Khan: Women should stand firmly by their convictions

Whenever a woman steps into any space as the first ever, the change that ensues is monumental as evidently, all eyes will be on her.

Meet the former deputy minister of trade and industry, Shamim Khan who utilised her leadership position to push for women’s inclusion in entrepreneurship and ensured women had a chance to participate in the International Trade Fair exhibition and farmer’s week (NaneNane) exhibitions to showcase their products that are usually held in Morogoro.

Shamim Khan recalls that she was the only elected female Member of Parliament in 1985 and served as MP for 10 years, after being the first woman to contest for the position of Morogoro’s MP.

The lack of inclusion in the business and entrepreneurship space for women was already a problem that mama Khan had vowed to change, should she ever have a chance.

As such, when she was appointed as deputy minister of trade and industry in 1995, she began her work to support women’s growth in this space

“It was an honour to be appointed as the deputy minister and I was very optimistic that I would bring revolution to women and ensure they had fair opportunities to participate in business exhibitions,” she said.

She added: “When the late President Benjamain Mkapa appointed me to be the deputy minister of trade and industry, I thanked God but I immediately realised that I had a great task ahead to help women.”

As the trade and industry deputy minister, she directed her Permanent Secretary, the late Hanifa Karamagi, to organise meetings with women who were under her ministry. With all the women who participated in the meeting, various business strategies to support women were discussed and the idea of setting up a women’s booth at NaneNane so that women could participate in the exhibition was initiated.

Challenge in charting new paths

She shares that she came up with this idea to motivate women to participate in business related issues. Most of them were already involved in businesses of different types while others who had the chance to participate in entrepreneurship, lacked the necessary business skills.

One of the challenges she attributed to the initial setting up was adequate time to get the plan up and running.

She shares that after the first meeting, she directed regional business officers to identify and bring four women entrepreneurs from each region, nationwide. This process went well, and the women were brought to Dar es Salaam for a seminar.

According to her, when the seminar was held, it was realised that women did not only lack business skills but they did not know how to set prices for their products based on time spent and value for money.

At that time, women used to make durable and quality products. The biggest challenges were that they did not value the time they spent to set a better price as they were not interested in making a profit.

As the deputy minister of trade and industry, mama Khan shares that the career choice was not devoid of challenges. It was not an easy space for her to achieve her dreams.

However she promised herself that she would bring women together. Being the first female with an Indian origin made it all the more difficult for people to understand and the changes she could enact but she was determined to see her vision come to life.

“It was not easy for me. I remember when I visited my constituency in Mororogo to campaign, most of the residents did not like me but, as time went on they understood the vision,” she said.

The doubt she was met with was at times daunting and she recalls an incident decades ago where a Kagera Region businessman interrupted a regional trade officer at a meeting in which she was part of and asked what country she was a deputy minister of trade for.

Initial support

In undertaking this journey, support from like-minded women and women on the path to improve opportunities for other women was something that mama Khan was going to need in abundance.

Mama Anna Mkapa was one of the most significant supporters who stood by Khan and supported her idea. Despite, been the President’s wife, she made the effort to call and congratulate mama Khan on the steps she was taking to bring her initiative to life.

Asha-Rose Migiro who was under the Ministry of Community and Development before mama Khan was appointed as deputy minister of industry and trade also supported was also an avid supporter of mama Khan’s efforts.

According to her, it is good to see her initiative of establishing women’s booths in both International and NaneNane exhibitions continue to exist.

Explaining about the current state affairs for women in business, she stressed that nowadays, more women are engaged in various businesses but one of the biggest challenges they have is that they lack creativity and instead, they opt to imitate other people’s business. Also most of their products are more artificial and some contain chemicals unlike it was in the past.

According to Tanzania Women Chambers of Commerce (TWCC) executive director, Ms Mwajuma Hamza; the number of women participating in business is high compared to men. She shares that the last survey, which was done in 2016, indicated that 54 percent of entrepreneurs were women and 46 percent were men

Unfortunately, specialisation in business especially for women, packaging levels and quality control are some of the challenges that hinder women from progressing in the business world.

According to her, business opportunities are there but most women do not focus on projects and are instead, sitting and waiting for opportunities to follow them.

“We need to have a strong initiatives to empower women entrepreneurs to have access to tender opportunities, “she said.

Data from National Bureau of Statistics indicate about 65 percent of farmers are women and 33 percent of households are headed by women. Political processes that promote women’s participation are also increasing; for example, 36 percent of the national parliamentarians are women.

However, legislative and financial barriers as well as gender norms that impede women’s full participation in economic and social development still remain.