Luvei Times Kenya's Social Online Magazine

Kenya: Nairobi hosts African women economic forum

By Hudson Gumbihi| Nairobi, Kenya
NAIROBI will host a women caucus on socio-economic aspects affecting them in their day-to-day affairs.
Dubbed African Economic Summit, the meeting will be held in the next two weeks, according to the organizers anticipating more than 100 participants across the black continent. The talks will also be attended by experts in finance, politics and economics.
The intention is to make awareness to women on the need for them to fully participate in financial management as they safeguard the family unit, which is regarded as a cog for stability of nations. Broken families have led to lawlessness – a recipe for fragile governments.
African Development Bank (AfDB) President Donald Kaberuka and former first lady Graca Machel, will play co-hosts. “The event is driven by the growing realization that women represent a new emerging market,” read a statement from the organizers who added women need to have a clear understanding of economic potentials and business opportunities.
Challenges faced by women when accessing loans and other forms of financial assistance will be discussed. Participants will be taken through social and cultural barriers besides being encouraged to take over decision-making positions.
Africa is dogged with civil strife, a situation that has left women and their children vulnerable to insecurity as men take up guns engaging in fighting. Kenya is currently host to hundreds of thousands of refuges from Southern Sudan and Somalia. About 80 per cent of the immigrants at the Daadab and Kakuma refuge camps are women and children.