I am. How will mean changing enterprise across africa what will come down to spur of the citys success thats one of the key questions being asked at the global agenda summit in the wind i feel me ok im really could be glad it today 3 Women Entrepreneurs join us from the conference to talk about how they run Successful Companies in a Business Environment that still favor some men in your thoughts through twitter and you tube. Gali is the setting for this years global agenda summit marking the 1st time that the event is being held in an african country organizers hope to improve opportunities for millions of women across the continent who want to be their own boss Women Entrepreneurs at the summit are sharing stories of the challenges they face while advocating efforts to make it easier for other women starting out in business Subsaharan Africa has the worlds highest proportion of women involved in enterprise but many women find it hard to make their startup sustainable particularly when they have little access to credit this week sees the launch of a panafrican plan to make it easier for women to get loans to support their fledgling businesses musician angelica jo is among those giving support to the initiative. Were joined from the summit by flora mittal he is the c. E. O. Of Melvin Marsh International which when you factor is a melvins team in kenya diana mbogo is c. E. O. Of millennium engineers a Renewable EnergyCompany Operating in tanzania investigation way a c. E. O. Of a river water group it provides infrastructure for clean water in rural areas of rwanda hello ladies its good to see you i am just curious as to what point did you feel comfortable saying i am a business or and i am an entrepreneur i am the boss of me i know youve all got various different stories but that moment flora when you knew it you know any of this you could confidently walk out and say yes i run a business what was that. Minute you know very interesting journey because i actually was only in the night months and work at a. College you. Proceed to do the cantons you know tried to do you know the usual auditing in and the exams and i only survived 9 months and i quit and only do business so several years ago because theres no real clue we can use them to put new a ship business was known by people who couldnt get a job and as a girl and expected to get married get a job and you know so the story goes so when i quit. Everything book loose around me also going to be a failure from Family Friends and everybody else but i stuck to my guns and coming home alone to prune your family eventually after a couple of weeks of. This sort of said ok what do you want to do now that was the funny bit is because i really didnt know what i wanted to do but i knew i wanted to get into its means. So the journey began over into the local uni byzantines and said listen im looking for a look at unity one of the things i believe in that you shouldnt be just regurgitating the so called to being sold which is not a look in the marketable term and then. You know i did not want to follow it sounds like it to decide that you were a businesswoman because i was like what was that what you said i can confidently call myself a businesswoman so for you it was a journey it was a journey before you had that confidence and we did check in with us that yvette when did you know it. I think and actually already being a young boy the dream to become an intern. In 2015 that then i didnt say you know what im thinking go. You know i couldnt be open and. Nice diana when did you know. I think back in 25th then i was a student at 30. And im taking the kind of engineering. I didnt like employment sector and one thing i really wanted to do was something that really impacted give me proper something to wake up in the morning and say yes but at the same time make money so. Early on just before my graduation i started a news and engineers and thanks it into the Energy Sector so i want to play the interesting. Bit of research that one of our Community Members spout and i want to share with all of the rest of our viewers and our guests and it comes in the form of this the master card index of Women Entrepreneurs 29 team now his name is rufus move more y n c and he sent us a video comment talking to us about what this Research Found have a listen. According to the latest research a very last account of Women Entrepreneurship talks fall out of book talks 5 countries with the largest number of Women Entrepreneurs trying to continent and thats a brave man still Going Forward i think if we see more Financial Inclusion turns into indication and listening as a country into assumes that we need see more countries popular to ust so you get perhaps a dozen countries surprise for you because you started a business at 19 years old so talk to us about what your friends and family thought when you decided hey i have this idea im going to do this yet my family for a while very supportive you know my mom you know very current from the unit telling me yeah i think you know where this is this is the right thing youre not there yet. And the fact that my mother will work out with me when. I meet you she understand like my dream in my vision she really encouraged me on much but yeah a couple of mentoring were like well. How are you going to do things you know you feel you know you dont have to go for you know to go to a colleague an awkward but i think you know my mom give me like. More encouragement you can do or some other. Feedback was. Another very encouraging but yeah and maybe for all i love the different generations that we have its a battle