Kemi's role in taking the creative industry forward

Journalist

Mwananchi Communications Limited

What you need to know:

With a heart to share knowledge and as an occasional facilitator, Ms Kalikawe dedicates her time to make sure she is mentoring various women into creative sectors in the fashion industry

Dar es Salaam. On April 15, 2021 Unesco, British Council and Make-it-Matter organised an event to celebrate the contribution of women in the creative sector in Tanzania so as to stem gender diversity in the creative industry.
In celebrating Season 2 of Mwananchi Communications Limited’s Rising Woman Initiative, Kemi Kalikawe, narrates her journey as an activist in the creative industry.
With a heart to share knowledge and as an occasional facilitator, Ms Kalikawe dedicates her time to make sure that she is mentoring various women into creative sectors in the fashion industry.
Passion drives her to do more, not thinking about the financial gains but enjoying the journey to the goal, she is the entrepreneur and founder of Naledi Dream Centre, a creative industry based in Dar es Salaam.
“I dedicate the Naledi Dream Centre to inspiring leaders in the industry and exploring technological advancement in the creative sectors and sharing knowledge to build a supportive ecosystem for creative industry SMEs to achieve professional excellence,” said Kalikawe.
Kalikawe has been in the fashion industry for over 10 years and is an award-winning designer at Swahili Fashion Week, she was also selected as the only designer from Africa, in a group of 12 international designers, to take part in a four-continent fashion tour, under China’s Belt and Road initiative.
This gave her a deeper insight into how the fashion industry in other countries work in Asia, Europe and America. She has used this knowledge to form collaborations that have influenced her advocacy work for the industry.
According to Kalikawe, she used the idea of Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) to present the proposal on Branding Made in Tanzania at the Tanzania policy forum for Cotton to Clothing and presented her suggestions of the use of technology to educate women in the industry at a panel for Women in the Creative Sector by British Council and Unesco.
“The future and the 4th Industrial Revolution relies on new technology to leapfrog Tanzania to an industrial economy, so through this I was part of the steering committee of the innovation and tech forum”
She added that her advocacy opened opportunities to host and participate in multiple fashion forums and government and private sector textiles industries dialogues.
Apart from Naledi Dream Centre, Ms Kalikawe said she is also the CEO of Fashion Association of Tanzania and representative of the fashion industry in the creative sub-sectors skills council by TPSF, a position that utilises her drive for advocacy for the fashion industry.
“When we were kids, we used to dream of what we wanted to be when we grew up,” Ms Kalikawe says, adding that at an early age she used to make stuff by sewing some clothes.
“My mother says she knew I would work as creative, I used to make stuff since I was a child and I used to make Christmas cards with my mother, my mother was a wildlife researcher but she was also creative, who inspired me”.
Since primary school, Ms Kalikawe wanted to work in the creative industry, she got top marks in art subjects and the highest in art and design in O-Level.
“I was good in those days in primary school and O-Level, I was lucky that my parents agreed with my ideas to go straight to college and not having high school education, I went to study interior design like colour theory, elements of design, drawing and textile studies were the same for the fashion design industry”, said Ms Kalikawe.
Ms Kalikawe elaborates that, her passion drives her to do more, not thinking about the financial was the best movement because it was the time where she gained experience and created the most vulnerable moment of her career. “It was a big challenge to get a job in Tanzania because I didn’t have any business connections - and, to pass time, I volunteered at the British Council to scout young talent on their arts programme called Words and Pictures.”
She revealed that was her best movement as, six month later, they hired her for two years. Despite the end, she still grew in leadership due to the programme that the British Council offered for creative and women leaders.
The pivotal point of her leadership journey started after a client nominated her for a programme called African Women’s Entrepreneurship Programme (AWEP) which is in conjunction with the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum, as part of the US Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Programme (IVLP).
“I and other African women went to the US on a task about the future leaders to be exposed to opportunity and then we go back to our country to share this knowledge” she said. She reminded herself that “If your dream does not scare you, it’s too small’’ from the book called “Chase the Lion” written by US pastor and author, Mark Batterson.
According to Kalikawe, her leadership style involves the innovative, transformational style which is driven by creativity and innovative solutions for focusing on unlocking people’s potential.
“Am a forward looking person, looking for ways to address challenges and big risk takers, my father told me that, if you fail, see it as school fees, because we learn something from every failure”.
She attended a Leadership for Gender Equality Programme from Clore Social Leadership and The British Council. During this course, she gained insights into who she was as a leader through access to content, group discussions and activities that enabled her to develop her leadership style.
“The programme begins by analysing leadership styles before fleshing out the participants and it examines the context they work within, it then looks at the impact the participants have on their organisation” said Ms Kalikawe.
Her family and friends were the right mentors, because they usually put their mind to something which they found that is heartedly and passionately.
“Make sure you surround yourself with the right friends. I talk to them about business ideas, they push me forward, challenge my ideas to make them more focused and translatable for different audiences, I would not be the person I am today without my family and friends. I am always amazed at how lucky I am to have these people in my life” said Ms Kalikawe.
Talking about gender diversity among leaders, Ms Kalikawe mentioned that men are more likely to develop as leaders because their assertiveness is seen as strong while women are seen as aggressive and pushy.
“Women tend to use less assertive tactics when seeking promotions out of a concern, they could encounter gender bias and stereotyping, Women should not be asked to change their behaviour as a way of addressing this situation, but companies should train employees to change their perspectives” said Ms Kalikawe.
According to her, gender equality at Naledi Dream Centre enable women to be more confident to speak up and have deeper knowledge of the industry.
“The fear of going after what you want and speaking up your perspective to a client is very hard, you just have to stand and speak through the fear, this is when your voice is heard, and your idea is given light and the next step to open doors and opportunities”.
In order to push the females in leadership, Ms Kalikawe mentioned that we need programs that will be the best to teach women leadership style, studies show that by adopting traits considered typical in female business leaders, male business leaders can add greater value to their organisations.
“Women need effective communication training about career advancement, we must learn to skilfully and consistently, we need to use human resources and allies in leadership who can help us achieving policies key to creating more balance in the workplace”
In order to help change the situation about gender diversity and make women rise to leadership, she advises that they need to be confident enough in any situation.
“Confidence is the key in every situation, because you will get the chance to face your fears, and when you master your fear, you will rise to the top, the world doesn’t want people who are shy and scared to try” said Ms Kalikawe.
Learning to work through and with others, it’s not a one woman show and the more we teach others to do what we do, the more we can have time for self-care.
Ms Kalikawe said collaboration helps one to have more time to focus on what you know best and hand things over to others who have a speciality that you don’t.
“Use technology helps you work smarter. When you are out with family and friends, try to put the phone on silent, this is your time to be fully engaged with others and balance”.
She usually motivates women at Naledi and those surrounding her, that in order to go big, they must ensure to focus on three things which are to keep at it, consistency and use the network.
“Women need to make sure we create business networks and make sure that we are consistent in every creative field, let us push to our limit and make sure that we keep at it until we find our place” said Ms Kalikawe.