The Congolese capital, Brazzaville, has been hosting the 12th edition of the International Forum for Entrepreneurial and Dynamic Women (FIED) for four days. Several dozen small and medium-sized business leaders, from around twenty countries on the continent, are debating until Saturday the obstacles linked to their emancipation and empowerment.
With a big scarf around her neck, Pauline Effa took her place in the middle of the conference room of the Kintélé International Center, to follow a panel on Special Economic Zones.
The coordinator of the NGO Partnership France-Africa for co-development lists the obstacles that hinder the emancipation of African women entrepreneurs.
“Since we started the workshops, it has been said, and it is a reality, all the barriers that women still face. These are access to funding, organizational issues, and issues of scaling up their activities. We realize that there is still a lot to do to move towards their complete empowerment, ”she says.
For the Senegalese Koumba Talla, who came to exhibit her clothes, the search for funding is a complicated ordeal. “There are women who don’t know how to look, where to find funding. That’s the problem”, she said.
In the opinion of Pauline Effa, there are many ways to overcome these obstacles: “The first challenge is support. We must support these women. And the second challenge is to make them converge towards networking,” she says.
Female entrepreneurs suggest establishing cooperatives to facilitate networking and foster communication among professionals.