Elevate Her | Some women leave you with more than just a good conversation

This week in Elevate Her, I reflect on a conversation with Dr Mankodi Moitse, CEO of Kagiso Trust, that stayed with me long after the interview ended. I went in with questions about leadership, communities, women and opportunity. I left asking myself a different question:
What are we doing with what we have been given?

By Maphuti Mongatane, business development manager at African Farming

There was something deeply grounding about listening to Dr Mankodi. Behind the title and achievements is a woman who understands that people are not defined by their circumstances. Communities have ideas, knowledge, ambition and potential. What they often need is access to opportunity, skills, resources, networks and markets to turn that potential into something sustainable.

That perspective made me think about women, particularly in agriculture. We often talk about getting more women into the sector, but perhaps we should be asking a bigger question: Where do women want to sit in the agricultural economy?

The answer should not simply be on the farm. Women can own processing businesses, supply agricultural inputs, build technology companies, provide finance, run logistics businesses, develop markets and sit in the rooms where decisions about the future of agriculture are made. There is an entire value chain waiting to be shaped, and women should be thinking beyond participation towards ownership, influence and economic power.

Also read: Elevate Her | Start the conversation that could change everything

Our conversation also reminded me that success rarely happens as quickly as it appears. We see the position, the business, the award or the harvest, but we do not always see the years of preparation, uncertainty, mistakes and persistence behind it.

Perhaps we need to become more comfortable with building slowly. Learning. Asking questions. Finding mentors. Understanding our numbers. Understanding our markets. Starting before we feel completely ready.

Also read: Elevate Her | The power of passing the key

What stayed with me most was Dr Mankodi’s belief in human capacity. It reminded me that sometimes the greatest thing we can do for another person is not to do it for them, but to create the space and opportunity for them to discover what they can do for themselves.

And perhaps that is what Elevate Her is really about.

Not simply celebrating women who have already arrived, but encouraging women to see what is possible, to take their place, to build, to own and to lead.

This Women’s Month, we celebrate the women who continue to grow without forgetting where they come from, who rise without pulling others down and who understand that success becomes more meaningful when it creates room for someone else to rise too.

Some women leave you with a question you cannot ignore: What are you going to do with your potential?