AWE virtual summit 2020 report

AFRICAN WOMEN IN EUROPE (AWE) VIRTUAL SUMMIT 2020

HELD ON OCTOBER 3RD 2020

TIME: 10:30 AM – 8:00 PM (CET) VIA HOPIN

VIRTUAL SUMMIT REPORT

By Rading’ Nyamwaya Obyerodhyambo

 

AWE virtual summit 2020 MEMBERS

INTRODUCTION:

What is AWEAWE is an initiative aimed at bringing different women together from Africa and all over the world to bring about a positive image about the African woman through empowering her.

The organisation has created an atmosphere where women can network, share information, support, encourage and empower each other. This could be by sharing ideas, experiences and even stories.

The vision and mission to creating this group is to reflect a positive image of an African woman by, creating an atmosphere where women can network, support, encourage and empower each other.

Aims and Objectives

*Empower African women.

*Support upcoming and existing entrepreneurs.

*Positively reflect the image of an African woman.

Informative and easy to manage networking platform.

*Connect and form sustainable partnership among members.

* Organise face to face Networking Events ie Awards, conferences and workshop

 

The AWE VIRTUAL SUMMIT was an event aimed at connecting different people from all over Europe, and especially women, in an event that served the purpose of networking, connecting and sharing important information about different diverse subjects that are relevant to Africa and its diaspora.

The event in the past has been held on a live stage platform but due to this year’s hindrances with COVID-19 it had to be held virtually to serve the purpose of adhering to COVID-19 restrictions and also to pave the way for a much greater audience online who lack the ability or means to travel to the event.

The summit had different facilitators that had different areas of experience that they were sharing information on based on the different sessions that were aired live.

The topics were ranging from nutrition to health care to farming and online marketing in Africa and the diaspora.

The purpose of the event was to offer a platform for different women who are specialists in their different various fields to pass on their knowledge and information for the sake of equipping attendees with the necessary tools to succeed in all their diverse fields, whether in Europe or in Africa.

The event also had a Segway that was dedicated towards children and the youth.

EVENT HOST: JOY Zenz 

WE SUMMIT KEY WORKSHOP FACILITATORS:

  1. Beatrice Achaleke CEO of GloBUNTU Books
  2. Mbithe Muema – CEO Infallible Group,
  3. Carol Waithira – Mühlenbrock Owner of Haus Mühlenbrock Hotel & Professional Chef
  4. Janine van Throo – Natural Hair Therapist
  5. Beatrice Lukose – CEO of Motivat School
  6. Victoria Nkatha – Responding to life Founder
  7. Maggie Mulwa – Expert in Distance Farming

AWE SUMMIT REPRESENTATIVES

UK

  1. Wambui Njau
  2. Milkha Muigai
  3. Margaret Mulwa
  4. Angela Asante Armar
  5. Jennifer Obaseki

Kenya

  1. Judy Muchugu
  2. Sophie Kiragu
  3. Maria Nato
  4. Sarah Karingi

Switzerland

  1. Jael Blind
  2. Hellen Kahungu
  3. Lucy Oyubo
  4. Paul Shehe

 

Holland

  1. Kadogo Nyawade Zuster
  2. Nellie Otenyo Ibis
  3. Debbie Omolo

Germany

  1. Hilda Hoyer
  2. Elizabeth Ragwar
  3. Cornelia Hentschel
  4. Moses Acquah
  5. Sharonda Grandberry

 

AWE TECH TEAM

Dennis and Alex Zenz

AFTER PARTY ENT.

Dj Pascal (stood in for Dj Aisher who was unwell)

 

CAROL MUHLENBROCK

10:30 AM – 11:00PM

COOKING CLASS WORKSHOP – CAROL MUHLENBROCK

The session was led by famous Chef Carol Muhlenbrock from Germany who shared on tips to making fast, easy and healthy meals for the self and family.

Carol shared on the differences between diets in women and men in European countries and in Africa.

The diet in Africa is rich and healthy and this contributes to an even healthier body and bodily functions while in Europe some people face a lot of difficulties in health due to a distorted diet that is not healthy or is not giving the body enough nutrients to function.

There are other components that lead to a healthy lifestyle than can also be enforced but food and good nutrition contribute greatly to healthy bodily functions.

A lot of fruits and vegetables were mentioned as the key to a healthy diet.

