5 Simple Tips To Improving Your Career in Any Sector
The fourth industrial revolution (4th IR) has many of us in a bit of a tizzy! Because we either do not know how we can keep our skills up to date in our various industry. Or we are not sure whether we will have jobs once the full-on 4th IR movement takes over. I would like to zone in on the financial sector, as we have seen cases of some big banks letting staff go in a bid to drive up efficiencies. They also do this to give a customer-centric offering to their clientele and to meet their shifting expectations. Gone are the days when your study designation has to be finance-related before you can get a job in the financial sector, You can acquire both soft and critical skills in various other disciplines such as digital innovation, social media, digital marketing, communications, and PR. In fact, the list is relatively exhaustive, a simple Google search should have myriad options pop out for you. We are moving away from the era of traditional disciplines and working in jobs that require only one thing from you. Now more than before, it works to your advantage to be savvy and knowledgeable in systems outside your focus area. This not only makes you invaluable as an employee but challenges you to grow sis. We are right on the cusp of digitization and the move for a business to be tech or digital-first, as more customers want to services rendered at the customer’s convenience. Technological developments in the 4th IR do not necessarily have to translate into job losses and retrenchments in the financial sector, but rather encourage us to think about how we can collaborate and create better solutions to marry human activity with artificial intelligence. As individuals, the following tips will ensure that not only do you remain competitive in your sector but that you are agile enough to move along with your organization as it expands and moves away from traditional modes of conducting business. 1. Never Stop Learning You know that saying that says if you’re the most intelligent person in the room, move to another one? You can never reach the point of ‘knowing it all’ continue advancing yourself and applying your knowledge base, even if it is through short courses. Stay learning, stay on top of your A-Game 2. Identify and Connect with Influencers in your Industry Nothing beats learning from titans of industry. Identify someone within your business unit that you can shadow or learn on-the-job capabilities from. This will put you in good stead should you want to take your shot at a different position within the team. 3. Show up for yourself. Sis, be on time and put in the work. Most importantly, when you have gotten a seat at the table, make your voice heard, do not cower behind self-doubt or allow the dreadful imposter syndrome to cripple you. Show up for yourself sis, be on time, put in the work. And most importantly, when you have gotten a seat at the table, make your voice heard, do not cower behind self-doubt or allow the dreadful imposter syndrome to cripple you. 4. Create a personal and professional development plan. Ensure that you have your PBOB (personal board of directors) holding you accountable to keep on smashing those goals out the park! 5. Remember to self-care. Everybody knows that fatigue ain’t one bit cute. Take time out to do things that rejuvenate your soul and genuinely bring you joy. You can never underestimate the importance of rebooting in this fast-paced world that we live in. Go out there babe, and be the corporate maven (or entrepreneurial queen) you know you are and secure the bag! Join the SLA #SecureTheBag challenge.
The Tech and STEM pioneer of Botswana
The goal is to have a national coding competition where all the students will come to Gaborone and showcase their projects. Captain Kgomotso Phatsima is best known in Botswana for her pioneering work as one of the few women pilots in the country. Her career began in the military, and she diligently worked her way up to becoming a real force to be reckoned with. Captain Phatsima’s work as a pilot and her passion for youth development led her to discover that there were very few girls who were adept at – or even interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects, which are key for the aerodynamics space. Not only are STEM subjects integral for becoming a pilot, or engaging in the aerospace industry, they are also essential for the development of human capital and the future of business in Botswana, Africa, and the world. She founded the Dare to Dream Foundation (of which she is the President) in 2008 which deals with the advancement of youth, women and girls in STEM, aviation and aerospace as well as entrepreneurship development, with the intention to get young people interested in STEM-preneurship and the aviation and aerospace business. Connect with Kgomotso Phatsima and her business on social media. Why I founded Dare to Dream… When I was growing up, I never had the chance to sit like this with a pilot or get into an airplane until I had the chance to fly one. After I qualified as a pilot, I sat down and thought: ‘What can I do to give the upcoming generation – especially those who grew up in a village, like me – an opportunity to do that?’. I started Dare to Dream to give back to the community and to try and open up their eyes to opportunities that they wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to. On the ‘barrier’ to girls’ entry into STEM & traditionally ‘female/male-dominated’ subjects… I will talk about myself and my own experience here. When I told my parents that I want to fly and be a pilot, my mother said ‘In our time, a girl could never fly a plane. You cannot be a soldier!’ Sometimes it goes back to our upbringing and the culture. A girl must be domestic, and boys also have prescribed activities. So we separate ourselves from engaging in these things. The same mindset goes on to say that ‘Some things are hard, and are only for men’, like piloting or engineering. With some of our families, their backgrounds are what can hinder the involvement of girls in certain subjects and limit girls to certain careers. But as the times and technologies change, and with other women and organizations such as ours showing that it’s possible, there is more of an acceptance that you can be and do anything you want. Is Africa / Botswana in a good position to keep up with the world’s “breakneck’ speed? I think so because the demographic dividend of the youth in Africa indicates that young people make up most of Africa at 60 percent. I think that the whole of Africa is at a good advantage to participate in the technological changes that are taking place right now. There are a lot of young people who are interested in technology. I also think that Batswana are in a good position to take advantage of what is happening. We just need to channel the youth in the right direction to take advantage of the technological era, and prepare them for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and the businesses of tomorrow, which will be different from the businesses of today. How Botswana (and Africa) can prepare for ‘The 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR)’… In other African countries such as Rwanda, you’ll find that coding and robotics are taught in schools and they are part of the curriculum. Recently, President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa stated that coding will be taught in schools. We in Botswana are a little slower in catching on to these developments. At Dare to Dream, we partnered with Airbus to sponsor 1,500 students across the country in rural places and trained them in robotics in order to prepare them for 4IR. It was also important that they know that there are careers in the aerospace industry that are STEM-related that they can take advantage of. We are looking forward to partnering with the Ministry of Education, but there have been some delays, which I hope will be overcome in the future. Dare to Dream’s most engaged stakeholders…so far… We have engaged Airbus and also partnered with Botswana Innovation Hub, the University of Botswana and Botswana International University for Science and Technology – BIUST. BIUST created an initiative to encourage young girls to get into STEM subjects because they realized that the number of girls applying for these subjects was low. They had called 100 girls from Central District schools to participate. We form partnerships with organizations with the same mandate as us. For example, Debswana is interested in the 4IR and getting young people engaged in it, so we have partnered with them and they have assisted us to roll out our programs. We have also done work with Major Blue Air, who own planes. The girls get a chance to get onto the planes, and I fly the children. It’s not just about STEM, it’s about exposing the girls to new experiences and igniting the passion within them. There are other organizations doing work in the same area, and we are looking forward to also having them on board. There is something very powerful about collaboration. We have also recently partnered with EcoNet, who have chosen me to lead the Youth Development Programme in coding and entrepreneurship. What we are doing differently is that we are teaching the kids how to code and build websites, but also entrepreneurship and leadership skills. We have enrolled the first 500 participants and we are starting in July this year. The role
SheaMoisture Spotlight On Award-Winning Midwife: Tolu Adeleke-Aire – CEO ToluTheMidwife
SheaMoisture is the enduring and beautiful legacy of Sofi Tucker. Widowed with five children at 19, Grandma Sofi supported her family by selling handcrafted shea butter soaps and other creations in the village market in Sierra Leone. Sofi became known as a healer who shared the power of shea and African black soap with families throughout the countryside. She handed down her recipes to grandson Richelieu Dennis, who founded SheaMoisture and incorporated her wisdom into the brand’s hair and skin care innovations. SheaMoisture products and collections are formulated with natural, certified organic and fair trade ingredients, with the shea butter ethically-sourced from 15 co-ops in Northern Ghana as part of the company’s purpose-driven Community Commerce business model. SheaMoisture has partnered with She Leads Africa to support and showcase Nigerian women who support their communities. About Tolu Adeleke-Aire Tolu Adeleke-Aire is the CEO and founder of ToluTheMidwife. She is an internationally trained, dual-qualified healthcare professional. Tolu is an accomplished senior midwife and nurse. Tolu has over ten years of clinical and management experience. She completed an MSc in Healthcare Management, after which she worked with the reputable UCL (Department of Nutrition). Tolu founded ToluTheMidwife to create a holistic experience for families. One that included preparing, supporting and empowering expectant parents as they transition to parenthood. She does this through evidence-based health education. One parent at a time, Tolu is living her business mantra, “save a mother, save a child, save a community.” To learn more about Tolu’s business and connect with her, visit her Website, Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube. ToluTheMidwife Healthcare Solutions, how did you start? I started ToluTheMidwife Healthcare Solutions (officially) in 2018. The aim is to prepare, support and empower expectant parents as they transition to parenthood through evidence-based health education. At ToluTheMidwife, we offer Antenatal Classes, Postnatal Classes, exclusive “With Woman” services and Dads Antenatal Classes #DadsAntenatalNg. Through effective health education, we can influence a positive change in health behaviors. This will drastically reduce Nigeria’s maternal and neonatal mortality rates. We truly believe that informed and empowered parents will Save a mother, Save a baby and Save a Community. What was your motivation? While still working in England, I visited Nigeria often because I always wanted to move back. So during one of these visits, I read an article about the atrocious maternal and neonatal mortality rates. I instantly became obsessed. That article made me struggle to understand why so many women die just because they are having a baby. On further research, I noted many women lack basic evidence-based health education. As a result, I created Tolu the Midwife to fill this gap, with the hopes of saving mothers, babies, and communities. What