Co-Authors: 17 Women Leaders from Across Africa
Book Title: She Leads: Lessons from Women Leaders
Genre: Inspirational
Publisher and Year: ZionPearl Publishers, 2023
Cost: $45.00 (Hardcopy), $9.99 (Softcopy on Amazon)
Reviewer: Wangari Njoroge
In the words of Virginia Woolf, every secret of a writer’s soul, every experience of their life, every quality of their mind, is written large in their works.
This is evidently seen between the covers of the book She Leads, where a range of female leaders’ voices and lived experiences are perceived.
She Leads is a motivational book that has pooled together insights, lessons, and experiences of different women leaders in Africa.
This is the first edition of this book, designed and published in 2023, and is slated to be launched on July 7, 2023, at Weston Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya. The hard copy of the book will be available then, but you can order your soft copy, which is already available on Amazon.
The purpose of She Leads is to influence the embracing of gender inclusivity in leadership as a growth and development strategy.
The lessons from the 17 women leaders who have penned down their leadership stories and perspectives come from the need to erase the tragedy of women suffering from internalized misogyny and masculinity.
In this book, we face the reality that calls for more participation of capable women in the leadership agenda without owing their success to living life by the patriarchal handbook.
Reading through the 18 chapters of the book, one gets to learn the value and benefit of the inclusion of women in leadership in the overall growth agenda across different sectors.
Leadership strategies
To move from the traditional, biased view of the female gender, different strategies have been suggested by the authors.
- Enriching leadership capabilities. Naomi Njeri Monobolou, one of the authors, highlights that elevating one’s ability to lead requires overcoming one’s fears and egos and establishing strong and healthy connections with people whilst empowering them. She encourages women leaders to create encouraging circumstances with the teams they lead by fostering collaboration to ensure unity in realizing the organization’s goals and visions. From this chapter, it is clear that good communication is also key to elevating leadership abilities. “Letting people know how you function is important; you should let them know where they stand with you too, if they are not meeting your expectations, providing them with feedback is important,” says Mrs. Monobolou.
- Self-leadership, visionary leadership and leading perceptively. Leadership starts from a place of desire and is reached at through aggressiveness. Dr. Elizabeth Wamera, in her chapter, quotes Shirley Anita Chisholm (1924-2005), “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” Self-leadership also entails aspiring women leaders moving up to spaces that challenge their abilities as they disrupt the status quo and create spaces for themselves, seeing that most leadership positions are far much male-dominated. Self-leadership, however, must escalate to leading others with wisdom to bring positive change and results. Discerning female leaders must influence their followers for legacy and continuity of vision.
- Growing into leadership as women of Africa and the world. African women are exposed to leadership roles at a very tender age, where one is required to take care of their siblings and attend to other minimal household chores. However, culture has made the African woman look at leadership differently and not acknowledge the big roles that women can equally take up. In her chapter, Grace Kaome Mukasa acknowledges that opportunities for women in Africa are challenged and that environment and culture hold women back in real life. “When someone gets out in the real world, the resources are so minimal, job opportunities are limited and every time a rejection comes, it discourages them further and the budding leader is lost in a space of despair,” she states. Nonetheless, she encourages women not to shy away but take up these roles as they only lead them to God-given opportunities.
- Motherhood and resilience by means of leadership. Anna-Maria Mwachinga, in her chapter on ‘Motherhood as leadership’, notes that even though women have always had the enviable ability to multitask, there is a subtle but definitive shift in the way motherhood is viewed by societies in Africa. “The key defining characteristic of being a mother then was the ability to produce children and in large numbers,” she recollects. However, over the years, mothers are indulging in income-generating activities as a result of changing economies and urbanization. Mrs. Mwachinga further notes that motherhood comes with a pool of skills that can be incorporated in leadership. They include humility, self-reliance, patience, servant leadership, negotiation and resilience to weather life’s storms among others.
- Harnessing the gem in women’s enterprise leadership. Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Africa have bore the brunt of many constraints, especially the Covid-19 pandemic. Mary Wangari Wamae notes that a woman is rich in skills to run both corporate leadership and entrepreneurial resources and could save these MSMEs that are drivers of economic stability in Africa. Mrs. Wamae highlights challenges facing women-led startups in Africa but notes there are financial resources and opportunities that women entrepreneurs can tap into. “Needless to say, being a businesswoman can be accompanied by setbacks, limitations and uncertainties emanating from cultural and societal setting,” she says. She advises women to get their financial houses in order, read relevant literature, create meaningful networks, and venture more into Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
About the authors
The contributing authors are spread across different sectors and hold different leadership roles in the spaces they are in.
