Why formal training is key for women advancement

QUESTION: What is your personal story? How did you reach the position you are currently holding?

ANSWER: Since my childhood, I was interested in reading and was very curious about the things around me. It was from very early in my life that I learnt about multitasking, a person that I am today. So, excelling in my school works was a normal thing for me. This went all the way from primary through secondary education until university level. I was always among the best students.

Education has opened so many doors for me. In 2014, I was the youngest assistant lecturer at Tumaini University. I was selected to be part of Mandela Washington Fellow a Young Leaders Initiative under the President Barack Obama initiative in Africa (YALI Fellows). This granted me the chance to travel to Florida International University in the US for young leadership exposure. This gave me very useful insights that pushed me to team up with my two legal expert friends, Anna Mwita, and Irene Nyange in 2016 to form Lighthouse East African Legal Clinic in order to provide legal support to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). In 2019, my partners and I formed a law firm called Triana Attorneys, as a commercial arm for the LEALC. These successes are all thanks to education and passion. LEALC is a social enterprise that provides corporate legal services to MSMEs. Its vision is becoming a leader in commercial justice in MSMEs, focusing on the delivering of basic legal services that solves the most critical, strategic, and operational challenges business communities in Tanzania face today.

Did you always know who and what you wanted to be?

Yes! Since childhood I knew where I wanted to be and I followed my dream. During my teenage years, I saw my daddy, as a business person, facing a number of legal challenges. That got me interested to study law. I fell in love with law because I believed I could do something to help my father’s businesses.

Thus, I made the decision to study law and become an advocate while in secondary school. I was also lucky to have a mentor in academics who was also the dean of the Faculty of Law at St Augustine University of Tanzania. My academic mentor natured me on how to become a competent lecturer and successful advocate. Until today, I have lived in that path with no regrets at all and loving what I do.

Can you share with us those moments in your life or career when you felt very vulnerable?

In the society we live in, being a young woman sometimes works to your disadvantage. Some people just do not believe in your ideas, simply because you are young and a woman. For example, before forming LEALC, I partnered with another male advocate to establish a law firm. Him being a man and a bit older than me, he always undermined my ideas and could not fully accept me as a partner. He often treated me as a support staff, and therefore, expected me to work under his wings.

I therefore decided to leave the partnership and look for other potential partners to form an organizations of our own. I’m so grateful to have found Anna and Irene as my partners. We share the same vision. They have given me an opportunity to grow into what I’m and do, which I love dearly.

What is your leadership style?

I prefer applying participatory style. I believe that a leader is not someone who necessarily knows everything about everything, but is someone who is willing to listen to others, able to synthesize opinions and concede to popular opinion (within reason) when backed up by evidence. I understand that all employees have skills and knowledge that they are willing to share. A good leader is a person who has a good ear to listen, eye to look at things and able to trust and involve everyone within the team.

What about formal training training? For those who want to become leaders, what is your advice to them, if they want to become leaders?

Yes, I do believe knowledge is power and a source of confidence in whatever you are doing. Most of my leadership skills were shaped through the special leadership training I obtained at Florida International University, through My LLM classes at the University of the Western Cape and also at the Law School of Tanzania. These three formal training have sharpened my leadership skills and knowledge to date.

What do you think there exists the gender gap in top managements? Why is it that there are only a few women holding top positions?

I think fear and feeling better in our comfort zones. Sometimes the commitments we have some being mothers or wives might act as setbacks because some leadership roles require time and being in the office for most of the time cause some women to fail to balance the two.

What can women do to take these matters into their hands? To change these situations?

Be ready to go out of their comfort zones, be ready to take risks and trying something different as well as adding value to anything they do to fit in the market.

What are your career aspirations and how do you plan to support more women to move up the ladder?

Being a CEO to a multi-social business enterprise, for instance, under the LEALC, we are planning to open zonal offices for the Clinic so as to reach and serve many more MSMEs in Tanzania.

What do you think is the best strategy to sustain women empowering initiative to last for prosperity? Can you tell us more about self-care, and how do you accomplish as a leader?

Empowering women is one of the best ways to promote economic growth and the best leaders in a society. Coaching, mentoring and training is the best approach of empowering women but also giving them opportunities to show their capacities.

Looking back, what three pieces of advice do you have for your younger self?

Every opportunity counts, don’t afraid to explore them extensively. Even if you don’t succeed today, you’ll have learned key lessons and get experience in that particular area.

There is the beauty of holding a top position from a young age, hence, try as much as you can to reach your life and career dreams.

It can be done. Keep overcoming the barriers that come across your way.