makes your brand stand out? I would say our dads antenatal classes, #DadsAntenatalNg. We are the first to incorporate antenatal classes for dads in Lagos and possibly Nigeria. Society expects men to understand the beautiful yet challenging changes that happen to women during pregnancy. To support their partners in labor and in the postnatal period. All that without being taught, educated, informed or even supported. This is grossly unfair, drives men away and generational patterns are subconsciously repeated. Our holistic approach covers the transition to parenthood right from conception for both men and women. Another thing we do is offer our couples, round the clock online maternity support through our exclusive “With Woman” packages. Couples feel very reassured knowing there is a midwife available to answer all their questions and alleviate any anxiety or refer them to the hospital (if required). Can you tell us one 1 to 3 things you struggled with as a business owner and how you overcame them? 1. Time management: I had a demanding full-time job and was starting a business in Nigeria. It was very challenging and I found no matter how hard I tried, the “naija factor” would disrupt my plans. I am currently working part-time, as this gives me enough time to focus on building ToluTheMidwife and The Maternity Hub (Nigeria). I am also able to attend various courses which have been extremely helpful in building my brand. 2. Funding: I was unable to secure a personal space as I had planned and this threw me out of sync. I froze the plans I had for the classes for a while. However, I am currently leasing spaces as required for my classes (pay-as-you-go) and this is working out really well. How have you managed to stay above the noise in this industry? As a brand new start-up, we are trying new and exclusive services such as dads antenatal classes and baby massage classes and evaluating the response we get from our clients. We also constantly monitor maternal needs and trends. Do you have a personal experience that taught you a business lesson? I didn’t consider the third party factor and it left me devastated at the start of my business. As an example, I write the handbooks for the classes and have them updated throughout the year. I gave the first book to a printer and I didn’t receive them on time for the very first class. It made me upset because when I did receive them, they were not fit for purpose. So when I updated the books again and sent them to the printer, I monitored every single step to avoid a repeat of what happened before. It was a really helpful learning experience for me because as a startup, I can’t afford to have a stain on my reputation, so I take all the necessary steps to ensure it doesn’t repeat itself. What impact have you made on your community since starting this business? I would say being able to make pregnant couples feel informed and empowered about their pregnancy, birthing options, and postnatal care. Most of them report feeling less anxious and worried because they know we are one call away. They also ask the midwives and doctors to complete all aspects of their antenatal check-up. The women have their personal antenatal
Want to Join an Investors Club With a Low Budget? Here’s what you need to know
Ever heard of the term Plutophobia? Plutophobia is derived from Pluto (wealth) and Phobia (fear) is the fear of wealth. Yes, it is actually a thing that there are people who are afraid of being rich. It sounds funny, I even feel like laughing out loud as I type this, but looking at it deeply makes it not so funny. Like, how can someone be afraid of being wealthy when we all know that money answereth all things? (We are well aware of immaterial wealth but for the sake of this article, all mention of wealth refer to money and all the riches that come with it). There is also something called Chrometophobia. Chermato (money) and Phobia (fear) which is the fear of money. The key triggers of phobias are external events which might be heredity or life experiences. You might have heard time and time again that investment is not for the rich only. But then, you don’t know how exactly to invest with a low budget. What if I told you that you do not need huge amounts of money to invest in portfolios that can give you beautiful rewards. All you need is to have the right information and go where the opportunities abound. Before you invest, first decide if you are willing to invest either for a short term or a long term. This will enable you to look in the right places, thereby saving time and being decisive from the onset. Pay attention to the following before your first investment: Beware of “too good to be true” offers. Examples are investments that offer high returns just after two days. Understand the risks that come with the investment you are taking up. Do your own proper research. Always get the second opinion from friend, family or an investments expert. Ensure that there is physical paperwork stating all the terms of investment. Now that you have the information on what to do before you invest. Here are some investment opportunities you can start investing with as low as N5,000 monthly: Mutual funds Money market funds Real estates Treasury bills via i-invest app Agriculture Invest in a friend or family’s business with properly drafted contracts There are also private investment opportunities where you get up to 10% monthly on commitments from as low as N50,000 Remember that you won’t get rich by hoarding money in your savings account or leaving them in a piggy bank. It is by investing. A change in mindset would help you navigate away from societal misconceptions about being wealthy as a woman. It would also help you overcome the fear of charging your worth for services you render or the good you sell. And as time goes on, you will see yourself making the money that you were long due to make, but afraid to ask for. Like I mentioned earlier, decide on the type of investment you want and why you want it then go for a suitable opportunity. Now that you are well informed about investments and how it can help you become wealthy, do you still hold any reservations about it? How are you improving your spending habits this month? Click here to join the SLA #SecureTheBag challenge.
