“My clarion call is not that we offer women in mining the opportunity to be equal, but that we offer them the opportunity to be exceptional”, Dolika Banda, ZCCM-IH Board Chairperson
The Mopani Women in Mining Business Forum & Exhibition event successfully kicked off at Garden Court Hotel in Kitwe today. The event is a first of its kind in Zambia and aims at enhancing networking and strengthening the business linkages for women operating in the mining sector.
The event which has attracted women from various sectors of the mining industry, banking sector and related sectors, was officiated by Ms Yvonne Mpundu – the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises in Zambia.
The ZCCM-IH Board Chairperson Ms Dolika Banda gave a keynote speech at the event today, in which she underscored the need to integrate female inclusion at the entrepreneurial, business and employment levels in the mining sector, and into the governance structures of ZCCM-IH investee companies. “Not because they are female but, because the business imperative speaks for itself, By this I mean, women represent:
– 50% of the population
– 60 – 70% of the purchasing power influence
– Higher multiplier of economic, social and
educational impact
– Longer life expectancy
– Natural instinct for resource management and
saving for a rainy day
We will want to see Women in Mining representing these percentages”, said Dolika.
She further stated that “as a society, critically dependent on the mining sector, if we do not accept and embrace this truth, we stand to lose far more than the chance to tick off a few points on our SDG checklist.
We stand to lose the opportunity of leveraging the power of 50% of our population for the greater good of the 100%”.
Ms Dolika Banda concluded her speech by stating that we need “Equal opportunity for Equal Brain Power! Equal Compensation for Equal Capacity! and Equal Recognition for Equal Contribution!”
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