. Chikwanda

By STEPHEN KAPAMBWE –
Chimango Chikwanda entered the corporate world when Zambian Breweries took her on as the first woman to head the human resources directorate.
She was also the youngest person ever to be appointed to the executive board.
A few years later, she moved to Zain Zambia where she again became the first woman to head the human resources directorate.
She is currently serving Zanaco as the first human resources director.
But in her quest to prove herself in a male dominated corporate world, Chimango came across a reality that inspired her to use her skills to create a mentorship programme for women in the country.
Having worked in an executive position for over 15 years, the soft spoken Chimango had in 2009 started exploiting her professional skills by venturing into consultancy.
She did some research and discovered that the absence of formal meetings where women could discuss and share ideas about careers and business contributed to gender disparity between men and women.
Whereas men could meet to discuss progressive ideas relating to their professions, their businesses and their careers, women lacked such platforms where they could network, share views and compare ideas with others.
It was then Chimango started thinking about starting a forum where women could discuss ideas relating to their intellectual potential.
In addition to that, Chimango had in the course of her duties discovered that women lacked negotiating skills largely because most of them are not raised to negotiate.
As a result, most women often rated themselves lower compared to their male counterparts who rated themselves highly even though they could be less qualified.
“This is not just a Zambian problem. It is a global problem and it is pronounced in some places more than in other because of cultural issues,” Chimango said.
She started connecting with other women with whom she discussed the issue of culture and how to mentor women in spite of the negative traits in their cultural values.
In her discussions, the issue of culture was often talked about as a strong, topical influence that in certain cases contributed to hindering the development of women.
She connected with the likes of Barclays Bank Africa Group Chief Executive Officer Mizinga Melu, Acting Chief Justice Lombe Chibesakunda, former Lusaka Stock Exchange Executive Director Beatrice
Nkanza, Human Rights Chairperson Pixie Yangailo and the Kapwepwe sisters Mulenga and Chileshe among others.
Chimango established Alchemy Women in Leadership AWiL where she worked with her peers to create an initiative dedicated to supporting a higher representation of women in leadership in the work place and broader community.
In partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) AWiL launched its flagship mentorship programme which connects women leaders to aspiring and emerging leaders.
In 2010, AWiL partnered with Government through the ministry of Commerce Trade and Industry to exploit ways of developing women in business using its mentorship programme.
The organization has also developed other interventions among which is a scholarship foundation aimed at providing support to girls entering secondary school as well as those going into university.
AWiL works with partners like the UNDP in supporting Government’s dedication to improving the welfare of women.
AWiL is comprised of women who believe in breaking down barriers to the empowerment of women through education and training.
Through the empowerment of women, the organization is committed to increasing the number of women in decision-making positions and in positions of influence so as to improve the lives not only of women but of all members of society.
Chimango was born from parents who once served in the diplomatic service. During her parents’ posting to Kenya, Chimango did her A level studies in the United Kingdom (UK) before she went on to study her Bachelor of Science in Economics and subsequently her Master of Science in Economics.
Her brief resume on the official Zanaco website says Chimango has over 15 years of experience in human resource management, having worked in the mines, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), telecommunications, banking and financial services sectors.
She joined Zanaco in June, 2011. As human resources director for Zain (Now Bharti Airtel) and Zambian
Breweries – under global brewer SAMiller, Chimango was responsible for the development and implementation of human resources strategy as well as carrying out operational human resource management.
Her professional achievements are: managing the human resource aspects of an acquisition and business integration, implementing a performance management and reward system, successfully managing the strategic resourcing process and implementing a job evaluation system.
She has also been involved in a major business transformation and managing the corresponding culture change, and working closely with trade unions to transform a highly turbulent industrial relations climate.
Chimango holds a Master’s Degree from HEC – Paris in consulting and coaching for change as well as a Master in Economics from the University of Warwick in the UK.
She is a Beit Scholar, having been awarded the scholarship to pursue her Masters in the UK.
She was also awarded a scholarship by the Zain Group to pursue her Masters at HEC, Paris.
Chimango, who describes herself as assertive, said life was not easy when she started work. But when people discovered how tough and dedicated she was, they treated her just like a man in leadership and began consulting her for her professional opinions on various issues.
“It was tough because for a woman, you have to work twice as much as men do. I was at the office by 06:30 hours in the morning and I got used to addressing issues quickly,” she said.
She said she managed to fit in because in whatever she did, her vision was to see results.
Chimango said although the Zambian Government had committed itself to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Gender Protocol that had set a target of 50 per cent women representation in all areas of decision making by 2015, the status quo was worrisome.
She said something was driving the current statistics that consistently showed glaring levels of gender disparity.
Chimango, who has been married for the last 15 years, felt it was unfortunate that some sections of society thought feminists like her were women who had either failed marriages or troubled relationships.
She said it was unfortunate that the media were being used to perpetrate stereotypical beliefs suggesting that learned and successful women tended to be unfulfilled in their relationships.
It is for this reason that AWiL recently organised the first national forum for gender in media as a way of partnering with media institutions in achieving higher representation of women in leadership in the country.
AWiL believes media houses can help address gender inequalities because they influence society in how women and girls are portrayed.
The media shape public opinions and can help achieve the Government’s goals on gender equity.
The two-day forum which was hosted at Inter-Continental hotel in Lusaka from the 8th to the 9th of December, 2014 came at a time when the women movement is preparing for next year’s events to mark 20 years since the Beijing Declaration.
2015 will also be the year when the Beijing Plus 20 and the UN Conference on Women is scheduled to taking place.
Asked what she wants achieve through AWiL, Chimango said, “I want to see a Zambia where women are respected and valued. If a woman decides to be a leader, she should be allowed to do so and I am happy that at least in the corporate world, women are being saluted.”
She urged women to seek excellence in all their achievements and aim at building their reputations so that they are able to attract opportunities because of what they can offer, rather than what gender they are.
It may take some time before women achieve the gender agenda of being placed at par with their male counterparts.
But for Chimango and others, there is light at the end of the proverbial tunnel given that at least the corporate world has started saluting efforts of hard working women.