The countdown has begun for the 8th Forbes Africa Woman Leading Women Summit, taking place on 8 March 2023 (International Women’s Day) in Pretoria, South Africa.According to the organisers in a statement on Thursday, hard-hitting topics centred around this year’s theme, Women 3.0: The Icons and Ideas Shaping Africa will be tackled by some of the most influential women on the continent.
In association with The Macallan and supported by Coca-Cola, the 2023 summit will focus on topics ranging from wealth to Web 3.0 and mining to fintech, agritech and climate resilience, all of which will be debated and discussed by industry leaders.
“The 8th edition of the FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Leading Women Summit is already on track to become one of our most dynamic events as we welcome an illustrious speaker line-up to the stage,” commented Renuka Methil, Managing Editor, FORBES AFRICA.
“Considering the socio-economic challenges as a result of the pandemic, there is a lot we’re having to navigate. This summit is the ideal space to gain inspiration and guidance from those who are not only navigating these challenges, but forging new paths for our future generation of female leaders.”
Speakers at the summit will include Nolitha Fakude the chairman of the Anglo American’s Management Board in South Africa.
Having served in a number of senior positions and board member roles across the oil and energy, chemicals, financial services and retail industries, Nolitha Fakude brings vast experience to her position as the Group Director responsible for South Africa on Anglo American plc’s Group Management Committee (GMC).
Another individual committed to empowering women is Uganda’s Dr Nataliey Bitature, Chief of Staff and Board member of Simba Group (among many others), which is an East African group of companies spanning various sectors including telecom, education, energy and real estate.
Nataliey is also the founder of Musana Carts, a social enterprise building solar-powered street food vending carts and HER an online mentorship platform with more than 4,000 young African women. Nataliey has been recognised by Forbes 30 Under 30, The World Bank, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the World Economic Forum as a business leader and innovator.
Also joining the speaker programme is the founder and CEO of Mobihealth International, Dr Funmi Adewara, a woman passionate about changing the provision of healthcare to underserved communities.
The British-Nigerian Physician and Cambridge-trained bioscientist is a multi-award-winning entrepreneur and a globally recognised telehealth expert.
Her work sees her contribute to policy formulation around healthcare, particularly telehealth programmes for Africa, as an external reviewer to the Africa Development Bank, a contributor to the United Nations, the World Health Summit, and the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria.
Under her leadership, Mobihealth pioneered telehealth in the Nigerian Air Force in 2021, a first of its kind for the continent.
The other speakers include Irene Kiwia, the co-founder and CGO of Adanian Labs – a Pan African tech venture studio scaling technology businesses, trained lawyer Patricia Scotland, the 6th Commonwealth Secretary-General, the first-ever woman to hold the position, Aisha Ayensu, the founder & Creative Director of the internationally acclaimed luxury fashion label, Christie Brown and Dr Helena Ndume, a Namibian ophthalmologist internationally renowned for her humanitarian work which includes free sight-restoring surgeries for 35 000 Namibians.
