By Our Reporter
MTN Uganda in conjunction with the Project Girls for Girls joined the rest of the world to celebrate the International Women’s Day that falls on the 8th of March every year.
While MTN appreciates women and diversity, project Girls for Girls aims at exposure to female leadership, mentorship, and access to education and training to boost the aspirations of young women and cultivate the capacity to lead.
In line with the International Women’s Day theme, Choose to Challenge, MTN Uganda and Project Girls for Girls hosted a webinar, under the Topic – Women in Leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 World, featuring Ms. Yolanda Cuba the MTN Group Regional Vice President Southern and East Africa as a guest speaker.
The topic of discussion was deliberately focused on Women in Leadership based on the fact that Executive leaders play a significant part in advancing gender equality.
From helping forge an inclusive world where diversity is valued, to creating workplaces where women’s careers can thrive, leaders are responsible for driving positive change.
Based on the day’s topic of discussion Yolanda Cuba, who joined MTN Group shortly before the Covid-19 pandemic shared tips on how women can make the most of the pandemic to their advantage rather than lowering their ambitions.
“It (Covid-19) forced me to upscale my ambition. Many people during a pandemic downscale their ambition. I thought I could do more even in the face of the pandemic,” said Cuba, who unsurprisingly rose to her new position as Vice President for the South and East African MTN Markets on January 1st this year, amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic.
This, however was not a seamless journey for Cuba who had to virtually cultivate all her connections with her colleagues at MTN due to the pandemic that pushed people to remote working. However, with a clear vision and trust in her team to deliver, Cuba has navigated through the pandemic in a new work place and gone ahead to excel at her job.
Cuba urged women to be competent, consistent and courageous if they are to have an equal future to their male counterparts.
“It takes only 10% more effort than everybody else for you to be outstanding.” Says Cuba who was named one of the top 20 power women in Africa by Forbes Magazine.
Besides encouraging them to align their life’s purpose to their career ambition, Cuba also encouraged women to surround themselves with motivated and competent women who will in turn support their vision.
She also urged employers give women opportunities to take up senior roles as well as women leaders looking out for the young competent females in their workplaces. She also appealed to human resource managers to make a deliberate effort to close the payment parity gap between men and women in order to make the equal future a reality.