RISING WOMAN 2025: Gigi Maajar champions women lawyers and breaks down barriers

What you need to know:

Gigi is the Founder and Managing Partner for MAAJAR & Co ADVISORY, a corporate advisory firm which also provides compliance advisory services and ground support for those setting up businesses in Tanzania.

Gigi is also a moderator, mistress of ceremony, and panellist on different subjects of the law, such as artificial intelligence, women empowerment in leadership, ESG, billing practices for advocates, ethics, anti-money laundering, and the role of advocates as reporting persons. She likes to attend Women’s Networking events and always takes the chance to speak even from the audience to remind women what they are capable of, how to build confidence, how to navigate firm politics, how to build networks that work to better themselves, and avail opportunities. I can confidently say that mentorship, especially among women lawyers and practitioners, is a matter that is ingrained in our blood, and we do it well. I am proud to say we learnt this from our mothers and elder learnt sisters in TAWLA, to whom I feel I owe a lot for what I have become.

Women overly self-audit themselves before they make a move or attempt any opportunity, while men will typically venture out even if they only meet 50 percent of the requirements! Women tend to vet our ability first, consider if we can do it, and often assume we cannot. We don’t usually take risks and are not as ambitious. Worse still, women don’t think we should blow our trumpet because we feel it is self-promotion. However, self-promotion is necessary because it is self-branding about the things you are best at and is not a negative trait. Because of all this, it means women miss out on otherwise attainable opportunities and get themselves out of the running before the race even starts! Another challenge is women of a certain age bracket have societal expectations of getting married, starting a family, and then taking care of that family, which then translates to missing out on opportunities while heavily pregnant or if they experience complications in their pregnancies or when on maternity leave or when attending to their young children, like clinic and hospital visits, etc., therefore not being able to participate in opportunities that require after-hours attendance, long travel, or are in a different city or country.

At the same time, their male counterparts have no such challenges and do not miss such opportunities and, therefore, end up being given more responsibilities and/or getting promoted over their female counterparts. “Don’t wait to be seen! Proudly sit at the front in meetings and seminars, get up and introduce yourself to speakers, panellists, etc., at events, give out your business cards, request others business cards, and be sure to reach out to those you exchange cards with, always with an anecdote of the day to help them remember you! Seek out training sessions for areas you are interested in, e.g., Central Bank of Tanzania (BOT) and Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) training if you are into banking and Financial law, or things like ATE’s Female Future Program or Uongozi Institute’s Women Leadership Programme, where you will be sure to get advanced training, better yourself professionally, build on your network, and be a part of our version of women’s club! Another great training is from the Institute of Directors in Tanzania (IoDT), where I am also one of its non-executive directors and sit on its board of directors. The IoDT offers practical corporate governance training and directorship training, which is beneficial for women serving in senior management, on boards, or who are aspiring to be.

RISING WOMAN 2025: Gigi Maajar champions women lawyers and breaks down barriers

What you need to know:

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