JONATHAN COOK: African women’s success in sport shows the way for business

August, Women’s Month in SA, has been a great month for women’s sport in Africa. African teams did well at the Netball World Cup in Cape Town, and African football teams excelled in the Women’s World Cup in Australasia.

Three reached the last 16, with Nigeria coming close to beating England to reach the quarterfinals. Consider that there was hardly a thought of women playing soccer internationally a generation ago.

Given the focus of this column I would hope for similarly great progress for women in business in Africa. There are encouraging signs. It is true that there are barriers, as in sport. Men in business attract far more financing than do women. Business networks and mentors are mostly male dominated. Girls are often less likely to be in school.

In some places there are strong social pressures against women being independent in business, and even regulatory barriers preventing them from owning assets or taking loans on their own. According to the World Bank, 2.4-billion women of working age in the world do not have the same economic opportunities and legal rights as men. 

But the participation of women in business is increasing. The 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor women’s report estimated that 163-million women were starting or running new businesses in the 74 economies surveyed, and 111-million were running established businesses. This brings welcome consequences for communities. Women tend to spend more of the money they make on household needs, health and education than men do. 

The African Development Bank reports that Africa has the highest proportion of women in business in the world. That’s good news, though I fear many of them start subsistence microenterprises out of necessity rather than choice, to feed their families. But from that bigger things can grow. 

In our African Management Institute (AMI) data we find that the women entrepreneurs we work with create more jobs, and especially more jobs for other women, than do men. Drawing on a survey we conducted in 2021 of more than 1,000 businesses that had completed our Grow Your Business programme around the continent my colleague, Patricia Maina, AMI partnerships & gender lead, reports that women entrepreneurs created 58% of the new full-time jobs created by the businesses we surveyed, despite constituting less than half the sample.

Furthermore, 72% of the women entrepreneurs, compared with 42% of the men, reported a female headcount of over 50% in their firms. 

What’s driving this creation of jobs for women by women? It could be that women were disproportionately negatively affected by the Covid pandemic, and the data could show them bouncing back and recovering from the effects of the pandemic. The economic sector could play a role in the employment figures. But maybe women are more inclined to create opportunities for other women when they have the power to do so, because they understand from their own experience the barriers and challenges women face. Could women be more altruistic in their hiring policies? Or simply trust other women more?

I think a big effect may well come from the long-recognised human tendency to recruit people like ourselves from within our own networks. In the past this has disadvantaged women because most of the employing has been done by men. Things may change as more women do the employing.

What a happy thought that thousands of entrepreneurs across the continent are creating jobs and improving livelihoods, and beginning to redress some of the disadvantages women face. This benefits everyone — the IMF estimates that for countries with greater gender inequality closing the gender employment gap could increase GDP by an average of 35%. 

As sport has demonstrated, it is worth pushing to remove barriers women face in business. These barriers remain substantial, but need not be permanent.

• Cook chairs the African Management Institute.