- Through strategic publishing, the company is interested in intervening where there are gaps in different areas, especially in leadership, by generating knowledge around these gaps.
- The undertaking is a conglomeration of ideas by women leaders and change-makers in their areas of expertise.
- Each co-author writes a chapter on their area of top-cream dexterity, life experiences, and knowledge, which are worthy of provoking societal change.
Africa has never tasted her potential. Unless we begin challenging our people and stirring the waters, we may live our entire lives without experiencing the African potential
Dr. Dooso Radido, Founder and Director of Operations, ZionPearl Publishers.
We live in an age where the art of storytelling is the backbone of information dissemination and management.
Unfortunately, Africa’s story is among some of the significant narratives that have, for decades, been wrongly told and twisted to suit foreign interests, an issue demanding a turn-around.
Efforts to change the narrative and tell stories that matter have borne evident fruits at the very sweat of those who care about the profound truths of the continent and the power of positive storytelling, breathing new perspectives into Africa’s immense potential.
To see the narrative through different eyes and hear it from a different voice, Scholar Media Africa held an exclusive interview with Dr. Dooso Radido, the Founder and Director of Operations, ZionPearl Publishers, Nairobi.
Dr. Radido holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing and a Master’s in Public Health, yet he chose to venture into authorship and publishing.
“My concerns about writing are basically around the human potential, equipping, challenging and inspiring people to start maximizing their potential and do what they should do to achieve their ultimate goal,” he explains.
He currently has five titles under his belt, delving into challenging perspectives and deep truths of the Christian faith, gifts, human potential, and capacity, encouraging people to take action in realizing their faith, aspirations and dreams.
From the abundance of his exposure and scintillating wisdom, he shares about Africa’s potential and how the continent remains a powerhouse, yet staggering in indecisiveness and lack of a firm and clear strategy for leveraging its potential in terms of production and human resource.
“Africa has never tasted her potential. Unless we begin challenging our people and stirring the waters, we may live our entire lives without experiencing the African potential,” he says.
About ZionPearl
“The company’s conception was in 2012, with the gains being realized a few years later.
We largely deal with marketplace frontline practitioners, such as career people, businesspeople, coaches, trainers, preachers and leaders.
We are, however, zeroing into people in the corporate world, civil society and in leadership, pegged on the company’s mission of contributing to knowledge generation and management as a strategy for growth and development,” Dr. Radido explains.
He says that through strategic publishing, the company is interested in intervening where there are gaps in different areas, especially in leadership, by generating knowledge around these gaps.
He underscores the power of knowledge production and management, noting that it’s the gateway to achieving Africa’s potential through powering growth.
The author says that Africa is ever on a catch-up relay, adding that it’s time to infuse transformative knowledge into the minds of the young generation for posterity.
Having trained in a different field altogether, he says he ventured into authorship and publishing in response to a challenge he felt that more knowledge and its harnessing was needed for societal growth.
Inputting on the need to localize knowledge generation and management, he says, “We can bring these learning experiences near us and to our places of work, without sending the whole country back to class.”
ZionPearl has published bestselling and well-embraced books such as Hot and Healthy by Dr. Esther Dindi, which handles women’s issues, Born to Win by Dr. Job Mugire on how he rose from the village to greatness abroad, and The Chronicles of a Village Surgeon by Dr. Stanley Aruyaru.
One of ZionPearl’s ongoing projects is the SheLeads, a series of volumes that has already enlisted many interests globally.
SheLeads
A strategic vehicle to the destiny of a transformed and impacted society, SheLeads Project provides the world with women-generated content and knowledge on things that matter in the corporate world and other professional and daily life spaces.
It was born in 2021, inspired by Dr. Dindi’s social media post, spurring women to rise to their potential and comfortably be in charge of their narrative without self-disqualification.
Dr. Dindi is a women empowerment champion, a medical doctor and a fitness enthusiast.
“It is an intervention project focusing on inclusivity and involvement of women, unearthing the benefits of women involvement in societal development,” says Dr. Radido, who heads the project.
The undertaking is a conglomeration of ideas by women leaders and change-makers in Leadership, Human Resource, Human Relations, Women Empowerment, Entrepreneurship, Legal, Coaching, and Training spheres, among myriad others.
“The idea behind this project is to create a platform for women to be seen and heard. It demonstrates the excellence of women and their undeniable wisdom and impact. It aims at controlling the narrative and setting the agenda, spotlighting local excellence, success and exceptionalism,” he explains.
