A group of phenomenal businesswomen got together on Wednesday in Cape Town to celebrate Women’s Month and the role of women striving for excellence in male-dominated industries.
The powerful women met at the, ‘She Means Business – Celebrating Women’ event at the Pepperclub Hotel.
The event was hosted by Adriaans Attorneys and ESA Partner.
Chief operating officer (COO) of Adriaans Attorneys, Melissa Cunningham-Adriaans and senior associate, Lauren Slamet, led proceedings and were full of energy as jokes, laughter, and women empowerment were the aim of their game. They event busted a few dance moves, which had the auditorium in cheers.
“We cannot deny that women today have what our mothers’ grandmothers could have only dreamed of so we must celebrate these accomplishments, and this is an important opportunity to do so.
“But it’s also an opportunity to recognise how much more progress we need to make until we live in a society where gender equality is something we take for granted as a daily reality. Until it’s not the case, that women [as we do today], so often have to work twice as hard just to be considered half as good as our male counterparts,” Cunningham-Adriaans said.
The mother of two said her deepest desire is to see a world where her girls grow up as women, to be in a world where diversity, equity, and inclusion are the order of the day and form the new daily reality.
The event was the first of its kind and the organisers are hopeful it will became an annual event.
The keynote speakers included Catherine Jane-Paulse, the co-founder of Briefco and the South African Legal (SALT) network who discussed women raising the bar in innovative and creative solutions to everyday attorney challenges. She shared her journey from a corporate lawyer to taking ‘calculated risks’ and now being an entrepreneur in a bustling industry.
Insaf Kamish, an investment specialist at Coronation Fund Managers addressed economic equity for women and the key to financial freedom.
Keziah Beck, a senior IT support manager at ESA Partner highlighted the importance of understanding and protecting your identity in the cyber environment. This is pivotal as the emergence of AI and the advancement of technology is seen daily.
The speakers, who dominate the industries in which they work, also explained how juggling being mothers, sisters and a demanding job has been difficult. However, because they are women they explained how the strength women are born with supersedes any doubt they may have of getting the job done.
One of the attendees included Layla Kolbe, who is married to Springbok wing, Cheslin Kolbe.
Layla, a businesswoman by profession thoroughly enjoyed the keynote addresses and the networking session which followed.