Joan Warburton-McBride, CEO of the Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), is a business mastermind and answers a women-focused Q&A with City Buzz.
Q. What are the challenges women face in business and why?
A. Some of the key challenges that women face in business – and particularly women entrepreneurs – include defying social expectations, limited access to financing, owning their own accomplishments, building a suitable support network, balancing work and private life and, coping with the fear of failing.
Q. What public and private sector support is available for female entrepreneurs?
A. For women entrepreneurs who are looking to carve out their portion of today’s marketplace and may be looking for support, there are a number of programmes, platforms and forums including Access for Women in Export by United Nations, the Small Enterprise Development Agency, South African Women Entrepreneurs Network, Businesswomen’s Association, Women in Finance, Women in IT, Women in Business, Women in Oil and Energy South Africa, South African Women in Construction, Technology for Women In Business and Women’s Development Businesses. Additionally, at the JCCI we provide small business development support that bolsters these existing podiums.
Q. Why does the JCCI support the growth of women in business and female entrepreneurs – and how are they doing it?
A. We recognise the invaluable role that women have to play in our society and economy – and the positive influence we can have in this by providing women entrepreneurs and businesswomen with support, platforms to network and training to gain key skills or tools that can be used to advance themselves and their business. As JCCI, we believe it’s important to create forums that will help businesswomen and entrepreneurs unlock their full potential, and we place a concerted focus on providing business support and skills transfer, wherever possible, to continue to develop women-led business – and thereby making women true partners in development and transformation in this country.
Q. What opportunities are there for female school leavers and graduates?
A. We can’t escape that the country’s economy is going through a period of subdued growth and that this has had an inevitable effect on fewer jobs being created – and even job losses with unemployment figures increasing marginally since the start of the year. With this in mind, however, women who are serious about their personal and professional development are tenacious and adaptable. We have noticed that every new generation brings its own ideas, expectations and energy into the workplace.