Mary Wangari Wamae
Mrs. Wamae is the Group Executive Director of Equity Group Holdings PLC. She is a seasoned Corporate Executive with over 30 years of experience in strategy leadership and governance. In 2021, she won the Angaza Award which recognizes women leaders in Banking and Finance. Her input in She Leads is in two chapters: “Gender inclusivity in boards and top leadership”, and “Harnessing the gem in women’s enterprise leadership”. Her contact is mary.wangari@equitybank.co.ke.
Naomi Njeri Monobolou
Mrs. Monobolou is a Board Member and the Chair of the Finance Committee for the International Community School of Abidjan (ICSA). She is a two-time author. Her other masterpiece is titled Unlock Your Body Budget. Her contribution is dubbed “Elevating Your Leadership Abilities”.
Priscah Motogwa
She is an accomplished and solution-oriented leader with over a decade’s experience in the public sector and currently the Deputy Director at the Communications Authority of Kenya. Her chapter dubbed “Do you want to be a leader? Embrace courage over fears”.
Sandra Ochola
Ms. Ochola is a lawyer, author and thought leader. She has previously self-published the second edition of her book, ‘Teens Guide to the Constitution of Kenya.’ In this book, Ms. Ochola has given her experience and insights on ‘Visionary Leadership’. Her contact is ocholasandra@gmail.com.
Teresia Ndoti Wambua (Kush Tracey)
Kush Tracey is a renowned media personality, motivational speaker, influencer and entrepreneur. She is the Founder of Kush Tracey Initiative, which impacts lives through charitable work in Kenya. Her input in the visionary book is a chapter on “Embracing the Leader Within”.
The others include Anna-Maria Mwachinga, an engineer by profession, Dr. Elizabeth Wamera, a development specialist with over 25 years of experience and has specialized in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).
Major (Rtd) Lucy Wairimu Mukuria, who is an advocacy champion and psychologist in the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF), Hellen Otieno, a land economist, Yvonne Tharao, an experienced, visionary leader with a bias in marketing, are co-authors too. Ms. Tharao was recently named third in the top 25 influential women in Marketing Impacting Business in 2022.
Additionally, Esther Katiba shares nuggets in the third chapter of She Leads on “Leadership and Leading Discerningly”.
Mrs. Katiba is a Human Resource Specialist and an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, an alumnus of the Goldman Sachs 10000 Women Program, The Tony Elumelu Foundation Program, and a mentor in the Women in Innovation Program (Bridge for Billions 2022).
Another co-author is Catherine Wanjohi, a certified leadership coach who also shares her leadership experience in mentorship under the chapter, “Leadership Mentorship: Passing on the Baton”.
Dr. Peggy Elliot Pugh, a Gospel Minister and author of over two dozen Christian nonfiction books, equally shares a chapter in the motivational book. Her contact is hello@drpeggypugh.com.
Gina Lodge, a qualified Executive Coach and Founder of World View, shares her insights on “Reflections on Life and Leadership”. She terms her leadership roles as a “privilege” to serve. Mrs. Lodge notes that her interests are in good leadership, digital transformation and business development.
More chapters are taken up by Esther Kiringa Muiruri, the Group Marketing Director at Smart Applications International Limited, and Grace Kaome Mukasa, HR professional at the Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) authors about “Growing into leadership as women of Africa”.
Terry Kigundu unpacks her knowledge and lived experiences in She Leads by advising on how to unlock one’s potential. Mrs. Kigundu is the East Africa Training Manager at Women Lift Health. Read more about the authors here.
She Leads is a one-stop book with insights, best approaches, lived experiences and directions well-curated to be a blueprint for women and other people venturing into leadership, personal development and other spaces of professional growth.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Theologian and gospel musician Reuben Kigame launches new book
It is the kind of masterpiece which would add value to your library, and change your perspectives on leadership, especially women leadership. Dont, wait. Instead, make your order now at Nuria Books Kenya.
YOU CAN ALSO READ: BOOK REVIEW: A Silent Song and Other Stories Part 2