Manage Your Money Effectively with these tips from Ifeoma Okoli
Managing money effectively is crucial for every professional woman. The ability to manage finances is what gives you leeway to have the lifestyle you want. Not every woman would tell you that they are comfortable with managing their money. Ifeoma Okoli is an Audit Analyst with a degree in Economics and Statistics. She has a Diploma with the Association of Charted Accountants. Ifeoma is also known to be a driven and enthusiastic Financial Analyst. In this article, she provides her tips on how women can effectively manage their money. The finance world is typically a male-dominated industry. What led you on to the path? I think the notion of the finance industry is typically a male-dominated industry was all in retrospect. Nowadays, especially in Nigeria, more women have begun to demand a seat at the table in this industry. On what led me to this path, I think one of my first inspiration career-wise was my dad. He too worked in this industry and I loved number crunching. However, one of the things that helped me was that my father insisted I do a lot of unpaid internships during my secondary school holidays. That gave me an early start to understanding the nitty-gritty of the industry. How would you describe your day-to-day responsibilities as an Audit Analyst for your company? I look at my role as more of control and compliance (Risk Mitigation), working constructively with finance and other departments to improve internal control across the organization. How would you advise more women to become more financially literate? First of all, to be financially literate does not mean you have to study finance in school. In fact, studies have shown that most people whose job is to manage other peoples finance are actually very bad at managing their own personal finances. With that being said, some of my advice to women is below: You don’t need a glucose guardian to be rich. Get a job and work towards increasing your net worth. There is dignity in labour and financial independence is one of the best gifts you as a woman can give yourself. This may sound very cliche but create a budget tracker. This would help you to know how much you should spend, how much you have spent in a month, variances and mechanical ways to save up from bargains. Whenever you are free, listen to financial podcasts. It will help improve your financial knowledge, plus if you have a side hustle, the podcast will teach you how to scale your business faster while learning from the mistakes of other entrepreneurs. To check out some of my favorite podcasts, click this . How can the modern young working women budget and save effectively to cater to all her needs? Most career women who are salary earners oftentimes earn way less than their male counterparts at the same level. Yet most times are the ones doing more of the smart work. So as a young lady, be diligent and find out if you are long overdue for a salary increase. Arm yourself with facts and go forward to renegotiate your salary. To be able to cater to all your needs means you have to increase your income and to increase income means you have to increase the money coming from your revenue-generating unit(s) Like I said before, use a budget tracker it would save you a lot of headaches. Have at least three bank accounts. One should be your expense account, one your revenue accounts and the last should be your savings account. Do not spend directly from your revenue account. Separating your account would also help you track your inflow and outflows. Try as much as possible to save up 40% of your monthly income especially if you are still single and have fewer responsibilities. Saving for rainy days cannot be overemphasized. 20% of your six months income should be able to take you on a holiday trip. If not, it simply means the trip is a way too much above your budget and you are balling above your budget. Find a cheaper option. Trust me, you can have an amazing holiday on a budget. Apps like Piggy vest are there to help you cater to your personal savings and investment. Finally, one which most of us ignore. Always negotiate for your pension and health insurance in all your places of employment. Your pension may seem minuscule right now but it compounds and would eventually help to reduce the financial burden when you are old and frail. Are there useful tools or apps that can support women in dealing with their finances? Yes, there are. Apps like Expensify, Fudget even Google sheet can help you with planning and managing your finance What is one thing that you want more women to be aware of when it comes to managing money? If you are contented, you would not go broke trying to prove to broke people that you are not broke. How are you improving your spending habits this month? Click here to join the SLA #SecureTheBag challenge.