 

JANINE DURING SUMMIT

10:30 AM – 11:00PM

HOW TO MANAGE YOUR NATURAL HAIR – JANINE VAN THROO

Natural Hair Therapist  Janine Van Throo  talked about growing hair and what are the necessary steps towards detoxing the body in order to grow healthy hair.

Hair growth is determined by what different kinds of food we eat. Failure to eat healthy leads to hair that doesn’t grow or grow healthily.

Janine expound on her hair program on healthy hair called the NISH philosophy. This is a step by step programme that is meant to educate people on how best to take care of one’s hair and how best to grow it healthily.

  • Nutrition
  • Ingredient
  • Scalp care
  • Hair maintenance

She compared the different foods that are grown in Europe or imported lose a lot of nutrients hence the supplements one is supposed to acquire from the food is lost. This ends up depriving the body of natural good body building substances that contribute to value of food and hair growth.

It becomes important to give the body the building blocks that can assist in making it healthy and even long.

Janine answered questions on hair recession and growing back hair using probiotics and other components supplied by Janine’s products by Sisay cosmetics.

 

awe mbithe

10:30AM – 11:00 AM

INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN AFRICA – MBITHE MUEMA

The session on investment opportunities in Africa was led by CEO of Infallible Group Mbithe Muema who wanted to show how to change the financial narrative for Africa.

She mentioned the diversity in Africa between the different countries and how it becomes paramount to understand how different markets work within Africa to be able to invest in Africa from the diaspora.

There are different ways one can invest in Africa while in the diaspora:

  1. Direct investment into the public capital market i.e. stock exchanges, treasury builds or bonds etc.
  2. Direct investments to companies as there are companies that open up their shareholding to people in the diaspora. The company receives one’s funds and is able to make investments on one’s behalf and share returns.
  3. African Focused funds – equity fund, money market manager

She mentioned that most economies in Africa and robust and hence there is diversified output.

awe beatrice lukose

 10:30AM – 11:10AM

BUSINESS MINDSET WORKSHOP – DR. BEATRICE LUKOSE

Dr Beatrice covered heavily on online businesses where the store and its products come to the customer. Online businesses become luxurious because most people are leaning on laziness to get around and this is something that had been more exposed by COVID. .

4c’s to online business:

  1. Character
  2. Customer
  3. Craft offer
  4. Communicate

She mentioned that establishing a niche makes it easier to break into the market and makes for a good start.

She talked about a money mind-set being the beliefs and opinions and ideas we have around money. What relationship we have with money or rather how we relate to money.

She mentioned three ways a money mind-set is formed; verbal programming where you speak positively about money and acquiring money in a way that ‘attracts’ money to you.

Virtual programming which answers how you were brought up around money, did one experience fights, strife and anything negative that was centred around money?

Some statements can be spoken to change the idea and attitude around money.  These are spoken to the self to form the right ideas around money and give a positive impact on one’s relationship with money.

 

awe agriculture team

11:30 AM – 12:10AM

AGRICULTURE WORSHOP ON HOW TO START FARMING FROM DIASPORA – MARGARET MULWA & MILKHA MUIGAI

On of the things that goes without saying is that having a good manager is very paramount towards good produce and business growth. Maggie mentioned that she had not been to her farm for a good amount of time but having a manager that is well sufficient works per your regulations and needs.

Good research into a crop or type of produce makes it easier as you end up with steady harvest.

Many people fail to invest in their land and this leads to poor yields, she added that one of the activities she had to undertake was the addition of an irrigation system that was also important in making sure her plants go steady supply of water and care.

While investing in a piece of land might be precarious and the whole affiliation towards produce a bit unpredictable, it is a worthwhile venture and not impossible.

For digital farming to be possible it requires some of these steps that are important:

  • Business plan
  • Costs/budget
  • Farm produce marketing
  • Potential earnings
  • Risks

Milkha Muigai discussed her fish business that she has set up back in Kenya. She partnered with Kenyan Fisheries that made it easier for her to operate under legal terms.

Milkah added that one of the things they had to do was opt for smoked-dried fish because this gave them a longer shelf life. They get the catfish from Kenya and through their company have it sent to Europe as this is where the market was.

The presence of a market was very important in making a decision on what to grow and bring in.

