Kenya's Top 40 Under 40 Women 2014
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Friday June 20, 2014 | BUSINESS DAILY I The business of taking a break Friday, 20th June, 2014 YOUR FREE COPY TOP 40 Unde≥ 40 Women 2014 The list of those who made it to BD’s annual list of Women to Watch II BUSINESS DAILY | Friday June 20, 2014 Top 40 Women under 40 In this issue Ha≥d ≥ules fo≥ women en≥oute to success BY JENNY LUESBY But, says Miller, “the most successful women fortable with the notion of power,” says Ron I have worked with have a high degree of emo- Brown, an organizational and management 4 Boardroom still a enya’s top young women cite two fac- tional intelligence, evidenced by qualities like consultant. This can be a severe test for women strange place for tors as the most outstanding challeng- resiliency, grace under fire, tenacity, flexibility, who care passionately about the project at hand, Kenya women Kes to their success: corporate politics, and composure,” she says. “For these women, including the difficulty of suffering peers or jun- The role of women in Kenyan and competition in macho all-male environ- being passionate means having a compelling iors with far less perfectionism or care. boardrooms is dismally below global ments. They are two factors that researchers vision, speaking with conviction, not being According to McKinsey, women’s love for the standards, standing at less than 15 suggest are intertwined in one simple reality: afraid to voice opinions, and articulately de- work itself can even see them elect to remain per cent of board positions, even as the rules at work are not the same for men as bating their position.” in jobs and opt out of promotion because of women contribute 52 per cent of the for women. Moreover, she says: “The higher you rise in the deep sense of meaning they gain profes- country’s economy. In her book “Play Like a Man, Win Like a an organization, the more of your time will be sionally. Woman”, Gail Evans lists things that men do taken up playing the game of corporate politics More than men, women prize the opportu- 6 High-powered women at work, that women just cannot. Men can get — and it pays to understand the unwritten, un- nity to pour their energies into making a differ- and supportive spouses: away with crying, fidgeting, yelling, and using spoken rules of the game. One of those rules is ence and working closely with colleagues, says Who’s in charge, and of bad manners, she argues, but if a woman does that, as a women, you will be judged not only by the consultany. “Women don’t want to trade what? the same things, the resistance and condem- your talent and results, but by your emotional that joy for what they fear will be energy-drain- After their daughter Annie was born, nation will be complete. intelligence.” ing meetings and corporate politics at the next Gail McGovern and her husband Indeed, the differentiating line is so ex- The Harvard Business management echelon,” it reports. established what came to be known treme that when a man cries, it is seen as a Review says in its guide on With 59 per cent of the women who have as the “kitchen calendar rule.” At the powerful and moving display of emotion. But mastering corporate poli- made it to this year’s Top 40 citing office politics time, McGovern worked for AT&T when a woman cries, she is seen as weak and tics that the challenges as their biggest bugbear, according to Ipsos, overseeing 10,000 employees; her unstable. that even passionate Kenya’s leading women prove that engaging husband ran a large unit of Hewlett- This sees women repeatedly passed over for women leaders must in the maelstrom that is internal alliances, the Packard. They both needed to travel promotion, reports management consultant manage, without building of social capital and networks, and regularly for work, but one of them McKinsey in its Centred Leadership research, emotion, even trading in chips to achieve a desired end, is also needed to be home for Annie. with managers, both male and female, con- encom- effort that is part of the set, and simply a requi- tinuing to take viable female candidates out pass build- ing site of success: a certainty that they all face.. 8-21 Profiles of Kenya’s Top of the running, often on the assumption that relationships with diffi- cult More than 2000 years ago, Greek philoso- 40 Under 40 women they can’t handle certain jobs. people, gaining allies and pher Aristotle stated with no conditional ex- The profiles of women who have The big no-no, say researchers, in the whole influencing others, win- ning ceptions that “man is a political animal”. For broken the career glass ceiling ‘it’s different for women’ rule set is showing resources, moving up with- out top women, politics is essential, and the rules early enough and are headed for emotion. Yet, at the same time, passion comes ruffling feathers, avoiding are clear: all passion, no emotion, through greatness up as close to a defining feature of all the women power games and petty ri- every difficulty, now leading in making Kenya and companies valries, and claiming credit It’s a point borne out by Kathyrn Heath in 21 ‘Work Smarts’ and society better. when it’s due. the Harvard Business Review: “In 2013, my Betty Liu on how to succeed in your Take one of this year’s Top 40 women, Syl- Women usually don’t partners and I conducted a combination of career via Wairimu Mulinge, who has led a three-fold ask for what they deserve surveys and interviews with over 270 female expansion in her Sh10.5 billion business over and when they do, they managers in Fortune 500 organisations to de- 23 There is a silent the last three years at Safaricom, and reports, risk being branded as termine what they liked and disliked about revolution for women in as do many of the women, that she has been domineering. But “one business meetings, and one of the things that enterprise in Kenya described as a passionate team leader. of the major challenges repeatedly fell into the dislike column was A silent revolution is taking shape Sylvia goes on to spell out how she has also ... is understand- politics. In the process of coaching and train- among young women leaders, been characterised as “choleric”, meaning she is ing the nature ing women leaders over a decade, we’ve main- who are shunning employment “outgoing, but can leave casualties behind, be- of power, how to tained a running list of common threads—and to plunge into the more delicate cause of having less empathy and patience”. get it, how to a disdain of office politics is in the top three. In entrepreneurial world on the Jo Miller, CEO of Women’s Leadership use it, how reviewing several thousand 360-degree feed- promise of social and economic Coaching in the US, calls this “the confus- to feel com- back surveys we found that both women and freedom, happiness and satisfaction. ing world of being a woman in today’s work- their managers cite political savvy as an ongo- force”. ing development need .” A powerful man is forceful. A powerful Put short: for success, get political, but ‘do woman is choleric. it nice’. CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Linus Gitahi EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Joseph Odindo How the Top 40 Under 40 Women were picked MANAGING EDITOR Ochieng’ Rapuro very year the top 40 Under 40 list comes with a they claim to have done. Appearing in the Top 40 the business they do, its scope and complexity (i.e COMMERCIAL MANAGER Emixed bag of routine inputs and equal measure Under 40 list has become so critical to hundreds of whether it is a national/multi-national or cross-sec- Sam Barata of freshness that only shapes up at the tail end of the Kenyan women that some appear to have decided toral operation), and the competitive landscape in BD LIFE EDITOR production process. that they would be on it regardless of their qualifica- the segment of the economy it operates. Rhoda Orengo As we have done consistently in the past six tions to do so. Women running or occupying senior positions in PRODUCTION EDITOR years, the Business Daily invited its readers to nomi- So this late there has been a great measure of companies with a multi-national reach scored higher Bobby Kiama nate women aged under 40 who in their view have cutting corners, compression of age, canvassing and marks than those in charge of national/local agen- CHIEF SUB EDITOR made significant achievements in whatever seg- misrepresentation of facts to fit the bill. cies. In this list are also women professionals such Otieno Otieno ments of our society and economy. That is then fol- The BD team has tried the best it can to keep the as lawyers, architects, and partners in accounting SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER lowed by the convening of a panel of judges who faith and stay the course to come up with a list that firms, included purely on the basis of the size (value) Gennevieve Nahinga do the hard job of sifting through the hundreds of truly has women who represent Kenya’s promise in of the work they have done. GRAPHIC DESIGNERS entries and picking out the outstanding nominees the corporate world, research, science, the arts, the- The Top 40 Under 40 project has also awarded for recognition in this annual listing that has be- atre, professionalism and entrepreneurs.