Jobs – Product Manager
She Leads Africa is a digital media and events company that believes in the power of young African women to build amazing careers and businesses, serve as community leaders and influencers, and eventually take over the world. Our organization has been featured on CNN, Black Enterprise, Forbes and CNBC Africa. We’ve worked with brands including Dark & Lovely, Uber, Cointreau, Samsung, and Facebook. Our #MotherlandMoguls, as we affectionately call them, are the reason we exist. Our mission is to provide them with inspiring, educational events and content to help them live their best lives. We’re looking for a product manager to help drive product planning and execution throughout the product development lifecycle, from gathering product and customer requirements to product introduction. Reporting Structure: The Product Manager will report directly to an SLA co-founder. The Product Manager will be responsible for improving all aspects of SLA’s end-to-end community journey and drive product decisions to meet business objectives. Responsibilities: Design and manage product roadmaps, ensuring timely completion of deliverables along the entire product lifecycle: from concept through production, from sustaining improvements to value engineering. Generate detailed documentation (including market/product requirement documents), communicate these requirements to the appropriate teams, and ensure timely cross-functional execution. Manage an outsourced development firm and determine product priorities and resource allocation. Facilitate the design of creative and innovative solutions that encompass the entire customer journey and actively question solutions to ensure alignment with product/company vision. Determine the best metrics for product success. Combine intuition with data analysis to continually drive product improvement. Provide input into product pricing, go-to-market, development budgets, and sales forecasts. Cultivate a deep understanding of our customers throughout their lifecycle, and advocate for solutions based on their needs and pain points. Monitor and report on sales and customer satisfaction metrics and offer data-driven insights about what new products or product lines will have the greatest impact for our customers and business. We are looking for someone who: Has 3+ years of relevant product management experience. Has a strong project management background, with demonstrated ability to execute on tight deadlines. Has recorded huge success working in a startup environment where you have taken ideas from conception to execution. Has the ability to juggle multiple priorities. Has exceptional communication skills, and demonstrated ability to build high-trust relationships. Has an engineering or design background; experience bringing a physical product to market required. Has experience guiding cross-functional teams in a highly iterative, rapidly evolving agile environment. Has excellent analytical skills with demonstrated experience turning data into actionable insights. Has experience with A/B testing, UX/UI principles and customer research techniques. Has a can-do attitude and is flexible enough to take on any task we throw at them Is passionate, hungry and eager to build SLA into a world-class institution Has high professional and ethical standards i.e. understands that there’s no such thing as African time – you’re just late Is comfortable taking and giving feedback Has a good sense of humor – because we’ll be working hard so we better keep each other entertained Is comfortable working in a startup environment where we’re making the rules up as we go along. Ultimately we’re looking for someone who wants to be part of something great. Someone who wants to help us create one of the best African companies in the world. Submit your application here:
Why your business may not have access to the funds it needs to scale
Being a financial analyst gave me the opportunity to relate with several entrepreneurs – some of whom I met during my undergraduate days at OAU (of the Greatest Ife!). They all have one common problem – lack of funds to expand their respective businesses. Please note that this article is not about me giving you money. However, one of my future goals is to set up a Private Equity firm alongside other partners and invest pooled funds in SMEs across Africa. Until then, let us just focus on why small businesses are unable to access available funds. To make this article as captivating as possible, I will assign three consecutive tasks to you and implore you to carry them out. If possible as you complete these tasks and take notes, new ideas may drop on your mind. Task One – Imagination If you are a business owner, or you hope to start a business someday, I want you to picture this, as broad as you can. [Insert the name of your business or business idea] as something you are proud of, a brand that transcends one country, something your unborn generation will bless you for, a trailblazer in its industry, and all the other good stuff you can possibly picture it to be. Task Two – Reflection Assume you are one hundred percent sure that task one will become a reality. Then reflect on the possible factors (financial or non-financial – for example, regulatory, social, environmental, etc.) that could hinder your reality or drop the level of certainty to a much lower percentage. That is enough! Task Three – Reality Check Ask yourself these few questions, especially if the factor from task two is a financial factor. However, let me quickly inform you that there are several financial aids or grants, which are exclusively available to SMEs. You just need to look in the right places and meet the requirements (if any). Back to the questions…Ask yourself Why am I unable to access the funds required to give my business (or business idea) the boost it deserves? Why do financial institutions, investors (or even friends and family) turn me down when I approach them for funds? You don’t have to sweat if you have no answers. A few weeks ago, I carried out research on these questions, with potential investors, business owners, finance