What lies behind the true capital and magic of pitching for an opportunity that your company makes 1500x from? This is the Standard Bank Top Women EmpowHer Series.
Over two weeks ago, on 17 August 2023, I travelled to Sun City in the North West Province to once again be bestowed the privilege of Master of Ceremonies (MC) and Moderator at the Standard Bank Top Women Regional EmpowHer Conference. This event was the final of three conferences hosted around South Africa including Durban and Cape Town by Topco Media in partnership with Standard Bank. At the heart of these conferences is the Pitching Den, where selected companies from the region pitch their businesses to an expert panel of judges who will in the end, crown a regional representative to compete on a larger Standard Bank platform at the at the 20th Annual Standard Bank Top Women Awards this coming November. At this event, the winner will walk away with the trophy, the EmpowHer Winner for 2023 tile and the R50 000 cash prize.
Throughout the various stages across the country, I bore witness to women who have been exposed to the radiant impact of the experience, myself included. In Cape Town, we had women who were trade exchanging their skills and now applying for grants together in the pursuit to accelerate their business and scale their impact. Present in Durban, was the founder of one of the city’s Association of Women in Business adding almost 100 women to their database and creating meaningful connections. In Sun City, an interior designer was able to add a potential client to her portfolio, who runs a property stokvel (savings group) that had just raised over R70 million (almost $4 million) and were on the hunt for suppliers like herself. These weren’t even women who had gone on stage and pitched, with an audience of hundreds of women at their attention. These were, however, Top Women who were serious about their business.
So, the answer that I’m about to respond to, is to the question of why women who are raising and operating in revenues in millions, would be doing at an event, at a conference where the cash prize is 1500x less than what they’re making in their businesses.
Banking on an opportunity with Standard Bank
The Standard Bank Top Women Regional EmpowHer Conference is named after Africa’s most admired financial services brand and Africa's biggest lender by assets, Standard Bank.
It then becomes a no-brainer to not only attend a gathering that is credibly title sponsored by the bank but is also extensively advocated and attended by the bank’s executives, men and women. Attending the conference grants attendees and finalists, the opportunity to have their businesses as well as their challenges and asks, be front and centre as a pipeline for the Standard Bank banking, enterprise development and marketing executives.
Fast Tracking Meaningful Connections
Throughout the provinces, the EmpowHer Series have welcomed hundreds of Top Women who are entrepreneurs, investors, corporate executives, academics, and organisations who prioritise gender empowerment as integral to their strategy for growth and success.
Central to the regional conferences, is the Fast Track Networking Session, which is a one-hour session where the objective is simple – creating the opportunity for attendees to derive meaningful personal and professional networks, generate business interest, establish partnerships and be on the lookout for a mentor or sponsor.
This set of circumstances is intentionally created and nurtured through mini breaks and continues throughout the program of the event, platforming the chance to not only create and fast track the meaningful connections, but to foster them once the EmpowHer doors are closed or the stream ends.
A Room of EmpowHer’d Women
Whether you are a young professional looking for a mentor or a professional network to be a part of, or you’re a gender-lens investor seeking companies to invest in, one thing that is for certain about the EmpowHer Regional Conferences is that you’ll find what you’re looking in a room overflowing with empowered Top Women and Men.
The conference is a concentration of value, exchanged and platformed, through not only opportunities like the Fast Track Networking Session, The Pitching Den, but also the pockets of moments in your respective table, and the wealth imparted by speakers.
A Concluding Unrequited Gender-lens Bias
It is no secret that my work intersects impact, investment, inclusion, and innovation. I must add that I have had the privilege to grace the Standard Bank Top Women Regional EmpowHer Conference on multiple occasions. To return onto the stage was electrifying, empowering, and an enabling experience because it is simply pure magic to witness the exponential impact happening in the room, and the return on investment for the attendees and the organisations that are committed to economically empowering women, their businesses, and communities.
To find out more about Standard Bank Top Women and the opportunities that you can engage, visit https://www.topbusinesswomen.co.za/ .
To watch some of the highlights of the EmpowHer Series, visit TopCo Media’s page and to view some of the Fireside Chats, visit my page.
