In 2013, as a young entrepreneur, Abigail Loncke started her business which unfortunately flopped.
“I didn’t have the experience, I didn’t have the space to grow, I had no mentors and my first company failed,” Loncke candidly told Stabroek News yesterday on the sidelines of her third women’s empowerment conference held at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre, Liliendaal.
“I had to start over,” she added and start over she did but the 2016 Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI) participant did not just want to do it for herself but for other women as well.
Not wanting other women to have the same experience, three years ago she launched what is today known as the Empowered Leadership Conference that brings together strong and successful women from Guyana and other countries to help other sisters to thrive.
Yesterday, the third such conference was opened under the theme PowHERful: Transition from Inspiration to Action and saw the likes of First Lady Sandra Granger and US Ambassador to Guyana Sarah-Ann Lynch being featured as speakers.
The conference is being held under the umbrella of one of Loncke’s two businesses, WeLead Caribbean.
“I have realised that we don’t have this space to inspire women, we don’t have the space here for women to network and just to relax, take a day off of your busy schedule and just come with other women who are hungry for the knowledge and experience,” said Loncke, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of Community Health Care.
For her, the conference is about helping women, especially entrepreneurs and women who have formed their own organisations.
Loncke said they have 25 local and overseas members and this is the third year the conference is being hosted “to support women and highlight women who have successfully blazed the trail, successfully developed their own companies, their own NGOs and give them the opportunity to share their life experiences to entrepreneurs who are in need of that support and that space…”
Loncke was bold enough to say that there is no other space as is provided by the conference in Guyana for women, where there are panel discussions and speakers, which, in itself, is an opportunity that women don’t have and it provides an opportunity for growth.
The conference also provides a space for entrepreneurs to showcase their items and according to Loncke, some are back for the third year as they have seen their products’ sales grow and their customer base increase with the exposure.
‘No data’
In delivering her address, the First Lady advised women who want to enter business to be focused, decide what they want to do, manage their time, and create data. She decried the lack of data on women in business in Guyana which is needed if the country wants to compete in the modern world.
And Mrs Granger highlighted that almost 40 years after the adoption of the United Nations’ Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women and its ratification by member states, “women in many parts of the world, including ours, are still discriminated against, and still demanding equal rights.”
“We continue to struggle for the rights to education and in some parts of the world, girls who embrace education, educators, and those who support them, are the subject to threats, physical and psychological violence…” the First Lady said.
She looks forward to the day when the value of unwaged work, which many women do in the various spheres of their lives, is recognised and quantified and also for the recognition of women’s sexual and reproductive rights.
In Guyana, she said, the scourge of domestic violence is confronted and it cuts across class, race, creed, age and geographic location.
She observed that women in the 21st century still have to contend with concepts of a woman’s place and function.
“It baffles me that there is no greater outcry and/or action against acts of violence committed against women and children in our society. And I am speaking here about only the reported cases of sexual violence, which are…underreported, particularly in our rural and hinterland areas,” Mrs Granger said.
What is worse, she said, is the fact that some women have been socialised that they have to be beaten and `mannersed’ by their partners.
She stressed that if Guyana is to achieve its full potential, the situation must change and women have to be equal partners in the growth and development of the country. She pointed out that it is through education that a woman begins to level the playing field, gains employments and moves forward and upward in her chosen career and improve her and her family’s economic viability. Education also helps a woman to gain confidence and empowerment and to do this, women must think of and for themselves.
“Women have to step outside the boxes into which they are placed to follow and fulfill their dreams. This occurs in the home, the community and in the world of work…in the world of business,” she said.
The First Lady said she believes that the biggest obstacle to women fulfilling their dreams is low self-esteem. She cautioned that not every step will mean success and that there will be many mistakes but the trick is to learn from the mistakes and move on.
It is good to have a good support system of persons who will celebrate one’s achievements and offer comfort when there are setbacks, she said.
Mrs Granger added that in Guyana, she has met many women who do not recognise their abundance of talents and skills and have fallen into the trap of allowing themselves to be defined by others. She has also seen the blossoming of women across Guyana, who participated in the self-reliance and business workshops coordinated through her office.
‘Prepare’
Meantime, the US Ambassador, in her remarks, said that the US’ mission in Guyana, and her mission as ambassador, is to help Guyana continue on a democratic path and prepare to use new oil revenues for the benefit of all its people, including its women and girls.
Ambassador Lynch said that she believes that empowerment comes from knowing themselves and the value of what they bring to the table.
“And as women, we bring a lot. We are one-half of humanity. There is so much data that supports the notion when you bring women into the political and economic life of a country, the GDP goes up, and the poverty rates go down,” the ambassador said.
She also said that it is proven that companies with more women in higher management positions achieve higher profits.
But there are still barriers and obstacles to women achieving their full potential. The ambassador pointed out that talented women everywhere are working 24 hours a day and still get discouraged that they cannot seem to get ahead.
“Every day, sexism is still with us. We’ve all felt it. The meetings where your ideas are ignored, and a man says the same thing and he gets the credit. The banks that won’t extend credit to you because you’re a woman. The direct assaults on women who are attacked and then blamed for wearing the wrong thing or being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” she told the conference.
However, she encouraged women not to give up or become discouraged because nothing will improve until women make it improve. “We have to raise our voices and speak our opinions, be confident in our knowledge, and take risks!” she encouraged.
Women were also encouraged to resist negative people and negative thinking and to envision a future where they want to go and join with others to go there and to build on each other’s ideas and put people first.
“Most importantly, believe in yourself. Build on your strengths, and always insist on a better tomorrow. Tell that to yourself, to your friends, and colleagues. We need each other to stand up and support each other’s businesses, mentor children and youth, girls and boys, take care of your employees,” the ambassador further encouraged.
Mentoring workshops
“We don’t just have the conference, we have mentoring workshops, so it is a year [long] work that we do with all of our participants,” Loncke said, when she was asked to measure the success of the annual conference.
Every six months, ten women, whose business are in the embryonic stage, graduate from the mentoring workshops and they go on to establish successful businesses. They are helped to develop business plans, access finance and guided through the process of making their business thrive.
“Then there is personal development also because we believe when you see it, then you can visualise yourself in that space because a lot of women don’t necessarily see women who are successful in business on a day-to-day basis so that in itself is a boost,” she added.
In the past three years, the conference has grown and diversified, the founder said, adding that speakers at the conference came from Caribbean countries and even the US and they also have sponsors from those countries. For Loncke, the conference has been made “so attractive” that a wide cross-section of women attend.
The conference also saw presentations from the likes of Yvette Noel-Schure, co-founder and executive vice president of Schure Media Group, who has worked with many celebrities such as Beyoncé and Her Imperial Highness, Princess Ariana Austin Makonnen of Ethiopia, who spoke via video link.
