Jabiry: On women inclusivity in addressing gender issues

Dar es Salaam. Hadija Jabiry, founder and Managing Director of GBRI Business Solutions Limited, a horticultural export company based in Iringa, says she is engaged in a business that had never crossed her mind.

“I studied Bachelor of Business Administration at St Augustine University (Saut), and while pursuing my degree, during my first year I knew I would be a businesswoman, but I never thought of farming as a business. One day I was watching a TV program called ‘Amka Badilika’, I saw stories of farmers explaining how they were making millions in horticulture business. I was instantly riveted. I saw money-making opportunity in horticulture,” she narrates.

She reallocated from Mwanza to Iringa with determination to start a horticultural business.

“I and my team started by growing vegetables and supplying to high-end customers locally. After two years in the local business we moved to export business. The company which I started with humble beginnings, is currently involved in growing, processing and marketing vegetables and fruits in both local and export markets,” says Ms Jabiry.

She adds, “The best way to describe my journey is by a saying ‘’where there is a will, there is always a way.”

Ms Jabiry’s desire to be involved in business activities stems from her childhood days.

“I grew up in a normal Tanzanian middle income family. We used to live in a shared rented house with three other families. The heads of all three families we lived with, were doing businesses except for my father who is still a government servant,” she says. Jabiry explains that even as a child, she noticed there was a difference between her families’ life standard and their neighbors’ lives.

“They seemed to have gotten everything my parents could not afford. In my mind I figured they were able to afford most of the material things because they were in business. From that moment I knew I wanted to be a businesswoman so that I can be able to have the same lifestyle they had,” she opens. Sometimes women at the top are labeled in unpleasant way and it really scares young women who are aspiring to be like them, explains Ms Jabiry.

“The company I am running was officially incorporated when I was in my early 20’s. I must admit, I was afraid of being labeled ‘overambitious’ as a woman, or just the general fear of being judged differently,” she reveals. The feeling somehow made her cast aside certain opportunities that came her way, because she thought she was too young for the opportunities, that an elder person deserved the spotlight. Ms Jabiry says being the MD as well as founder of GBRI Business Solutions Limited made her aspire to walk on the steps of great leaders whilst learning from them.

“I have learnt to lead with my heart, mind and hands. I believe I am a compassionate leader who cares about the people I am leading, I am a team player, but also I am focusing on making sure the people under my leadership are transforming in a positive way,” she says. Ms Jabiry says she got most of her mentors after they noticed her efforts, and automatically built desire to help and guide her.

“We are still having mentor and mentee relationship because I always listen and do what they tell me to do and even if I have a different opinion, I will table it in a respectful manner. Also constantly, I give them feedback on my progress and often appreciate their support,” she explains.

On her side, Ms Jabiry says for a person to be her mentee, she looks for personal initiative and commitment to learning.

“It’s easy to mentor someone who is self-motivated than a person who needs to be pushed in everything,” she says. She emphasizes that training is critically important for a person who wants to lead, explaining that it corrects and fills in the gaps in leadership knowledge you may be lacking. Jabiry also states that in today’s world there are so many leadership courses and books both offline and online which aspiring leaders can read and enroll into.

“When I started my leadership journey, I had no formal training. The moment I registered a company and hired few staffs, automatically I became a company leader. As the company was growing, I struggled a lot to lead until when I made a commitment to develop myself in a subject of leadership,” she says.

Ms Jabiry talks of the lack of diversity in top leadership positions, she says most African families raise girls not to be aggressive enough, their confidence is shaken right from their childhood. I think this is the reason most women do not show up, do not speak for themselves or do not even grab opportunities when they present themselves, when an opportunity for a top position has been advertised, it’s common for women to underate and disqualify themselves even before trying, unlike our male counterparts who will just go for an opportunity even if they know they do not qualify,” she speaks. To change the situation, Ms Jabiry says it is about time women believed in themselves, showed up and grabbed opportunities.

“Sometimes we should not even wait for opportunities but rather confidently pursue those opportunities wherever they are,” she details.

She also suggests women should join different organizations and networks which provide opportunities for women to grow, networks like African women leadership Network(AWLN) where she is a member of steering committee, focus solely in increasing women participation in leadership positions.

Ms Jabiry says women empowerment initiatives are the sole key in addressing gender equality, hence they should be inclusive.

“Men should not be left out of this movement and the focus should not be to fight but rather everyone understand why its important to empower women,” she says.