of generations from different parts of the african continent what would you ask one of a younger guess about their journey. Theyre fortunate enough to have been encouraged right at the beginning to get into business id probably ask them what what will their next challenge because obviously for them it wasnt a societal taishan what was the looked out that i am right you you take that what. So for me it was access to fine and. Seed capital is really. An ending my seat on the table. For the Energy Sector its very male dominated so every time i sat around the table i knew i had to work an extra mile in sound a bit louder to actually end my say so that was one of the challenges because people perceive you as young and sick and youre a woman so that was a challenge and then came in access to find this to actually set up the company. I was lucky that i was young enough and i didnt have responsibilities back then but i could see that as responsibilities started coming in their access to finance also became a really big challenge for me to be sustainable in the industry i think anyone who has a startup understands or really appreciates the idea of where you get the money from that what you get your money from you know. That we are in the business the from being we are really very much really coming like mine for it really understand what works in the business and what doesnt work. And for what for that reason people want issue for me because the issue was more when actually killed the. Very young nor kind of professional. Management not kick me quick do you. Make me get up in court so that was kind of you know might be get. Yeah then i thought it. Would fly result we. Model on. What it. Will lead the company to want and the main focus. Of actually on keel and that piece and experience and that will that have been my biggest challenge at the beginning if i find that so interesting and i like hearing the varied experiences because the majority of things that were hearing from people online who are either trying to start a business or have is that capital was their number one issue so i want to share a few of those stories this 1st one on twitter jen of your says most women in nigeria in her experience struggle with limited access to funding lack of education as well is another major problem they equally do not get much support from the government its really sad thats one persons perspective this next one comes to us via a video comment she spoke to us about what shes found and shes the founder of a business her name is in a stream alameen heres what she told the stream generally you when we talk about removing various forewomen into print think of ways to improve the woman how performance all Business Models we need to restructure the systems make fame has more accessible for women provide support platforms where women can step potentials i remove into strong restrictions the see a woman can hold a certain position or reach a certain stage. Flora she mentions making finance more accessible is one of the things that needs to happen whats your take on that and how was it for you definitely that was a challenge but very similar to what i tend to find people rush to say its about access to capital but do they have a plan 1st do they have a roadmap is their Business Model in of they need to be enough for me i tend to find the more and more use i speak to are going to find those are more the challenges i find other than funding fortunately to me access to money was an issue and what i did is they used a lot of you know suppliers creating the like i used to sell used to bounce several checks not because i wanted to but because i had to pick my stocks run and sell and come back and make some payments so definitely access to funding and one was a challenge at the time and fortunately i found a woman fund that would give half the half will give you double the loan if you got a collateral and thats fortunate enough to get a little bit of support from my mom you know the will to grow from that point of view when youre on the capital is definitely a challenge. For when youre in the position when you have to decide which check about which check did you decide that you would bounce. I would both the one from my suppliers because theyre going to pick more products and you said no you cant have it and i say listen here are checks and are great legs knowing very well theyre going to. But i needed to work and they needed to move on so eventually it slowly is when they started saying ok you know what else can you give us and you know then i had to bring my mom with the other shareholders and she or she said about the money but were going to do is ill be here in very soon you know Everything Else doesnt feel. Right now i think theres a lot of access to different kinds of capital that dont actually require collateral a lot of mortgage on his with the same opportunities now than when you started out when when you were that same age when more paternity is now which is 7 other people saying we want out you let me give you some money. Well not like that but. Its not always just collateral based financing the banks then go and they give out everybodys becoming smarter and wanting to loan unsecured loans talk loans good bunch of financing so its made it a lot easier for even young people to say listen i have this brilliant idea. Can can you know can i can you invest in me but what i would also like to tell the youth who are running to go and get people to invest to go be careful reboot dotted lines your idea your greed could be taken away from you if youre not careful talking about Brilliant