Edith Njage, Co-Founder and current CEO of Arielle for Africa 

Edith Njage is a Social and Serial Entrepreneur based in Africa. She is the Co-Founder and current CEO of Arielle for Africa, which aims to create over 100,000 jobs in Africa through empowering, training, coaching and connecting and funding entrepreneurs. Edith is the Country Representative for Invicta Ventures on a mission to fund social impact ventures with up to $10 billion in developing markets. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in Finance and a Bachelor in Business Management with a major in Economics. A Master of Science in International Business with a major in Disruptive Innovation and a Master of Science in Finance, both from HULT International Business School. Excerpts of her letter below;

There are realities that come with being a woman in leadership that in most cases remain secret.

Realities faced but not communicated.

My journey as a Young, Black and Female CEO has been nothing short of rough, tough and everything in-between. The hardest truth is that the journey has been lonely with no-one to turn to, until I decided to make changes to not only my leadership, but my circles as well. I began my journey as a serial entrepreneur at 18, relatively young in the books of most but when a problem in your continent calls, age is never a factor. I became a CEO at 24 and to date I wish someone explained the realities of being a woman in leadership. Especially a young and black woman in leadership.

I wish I knew the bias that I would face each time I walked into a room and sat on the table when most expected me to just bring the coffee,

I wish I knew that fundraising would be more about my gender and race than the value my companies brought to the table,

I wish I knew that the most powerful weapon a female CEO can wield is a network of other female CEOs,

I wish I didn’t do it all alone.

Dear Female CEOs,

You are powerful. You are graceful, You are beautiful in leadership. I know that the world has taught you to blend in, I know you have been told to use your position or title to protect your vulnerability and I know most days it feels like no-one in the world can understand what it is like to be you. I want you to know the key to our strength is each other. I want you to know that rather than face the bias alone, rather than rise to the top alone, we can band together and not only rise but build a system for the next generation of female CEOs to struggle less than we did.

Where the world has called us bossy, let’s exude grit and relentless pursuit of our dreams,

Where they have called us soft, we can preach emotional intelligence and finally,

Where they have prevented our progress, we can build paths for the progress of other women after us.

This is our time, but we cannot go at it alone. We must band together and begin talking about these realities, not in secret but for the world to see. It is for this reason that I decided about a month ago that enough was enough and that it was important for me to begin sharing the truth behind my journey as a Young, Black and Female CEO. I started a podcast!

Since beginning this journey I am in awe of how many women in leadership, in business, in politics and in corporate have reached out sharing their stories!

The Latest Episode is available below (streamed to Spotify and Apple Podcast). Adding onto that I have decided to be intentional about building a Female CEO Global Board. A space for Female CEOs to share their stories, struggles, plans for growth of their businesses and so much more!

If this is something that interests you and you would like to join us next week or maybe just find a safe space and community of women who understand, book a coffee chat with me here; https://calendly.com/edith-njage-alpha-group/one-on-one

I became intentional about building circles with fellow female CEOs and investing into those circles so that as a tribe we would all rise! Rise in business, rise in our purposes and pursuits and rise in who we are as people in the world.

As always, I hope that unashamedly sharing my truth will help you know that you are never alone.

Read More Here: https://businessafricaonline.com/edith-njage-my-letter-to-fellow-female-ceos/