Safaricom, the leading communications company in Kenya with the widest and strongest coverage has entered into a deal with a UK-based organisation to provide mentorship in the telco’s bid to increase the number of women in leadership positions at the firm.
Mowgli Mentorship will train 15 Safaricom female staffers to become impactful mentors and will be matched with two mentees over a period of a year, totalling 30 future leaders.
“Our women in leadership programme helps enhance capacity building for our women as we prepare women leadership pipeline for the 50:50 senior management gender representation agenda by FY 2020,” said Paul Kasimu, Safaricom director for resources.
In its 2018 annual report, Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore indicated that while the organisation had achieved a 1:1 male to female employee ratio, there is need to create more opportunities for more women to transition into leadership positions.
He, however, noted there is a need to create more opportunities for more women to transition into leadership positions.
Data indicates that only 25 per cent of executive leadership and 32 per cent of senior management were female.
According to a recent study by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), only a third of Kenyans in formal employment are women.
The survey showed that modern or formal sector employment had 880,000 women compared to 1.68 million men in 2016.
The study titled Women and Men in Kenya released in February further revealed the presence of fewer women than men at the top of corporate boardrooms.