practitioners and other informed persons as my respondents. If you are one of them and you are reading this, THANK YOU. Most of their answers centered on the following: Lack of integrity: I know this is probably an underrated reason, but 80% of my respondents referenced this. Your lack of integrity could cover these areas: If you divert the money you get to personal matters other than your business. Do you over-promise the potential investors an unrealistic return on investment (ROI)? Do you keep two sets of financial records – one for tax purpose (to evade taxes) and the other for the true picture of the business, and so on? The list is endless. Most investors have been in the business of financing for long. They would have done their due diligence. If you give potential investors any reason to doubt your integrity, you can as well wave their financial aid goodbye! Just so you know, even a devious investor does not want to invest in a dubious person or business. 2. Inability to sell yourself and your business appropriately: This may sound cliché, but it is also a major reason. If you are unable to convince me to invest in your business, how on Earth do you think I will give you my money on my own volition? Is your business plan compelling? Or is it over-optimistic? Please note that over-optimism is not a bad trait. However, this is business, and money is involved, so, you need to prove to the potential investor that you have done your homework or research. 3. Lack of business management skill or experience: Most of us want to be our own boss – fair enough. However, if you do not know how to manage a business, if you have not worked under someone before, if you have not undergone any training or if you come off as an incompetent person when it comes to that business and how you talk about it, then you limit your chances of getting funds or capital from potential investors. A final take-home You claim you need capital for your business. Fine! If a potential investor asks how much you need to expand your business to “xyz” level; will you be able to respond with an amount (or a range) on the spot? As an entrepreneur, you should have an elevator pitch about your business and a summary of what you would do with the money assuming you had immediate access to it. Do you know why some businesses are not getting the funding they need? Please share with us.
How To Launch & Get Paid for Your Freelance Writing Career
Anyone can be a freelance writer. You don’t need any experience or degree. So, you want to dive into freelance writing? I get a lot of emails and DMs (on Instagram) from people asking me how to successfully start a career in freelance writing. With the fact that there are tons of wrong advice out there ranging from excuses like the need for formal training to owning a website or blog, I thought to share my experience and sales strategies on this platform! Here’s one thing though! If you think that you can’t begin a career in freelance writing as a result of no experience; well, it’s about damn time someone told you that: IT IS POSSIBLE! My Story It’s been almost four years since I became a freelance writer. When I first learned how to become a freelance writer, I made the mistake of thinking that I needed a blog or website. I also thought that the only way to get gigs was to sign up on freelancing sites such as Upwork, Fiverr, Guru, etc. Content mills provide cheap content jobs and they usually batch orders. Their goal is to get a lot of content for cheap. After a series of unsuccessful attempts to sign up on these platforms, I gave up. Then, I switched to scouting for gigs on Nairaland. Most of them paid peanuts. Three years down the line earning little to nothing, I realized that this wasn’t for me! I was worth more than that! I felt like giving up! But, I didn’t. I re-grouped and started afresh. I signed up for training, pitched for freelance writing jobs; and gradually began to land high-paying clients. The rest, they say, is history! If you want that for yourself, here are the steps on how to become a freelance writer you need to get started. 1. Research About Freelance Writing When I first started, I did a lot of research. I found other freelance writers, read their blogs and learning as much as I could about this business. While I had some clues about how to write blog posts, I didn’t know the kinds of jobs for freelance writers. 2. Become Familiar With the Writing Skills and Tools Required While I’ve mentioned that you can start a career in freelance writing with absolutely no experience, you can increase the odds of success by learning a few skills and tools. Some skills you should definitely have for freelance writing include: > Organizational Skills Having a system in place for your projects is key to growing your business. You don’t want to make a mistake or forget to do something. I use my calendar to keep track of events, Evernote or my phone’s memo to jot down ideas and a list of things I want to do. > Writing Skills Writing for an online audience is different than writing in your diary or texting a friend. Know how to captivate readers with your blog topic and introduction. You need to be able to create insightful, entertaining and educating posts. > Confidence Putting yourself out there and trying to land writing gigs is tough. You’ll get rejected, turned down or you may have a client walk all over you. To become a successful freelance writer, you need to be confident and overcome your fear of pitching (I can’t begin to count how many clients I’ve landed via cold-pitching!) > Graphics & Design skills There is no excuse for ugly photos, therefore this skill is very important to have. My favorite image editing app is Canva. > Proofreading While I offer proofreading services as well, it doesn’t hurt to use Grammarly or Hemingway app to give that document a final polish before it gets sent to your client. 3. Practice Writing While you don’t have to be the best writer to become successful, you need to be able to write sentences and get your message across. Improving your writing will not only help you become a better writer, but it will also help you market your freelance writing business because it makes you more credible as a professional writer. 