Women in Leadership is a conglomerate of multiple Dutch women who have chosen South Africa as their essential business hub. The main aim of the trade mission is to pair women from different walks of life with each other allowing them the opportunity to gauge from each other's business ethics and capitalise on cross-cultural distinctiveness to further enhance the empowerment of women in South Africa and abroad.
Mission Coordinator Christiane Würdeman says, "Women in Leadership aims to create a true connection between Dutch and South African women entrepreneurs by organising this unique trade mission. We hope that the cross-culture sharing will empower South African and Dutch women to grow their business, create jobs and establish friendships."
Nkuli Nkonyane, Executive Manager at Wesgro says, "One of Wesgro's key strategic priorities, as the agency responsible for promoting trade and investment in the Western Cape, is the strategic matchmaking of the Western Cape business with their global counterparts in order for them to collaborate and do business that will create jobs, increase exports and bring revenue back into the region. This event is serving this exact purpose and is in line with one of our key organizational values, the empowerment of women. It is therefore an honour for Wesgro to be associated with this mission, we are quite confident that last personal and business relationships will result from this."
Partnering with Wesgro and Women in Leadership, Top Women in Business and Government is an annual publication focused on the continuous empowerment of women in business and acts as a platform for business to present and market women who have made strides both in corporate business and government.
The publication, after its successful launch in 2004 now boasts the highest retail figures ever, was a near sell-out with its second publication this year - with selling over 90 percent of the business-to-business directory sold. The publication is up and running again and after its booming reign, the market eagerly awaits the third edition.
The mission or conference spans a two-day period with the 10th and 11th in Johannesburg and the 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th in Cape Town. The conference is an excellent initiative in bringing women together and allowing them the opportunity to network and build relationships with each other.
Top Women in Business and Government publisher, Ilse Fourie says, "Top Women in Business and Government is honoured to be part of this exciting project. This example of public, private and international partnership will go a long way in the building of relationships. This is a unique opportunity for Western Cape businesswomen to meet their Dutch counterparts to investigate synergies. We welcome our Dutch sisters to our beautiful city and believe that this mission is will be very successful."
An innovative and pioneering project, launched by parent company, Top Companies Publishing and Events, is the Fast Track Networking (FTN) campaign, which will take place on the 14th November. The process of FTN allows women to communicate more effectively with each thus eliminating feelings of uneasiness by streamlining and providing allocated times in which to conduct each step, i.e. introducing themselves, biography on the company and exchange of business cards to name a few.
The Fast Track Networking website www.fasttracknetworking.co.za will be launched on 1 December 2005, giving these women the opportunity to be among the first members of this innovative B2B product offering. Each member is assured of complete privacy via an exclusive password and log-in name.
The website will be of tremendous value to all members, and each delegate who attends any one of the conferences and events organised by Top Companies will be loaded to the system and have innumerable prospects available to them. Each member will be able to load their picture, company logo and a company profile to entice other companies to do business with them and be presented with added exposure for both individuals and corporate business.
This event is certainly a start in creating what is to become the most effective way of doing business... and since it's all about women empowerment, they get to be presented with the opportunity first!
