Source: The Herald
WOMEN entrepreneurs have been urged to contribute to the positive transformation of the sectors in which they operate.

Addressing female delegates at a Woman Excel meeting in Harare recently, Securico (Pvt) Ltd managing director Ms Divine Ndhlukula said effective women empowerment constituted not mere participation in the various economic fields but rather on having real positive impact on these sectors.

"As women we need to transform industries. In the previous decade for example, the local security sector faced challenges with regard to low wages resulting in incessant strikes.

"However, due to the growing influence of women in the sector in recent years, it has become respectable and people now see themselves making a career in security," she said.

She was sharing her entrepreneurial experience with other women at the Woman Excel event. Woman Excel is a networking platform for corporate women in Zimbabwe.

Ms Ndhlukula founded Securico in 1998.

She added that her company has taken a proactive approach to empower women in the community by deliberately employing widows, single mothers and other disadvantaged women.

"Sometimes we had to beg our clients to take our female security operatives, but they are now realising the benefits," she said.

The company currently employs over 900 women on a permanent basis in its ranks.

The Woman Excel initiative is the brainchild of two female bankers Ms Edna Mukurazhizha and Ms Priscilla Munyeza whose objective is to link women in the marketplace and create a power base from which women can scale to greater heights.

According to the founders, Woman Excel "aims to be a platform for women in the marketplace wherein ideas are exchanged and experiences shared; highlighting successes achieved and how challenges were overcome."

Speaking at the same event Royal Bank chief executive officer Mr Jeffrey Mzwimbi urged the women -- as parents -- to instill positive values in their children.

"The success of an individual is predicated on the values that parents, especially mothers instill in their children.

"In this day and age we tend to over-cushion our children, but it is some of those processes that we underwent which rendered our present success and we should not forget that," he said.

• Zimbabwe