4. Create a Portfolio of Your Work Most job ads you’ll apply for will ask to see your work. They want to see samples of published work. If you’re new, you won’t have any published work – unless you already have a blog. So, how do you show prospects you can actually write? Besides starting a blog, you can create samples. Draft up a few pieces and either upload them as a Google Doc or publish them on Medium, LinkedIn or Quora. Another alternative is to guest post. Search for blogs or websites in the niche you’d like to write about and pitch your blog idea to them. Don’t think it’s possible? What do you think I’m doing here? Guest posting on She Leads Africa, of course! 5. Start Pitching to clients Now it’s time to actively search for freelance writing jobs. But where do you go and how do you do it? Go check out job sites like NG Careers, Jobberman, MyJobMag, etc for content writing positions. When you find a job you are interested in the important thing to remember is to be one of the first few to apply and make sure your pitch stands out. Are there other ways to find freelance writing jobs? Yes, there are tons of ways! 6. Hustle Queen! Being a freelancer means you gotta hustle for work. But, this doesn’t mean you ALWAYS have to hustle. The goal is for clients to come to you. However, when you’re new in the business, you have to get your name out there. Get on social media and network. Guest posting not only to builds your portfolio but attracts potential clients as well. 7. Stay Learning! The best thing you can do as a new freelance writer is to continue to learn. Whether it’s writing tips, business tips or pitching tips, hone your skills by learning from those
Young women should benefit from the growing impact investment market: Ujunwa Ojemeni
Ujunwa Ojemeni is a financing, business development and clean energy expert with experience in the areas of opportunity maturation, project financing and impact investing. She has been in the energy sector for over five years now. She was in project development for a while before transiting to impact investment. While in energy project development, she coordinated several gases and power development opportunities valued at approximately $300 Million. In energy impact investing, her work has involved working with partners to catalyze funding to the clean energy sector such as the $100Million Off-Grid Energy Access Fund (OGEF) along with the African Development Bank and others, as well as driving investments in and managing investments in various clean energy companies. She is currently working with project developers by structuring and arranging appropriate financing for their businesses, working with partners to deploy innovative energy solutions and providing long term strategic support to key energy enterprises. Tell us about some of your projects Earlier this year, I was selected as one of the 60 young African Clean Energy Leaders for the Open Power Africa 2019 program by Enel Foundation in collaboration with top African and Italian academic institutions. I was one of the 16 finalists of the program who proceeded to complete the final module of the fellowship based on the quality of our capstone projects. I also emerged as a finalist in the IFC Sustainability Exchange Ideas Contest for Youth Innovations 2019. To promote the participation of more women in the energy sector, I recently launched “The African Women in Energy Development Initiative – AWEDI Network”. It is the pioneer African organization focused on women across the entire energy value chain to offer mentorship, career sponsorship (acceleration), capacity building, and leadership training for women at all stages of their energy careers and for female students at the secondary and tertiary levels. I have always been passionate about helping SMEs to be successful and founded the “SME Transformation Project” through which I provide business advisory and funding to women-owned SMEs in low-income communities. I help them navigate through basic business challenges such as marketing and distributing channels, product line expansion, and most importantly, funding, which they have difficulties accessing from traditional financiers. In addition, I am a mentor at the Cherie Blaire Foundation where I provide support to women entrepreneurs to help them grow as they build their businesses in different parts of the world. Before all of these, I worked in the management consulting unit of KPMG where I focused on startup advisory and process improvement for such enterprises. Share your experience with female inclusion in the energy sector? In 2014, when I started my professional involvement in the energy sector, there were only 2 women on the team, and I was unclear how to navigate or how to find suitable mentors within or even outside the organization. Although the numbers are gradually improving as more attention is being given to the subject – more women are coming into the sector. However, if you look at the management of most companies, it is mostly dominated by men. In fact, although female representation is improving globally, it remains considerately low. In fortune 500 companies, only 6.6% of CEOs are female and 25.5% of board seats are held by women. This was one of my motivations to launch the African Women in Energy Development Initiative (AWEDI Network). Being a woman in any sector let alone a male-dominated sector is generally tough and there is still significant room for improvement to make it more conducive for women to thrive. As I always say, we are equal but different. Women are saddled with the responsibility of childbearing and a lot of times childbearing and home keeping. Issues such as not employing pregnant women or newly married women are really sad and worrying. Organizations are typically worried about the gaps caused by maternity leave but the evidence is clear that a diverse workforce is good for the bottom line. Furthermore, returning to work after maternity leave is not always smooth especially when you have