One of the things they shed light on was empowering the youth and their own children to farm. It is very important that a generation of conscious children is raised and educated on the benefits of farming and farm produce.

It is a good source of income in the long term but it also required patience. Encouraging the youth to do such activities makes them develop a sense of responsibility for even the Earth and sustainability.

 

awe victoria nkatha

11:30 AM – 12:10PM

YOUTH WORKSHOP ON RECLAIMING ONE’S DESTINY – VICTORIA NKATHA

Victoria Nkatha spoke about the necessary steps that need to be taken to deal with life’s situations right now. With the current COVID crisis it becomes even more necessary that one learns how to embrace flexibility and re-purposing one’s life.

Life is ever changing and it is necessary that one re-strategises in order to work more efficiently. Strategies should be set that align with one’s motivation and drive and general interest in something one is undertaking.

The session as hitting to self-discovery and removing self-doubt. This is having faith in one’s abilities and capabilities in life.

 

awe kids

11:30 AM – 12:10PM

CREATIVE WRITING FOR KIDS 5-15 YEARS – BEATRICE ACHELEKE

This session was headed by Beatrice Acheleke who is the CEO and founder of Globuntu books. It was a writing workshop for kids between the ages of 5 – 15 years where the audience got a chance to meet and talk to a young girl who is part of the programme and is already an author of her very first book.

The programme was started to be able to help boost confidence and self-worth in kids while also boosting their confidence and relieving them of stress and thoughts that are aimed at leading to depression.

Reading has been used in the past to pass messages about the community or the environment one is in and this is a programme aimed at preserving that African culture of storytelling and passing down of information.

AWE COUNTRY REPRESENTATIVES:

The summit was succeeded with different presentations from the different countries that AWE has founders and representatives in.

awe holland

The team from Switzerland carried the audience through a session on important things to consider when planning your retirement and this was mainly for those AWE members in Switzerland.

It was led by Paul Shehe and Hellen Kahungu both AWE members in Switzerland.

AWE HOLLAND WOMEN

Another session was dedicated to AWE Holland representatives Kadogo Nyawade, Nellie Otenyo, Debbie Amolo and Aurelia Marcellus. The women discussed different topics regarding Women’s health, fashion, make-up, vlogging and the Age Watch Project.

There was also a short fashion show that depicted kitenge and African prints from Angaza Fashion.

awe UK team

 

AWE UK members held a discussion that involved moving from the diaspora and coming back home. This was with Wambui Njau, Milkha Muigai, Margaret Mulwa, Angela Asante Armar and Jennifer Obaseki.

This discussion was on empowering women to move as a unit and support each other in male dominated fields. A lot of opportunities are taken up by men but if women work together we can have more opportunities for women where there are already women and hence there can be change that is effective and not influenced by men.

Africa is the future and Africa should benefit Africa’s children.

awe kenya tea,

The AWE Kenya team involved Judy Muchugu, Sophie Kiragu, Maria Nato and Sarah Karingi. Their session was talking on women in business and empowering women in business to create a situation where the explore the capacity of women in positions of power is uplifted and upheld.

One of the main goals is to encourage trade partnerships and mission that allow women in the diaspora to invest in businesses back home.

Due to the partnerships that AWE provides it is important that women learn the things they can do that can be money making and sustainable for them. This was through the creation of networks and training.

awe german team

AWE Germany team session was with Hilda Hoyer, Elizabeth Ragwar, Cornelia Hentschel, Moses Acquah and Sharonda Grandberry.

Moses Acquah covered entrepreneurship and how to understand the market to be able to understand what products one wants to sell but also the need to know what market prices are best for the product if it does sell.

awe dj

The AWE VIRTUAL SUMMIT was concluded by an after party that was also held live by Dj Pskratch Pascal who stood in for DJ Aisher who was not feeling well.

 

Conclusion:

The AWE VIRTUAL SUMMIT 2020 was successful in achieving its goals of creating a platform for learning, networking and meeting like-minded individuals. The audience were engaging the facilitators and asking questions while also gaining necessary knowledge on the different topics.

The programme ran according to schedule and all the facilitators were time conscious. There was minimal issues in the line of audio and visual discrepancies or hindrances.

 

If you attended the summit let us know if you enjoyed the experience and what changes you would suggest in our feedback form here.

We would appreciate.

 

 

 

Report written by Raddie Nyamwaya.

 

Comments are closed.