the following when looking at investment opportunities:

• The financial performance of the entity and its ability to generate the required return of investments.
• The growth prospects of the business and how technology can be used to leverage in the business operations.
• The impact of the investment, which is the move beyond the financial return as well as social impact is considered.
• Business model should be sustainable and have growth prospects, so as to build  a compelling case.