On 20 July 2021 African Women in Energy and Power (AWEaP) will bring together 15 industry organisations from across Africa’s energy and power sector in a webinar designed for women entrepreneurs. The webinar targets women entrepreneurs that are already in the energy and power sector and those that want to diversify their business interest into the sector.

Register here and prepare to learn from industry leaders

A recent study conducted by The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) across multiple markets including South Africa, found that women make up only 32% of the renewable energy workforce. Most studies and interventions in the energy sector on the continent have focused on employment equity or rural electrification. When it comes to women entrepreneur’s participation in electricity, there is limited information, especially in large infrastructure projects. Initiatives to better understand the links between gender and larger-scale projects focusing on the electric grid (i.e., utility-scale generation, transmission and distribution) are fewer in number and the data gaps are even larger.

The announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa that private embedded generators may produce up to 100 MW of unlicensed power ushers a new era in South Africa, an era of possible entrepreneurial activity and opportunity in the energy sector.

The landmark Generation Equality forum that concluded during the first week of July emphasised the need to pursue gender parity across all sectors on economy. Now is the time to create platforms to support equitable participation in the energy and power sector so that no one is left behind. Africa’s female entrepreneurship is highest in the world with 27% of women on the continent engaged in early-stage entrepreneurial activity. Women in Africa make up 58% of the continent’s self-employed population.

Bertha Dlamini, founding president of AWEaP said: “African women and youth represent a vast reservoir of entrepreneurial potential, talent and resilience that can ignite industrial activity and anchor a path for sustainable economic recovery post COVID-19.”

This webinar will extend networks for women entrepreneurs and enable them to explore and secure meaningful opportunities across the renewable energy value chains on the continent. COVID-19 has decimated the traditional face-to-face, large-scale networking events, as many organisations transitioned to virtual/digital eventing platforms. This has exacerbated the networking challenge especially for marginalised demographics such as women and youth.

The AWEaP webinar’s programme has leading industry associations such as:

South African Energy Association (SANEA), Kiren Maharaj (South Africa); Global Women's Network for the Energy Transition: (GWNET), Christine Lins (Austria); South African Wind Energy Association - (SAWEA), Ntombi Ntuli; South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA), Chanda Nxumalo; The ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) Adeola Adebiyi (West Africa), and many more.

About the event

The event pulls 15 industry associations who will share possible networking platforms for women entrepreneurs in Energy and Power.

Register here and prepare to learn from industry leaders

African Women in Energy and Power is committed to creating platforms where women can gain access to credible market information and build credible market networks. The energy and power sector is difficult to penetrate; however, it is necessary to work together within the ecosystem to ensure that no one is left behind.

“In the last six months we have reached over 1000 women. Of this number 63% are entrepreneurs who want to diversify into the energy sector and 37% are already in the energy sector. Most have cited lack of access to finance and market information as barriers to meaningful participation in the sector. We believe that this webinar will set women entrepreneurs on the right path to build requisite networks that will support their power sector entrepreneurial journey”, Dlamini said.

About AWEaP

On African Women in Energy and Power NPC - www.aweap.africa

African Women in Energy and Power is a non-profit company (NPC) launched in 2019 with a critical mission to accelerate the participation of women entrepreneurs in the energy and power sector. It has eleven chapters on the continent.

In March 2021, AWEaP won the WVL SADC Protocol@Work Climate Change 2021 Award in recognition of its outstanding contribution in the promotion of gender equity in the Energy and Power Sector. It is endorsed by the Southern African Power Pool, Eskom and the African Women Entrepreneurship Framework, and Women in Energy and Oil.

AWEaP is a recipient of the multi-year core grant from The Women, Voice and Leadership South Africa (WVL-SA) Programme. A grant funded by Global Affairs Canada (GAC) under Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP) launched in 2017. Gender Links (GL) is a Southern African NGO that manages the Canada’s flagship FIAP Women’s Voice and Leadership (WVL) SA Fund.

Contact Bertha Dlamini, AWEaP, bertha.dlamini@ritogroup.africa