Dr. Radido says that we must control our narrative by uplifting those succeeding and excelling around us, without directing our attention to thinkers abroad.
He adds that talking about SheLeads is an issue of representation and knowledge generation and management, with nothing pegged to gender.
“SheLeads is a movement running strategic conversations to develop interventions to address policy-, practice-, program-, and personal development-related matters on empowering women,” he explains.
Launching Vol. 2, unveiling more
The progress of SheLeads project has been evident, with the book’s volume 1, co-authored by 17 women trendsetters in their areas of expertise, having been launched in July this year.
The journey to more volumes is fast-paced, and Volume 2 of the SheLeads book, co-authored by 20 women leaders drawn from diverse backgrounds, schools of thought, and spheres of expertise, is being launched on September 29, 2023, at Trademark Hotel (The Village Market), Nairobi from 2.00 pm.
The benefits of being part of the event include meeting the co-authors and hearing from them concerning their ideas, feelings and concerns about things that matter to the world, networking, grabbing yourself a copy of the long-awaited book while still fresh and also interviewing them for more information.
As the day nears, you can register here today and start readying yourself for the grand launch occasion.
More volumes are lined up for the world, and the earlier you jump onto the train and be on the move, the earlier you’ll snatch the best from the knowledge transfer experience.
Managing the project
“We usually seek women who have been in leadership space for about a decade, who are willing to share their experiences with the world. We use such stories to shape our African narrative and compile it into the book, rich with lessons,” he explains of the co-author selection criteria.
Each co-author writes a chapter on their area of top-cream dexterity, life experiences, and knowledge, which are worthy of provoking societal change.
It’s done within slightly over a month.
The aim is to create a localized knowledge system where people don’t need to far-fetch role models from abroad but can recognize, appreciate and embrace the change-makers among and within us.
“By the time the project is completely done, we target having given an opportunity to at least 10,000 women of influence,” he unravels what’s in the baking.
Podcasts, conferences, public lectures, webinars, and LiveChats are the other wings continually propelling the SheLeads message forward and promoting interactive sessions, going deeper and addressing other issues the book may not have.
“The project addresses a localized knowledge gap, a representation gap and a visibility and audibility gap. We hope to move the needle and bridge the gap, which, according to research, more representation will inject billions of money into the country’s GDP, a benefit for all, including men,” Dr. Radido explains.
The project is African, with a slight splash of non-African experiences for contextual relevance.
“The co-authors also compare Africa’s experiences with what they see and hear elsewhere, thus the need to engage a voice or two from outside Africa’s frame to help us see and understand the situation elsewhere. It’s also a move toward more collaborations,” he explains.
In his opinion, Dr. Radido says that though studies have proved the benefits of women involvement, we need to accept the reality of creation and the value attached to women upon creation, instead of pegging their importance on research.
100 percent involvement
Sadly, the meager percentages of women involvement and recognition rife in society today are seen as a privilege and favor for them instead of their right since creation.
“They should be allowed 100% participation. I don’t even advocate for 50% involvement, because I don’t believe we should split life into halves,” he says.
He points out that there’s a lot that we’re losing as a country and as Africa because of lack of women involvement and integration in decision-making.
When women own land, get more educated and become successful, that success immensely shapes their children and improves the community.
Their involvement in decision-making goes past the boundaries of gender balance, for they can be there but either not talking or not being listened to.
A legacy
So far, Dr. Radido has handled at least 37 co-authors for the SheLeads Project Vol. 1 and 2.
“Women struggle to be heard and considered. As for these co-authors, they have shown immense willingness and grace to be led and are deeply engaged into the project,” he appreciates their cooperation hitherto.
He also observes that they desire to leave a legacy, making it easy for them to cooperate.
Ultimately, he says the project will take two pathways, one handling a continental conversation to arouse Africa’s conscience, and another pursuing a local approach to handle local issues with contextual exactitude, like in a certain country.
As the SheLeads project continues, more conversations are budding.
RELATED FEATURE: Co-authors: Newly-launched She Leads book is a blueprint for women leaders
On March 6-8, 2024, the SheLeads Summit will shake the world and shift mindsets—“A platform for escalating African conversations, a space for awarding women change-makers, and a time of seeing how a successful Kenyan and African woman looks like.”