been sidelined and not promoted along with your peers who may not even have performed as well as you. In some other organizations, there is no provision for things such as nursing rooms for nursing mothers. Another issue is the ‘flexible working myth’. Some organizations do not make any provisions for this, while others allow it in principle but in reality, it is difficult to utilize it as you might be considered unserious and penalized for it. As a society and as corporate bodies we must institute policies and implement the same to enable both men and women to perform optimally – paternity leave is still not taken seriously by many. What were your major challenges in the industry and how can African women manage it? One challenge is being undermined maybe because one is young. It is an interesting combination to be young as well as an African female committed to achieving big goals. Nevertheless, I believe that being an expert in your craft is most important and clearly demonstrating this expertise by being visible. At meetings, there is always something you can contribute – most times we know more than we realize. So I always encourage women to be bold and speak out more. In addition, we have to network sensibly; unfortunately, we usually do not have the luxury of time to attend all networking events due to other responsibilities but we should pick the most relevant events to attend. We should also network horizontally and vertically i.e. with our peers and with those in higher cadres. Another tricky challenge is finding the balance between being confident and people thinking you are self-promoting. I have learned to ignore any naysayers and self-promote because if you don’t talk about what you have done and what you are doing and keep waiting for someone else to notice you, you will be waiting a long time. So tell your managers what you have accomplished; share
Catherine Lesetedi: Botswana’s Boss Woman
Catherine Lesetedi is a graduate of Statistics from the University of Botswana. She has built a career in the insurance industry since she joined it in 1992. Currently, Catherine is the Group Chief Executive Officer of Botswana Insurance Holdings Limited (BIHL). She has built her career from scratch, and over the years, she has been adamant that adopting a flexible style of leadership is beneficial for leading an organization and getting the best out of her team. Her career so far… Looking at Lesetedi’s career, nothing about her story and her leadership principles and philosophies are ‘textbook’. Her style of leadership is pliable and acrobatic. It lends itself to whatever situation she and her team are in. She’s extremely driven, open and open-minded, preferring to lead from behind, pushing her team forward, encouraging their gifts and honoring their intellect, allowing them to innovate, to grow and give to the business what she cannot. Catherine maximizes on their strengths and makes sure that wherever there are gaps, there are people who are passionate, willing and able to execute and fill them. Her journey there… There is nothing predictable about Catherine Lesetedi. Even her choice of Statistics as a field to study at the University of Botswana (UB) was a bit of a wild card, even for her. She describes it saying, “when we were making choices about what to study at varsity, we didn’t really know much about careers, to be honest with you, I didn’t know anything about Statistics until I got to the Department of Student Placement at the Ministry of Education.” “I was late; my father and I had run out of fuel. By the time we arrived, I was out of breath, and I had forgotten my initial course choices. My brother, who I really admired, had studied Public Administration and Political Science, and that’s what I wanted.” “They said that that weird combination didn’t exist, and told me that I was going to do Statistics and Demography.” “If you think something is difficult, it becomes really difficult. If you think you can do it, sometimes you even surprise yourself.”– Catherine Lesetedi, CEO, BIHL Group Her life experiences… She studied Statistics at the University of Botswana, and even though her journey into that field was incidental, once there, she made the best of her situation, excelled and gleaned many things that she took forward with her into the rest of her life. Certain experiences and her mindset set the stage for her early career and propelled her forward. According to her, “in terms of decision-making, logical thinking, the confidence, and aptitude to learn; the program grounded me.” “I may not use the formulas every day, but there are skills that I gained that I apply on a daily basis, even if I don’t recognize that ‘this is Statistics.” The mathematical element empowered her to be able to engage with budgets and numbers, and not shy away from that aspect of whichever job she did. Her philosophies for life… All of the disciplines in the world are interrelated, so having a good understanding of what is going on across the board is beneficial for one; especially if a young woman wants to build herself up and build her career. This is something she practices herself because, throughout the course of her career, she has gradually improved upon her leadership skills, attending leadership courses and taking on the responsibility of self-improvement. Doing this has encouraged her to take a deeper look at herself; what drives her and pushes her beyond her own limitations. This outlook has put her in good stead as a leader, as someone who encourages others, ensuring that they are able to get the best out of what they need to do. As a mentor, both personally and professionally, the story that she tells, theexample that she sets, is one of “show up and do your best.” Ms. Lesetedi is big on recognizing talent and putting it to good use within the BIHL Group. These are some of the elements that make her up as a woman, as a leader, and these are some of the things that she has imparted to her mentees. Botswana is one of Africa’s success stories, from one of Africa’s poorest countries to a vibrant, developed, middle-income African state. Sponsored post