The Women in Entrepreneurship Day [WED] Event took place on Thursday 21st November 2019 at Stimulus Innovation Centre, in Harare. An audience of over 30 women and men attended the event and they were provided with inspirational and motivational advice from a panel of exceptional women under the theme “Growth Strategies for Creative Entrepreneurs.”
The event was held to recognise and reach creative women entrepreneurs to provide them peer and group mentorship support through the event. Our panel of speakers were creative women leaders, change makers, influencers and trailblazers. They each shared their stories and gave invaluable advice that left the guests who attended the event wanting to take immediate action and get ahead on their path to carve out a sustainable future for themselves.
The panellists were; Fashion designer Paidemoyo Chideya has spent the last fifteen years honing her craft and building fashion and design brand DeMOYO; Musician Hope Masike is a singer-songwriter, mbira player, dancer, fine artist, and advocate who began her music career some thirteen years ago; ‘Lighting bae’ Mildred Moyo is a qualified electrical engineer and lighting technician specialising in theatrical performance lighting for the past thirteen years.
The event began with a motivating address by our guest of honour, Zimbabwe German Society Director Mrs Tremeredzwa T. Chirewa-Nengare. she inspired the participants to invest in their dreams and not to be afraid to work hard to achieve their goals as she spoke to her topic; ‘Navigating in a Male Dominated World and Fostering an investment culture; creative women overcoming the funding gap.’ Mrs Chirewa-Nengare’s address was following by Ms Paidemoyo Chideya who inspired the audience with her journey story of success and learning from Europe to North America and back home to Zimbabwe. Her talk focus was on lighting engineer. After the presentations by our panellists, the session opened up to the audience to ask question and or share their perspectives and stories. Many inspirational stories were shared and the women and men in attendance remarked at how inspired they were by the careers and innovative and creative ways in which the panellists have navigated their careers and carved out space for themselves in very competitive industries. The dialogue was dubbed the “creative woman success conversation” by Wadzanai the Poet as she commented on how inspired she was, listening to the panel.
Testimonial: The testimonial of a young woman working in culinary arts called Chengetai Makawa from Rosaline’s Kitchen was a highlight. Chengetai shared her journey as an alumni and beneficiary of the Zimbabwe German Society (ZGS) and Stimulus Africa partnership incubation programme she participated in called the Creative Economy Masterclass in 2018 which impacted her business positively.
