Luanda — I thanks for the chance to attend and share my views at this very important and well timed dialog. The theme of this plenary, “Girls in Management: Driving Innovation, Catalyzing Investments, and Shaping Coverage”, echoes all through the halls of energy and boardrooms throughout Africa, america and internationally. It’s related not solely within the halls of energy, but additionally by means of the houses, farms, and markets the place girls have led with braveness, resilience, and imaginative and prescient, usually not acknowledged, however at all times impactful.
The 12 months 2025 marks the thirtieth Anniversary of the Adoption of the Platform for Motion adopted on the 4th World Convention on Girls, held in Beijing in 1995. After I take into consideration this platform it takes me again to the time the place I used to be the Chief Negotiator for Africa. A platform that advocates for gender equality, particularly in determination making. I’m subsequently, honoured to be a part of this Plenary, as we forge forward to make sure that girls are totally outfitted to take their rightful place in driving innovation, shaping coverage and advancing funding alternatives.
As the primary lady to be elected President of the Republic of Namibia, I take this second with deep humility and goal to the Namibian individuals who have elected me. My election was not merely a private milestone, however fairly a nationwide affirmation of our collective progress towards gender equality, and a sign to girls and women throughout Namibia, and past, that their goals are legitimate, their management is required, and their time is now.
The United Nations (UN) 1979 Conference on the Elimination of All Types of Discrimination Towards Girls (CEDAW) is ratified by 189 nations, additionally many African nations are half to the 2003 Maputo Protocol, which underscores our shared duty to create an enabling surroundings the place girls can thrive and contribute meaningfully to the event of our societies throughout the globe.
Namibia’s personal story of ladies’s empowerment is one we proceed to put in writing with dedication. From the earliest days of our independence, we enshrined gender equality in our Structure. Since then, we’ve made deliberate efforts to translate that precept into actuality. As we speak, the President, Vice President and Speaker of Nationwide Meeting are girls. That’s as a result of, the SWAPO Occasion of Namibia which I lead as its President, has a zebra coverage, which promotes gender parity for contested positions, making certain a excessive diploma of gender equality in management in all celebration constructions. To this finish, Namibian girls symbolize 57% of Cupboard and 43% of the Nationwide Meeting. As well as, almost 40% of the SMEs are owned by girls, demonstrating management and innovation for shared prosperity.
We additionally acknowledge that coverage should be paired with apply. Subsequently, by means of the Monetary Establishments, we’ve launched particular monetary devices to help women-led MSMEs, significantly in agriculture, tourism, renewable vitality, and digital companies. Practically 40% of our SMEs are actually women-owned—however many nonetheless face restricted entry to capital and networks, accordingly, we’ve to bridge this hole.
Innovation, in any case, doesn’t flourish in isolation, it prospers when girls have equal entry to expertise, schooling, and decision-making areas. That’s the reason we’ve determined to spend money on Ladies in Science, Know-how, Engineering and Arithmetic (STEM) programmes, the Nationwide Girls in Innovation Problem, and several other regional enterprise accelerators tailor-made for ladies entrepreneurs.
On the continental stage, Namibia is proud to be an lively participant within the African Continental Free Commerce Space (AfCFTA). The adoption of the AfCFTA Protocol on Girls and Youth in Commerce is a watershed second. It offers us a framework to handle the structural inequalities which have lengthy excluded girls from benefiting totally from cross-border commerce, with out forgetting the boy baby who ought to proceed to play a task in improvement. The First Gentleman is at the moment working with the boy-child, organizing actions corresponding to tenting and seminars. Our aim is to ensure gender equality.
We should additionally problem the deeper systemic points, corresponding to gender-based violence, unpaid care work, and the underrepresentation of ladies in govt and technical fields that proceed to carry girls again, regardless of our nice progress. At this juncture let me be clear: Girls don’t want charity; they want alternative. They don’t want permission to steer, they want methods that not penalize them for taking management positions.
The Namibian folks didn’t elect me as a result of I’m a lady, however as a result of I’ve confirmed my potential and capability to steer the Namibian folks to prosperity. I attraction to the worldwide group and traders to hitch Namibia to attain our mutually-benefical objectives. Subsequently, as an African Head of State, I be part of fellow African men and women leaders in advocating for gender-responsive insurance policies, that can unlock girls’s participation in management, innovation and funding.
As we strengthen U.S.-Africa ties and this US-Africa Enterprise Summit, we should be sure that gender fairness is a cornerstone of Innovation, Catalyzing Investments and Shaping Coverage. I name upon our companions in america and throughout the globe, the non-public sector: To Spend money on African girls not as beneficiaries, however as companions, co-creators, and change-makers.
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Namibia is a mineral-rich economic system, and I’m working to make sure that we embody extra girls in mining. Allow us to additionally help extra public-private partnerships that fund women-led inexperienced and digital enterprises. Allow us to create platforms for ladies traders, policymakers, and innovators to form commerce and funding priorities on equal footing with males.
Namibia stays totally dedicated to this agenda. By means of our nationwide efforts, and in collaboration with regional and worldwide companions, we’ll proceed to create the area, help methods that enable girls to not solely rise however to thrive along with their male counterparts.
To each lady watching this summit from wherever on the earth, know this: your voice issues, your imaginative and prescient is required, and your house is on the helm.
Allow us to work collectively to construct an Africa and a world the place management is inclusive of ladies, innovation is pushed by everybody, and funding leaves nobody behind.
I thanks