Ideas diana tell us one of yours because youre about Renewable Energy where you are going into local communities finding out what they need and then adapting it so it is sustainable for instance replacing terracing laps with solar power can tell us about that. So what we do is usually go into a Community Look into what their Energy Problem is and then decide what is the best technology to use in terms of says out any. If its kerosene if its the energy that theyre using which is bad so were actually working on a porch just right now to actually kerosene lamps fishing lums and replace them with solar fission. What i see in this big industry such as the Energy Sector it lacks innovation and where do we get innovation innovation is from the use. This is something that people havent interacted a lot with or have it in gauged many young people into designing so i am happy that i mean this sector right now because i believe that if you just feel and its just the right time to actually venture into business. So what we do is we innovate what we have and look into the problem customize our solution to that communities thats sceptical it. I love this that the future is female i agree and the right time to enter into business for women im taking notes here and im hoping that members of our community who are interested as well in achieving our ship are doing that too i know some of them are i want to share a few comments we got this 1st one is on you tube elizabeth reading and she writes have any of your guests face challenges of racism or sexism in the workplace and if so how do they overcome them we got a few tweets from people who are asking similar things talking to us about what theyve seen some women face which is the fact that theyre often seen as not intelligent enough or not educated enough so ill give this one to you flora talk to us about a time that you face either sexism or racism well i think when i came out with my 1st product and took it to the largest supermarket of the time i remember somebody. Whos behind you and myself and the little zip code that. Is going to meet the mark why are you doing this youre never going to get married women dont do so in that regard of not being taken seriously and thinking that women are not up to the tough definitely a sense that a lot but what i like to tell you and. Other women why am i calling other people by the by the way i know what i do what im made of and what im up to so i tend to just. You know actually stand will take my seat at the table and let it be known that this is what i do and this is going to be good as anybody so definitely its there but it. Keeps ignoring it its not your baggage to tell me its there because. If that i am just wondering as an entrepreneur what is your greatest quality because i want to share what is a little video and animation of the work that you are doing but 1st of all i want to i want to hear what you feel how bright here what is your greatest quality as a social entrepreneur. I think my greatest of poverty. And integrity i really you know. My. Wife. You know if i call the challenge. You know theres a problem that i worry. About i always feel like a rigid keeper you know. And that has helped me a lot. During this journey and feel helping me between one. And we feel like you know we. Can be. First into my fire tonight might. Help me i will. Let me show our audience your business this is a rebirth tap and drink drinking safe clean water is a luxury that most low income or a wonder can afford and for most people plastic bottles are what they use daily which over time cause environmental harm with the riba tap and drink we offer a solar power water radium using Filtration Technology to purify water making it safe to drink with pay as you drink System People only have to pay 0. 2 cents per one leader or a low Monthly Subscription using reusable container through franchise contracts we provide work for the use and women in need for a better life together and for Better Living tab and drink. So the animation that skin let me share what it looks like a real eye are you changing life check should we get you autograph now before you get to famous to talk to us on the street. Yvettes. Hows it going. All right moving on i think a few people might chalk some of the success that were seeing from some entrepreneurs in rwanda to and initiatives from the government now of course youre all gathered there for a conference or you work out there for a conference a 3 day summit and i want to share some of what was happening there we checked out the hashtag global gender summit and this is just one tweet someone is quoting the rwandan president kagame me being a man in a position of leadership at any level means never having to think about your gender but being a woman leader being is always having to think about how gender impacts your work and so we want to has been held up as one of those countries that is kind of leading the effort on this diana for you what do you make of this quote having gone to the summit being there in rwanda but coming from tanzania do you think your government is doing enough to promote entrepreneurship among women. I believe so. I have also been very well supported with the government starting on ferry early in my business i was a q. B. To the Small Industry Development organization which is under the government and then later on moved to d. T. B. I. Did no harm a Business Incubator i would say that our government is doing a lot of work supporting small and Medium Enterprises it to suckle us trying to see how they could build women through Capacity Building programs in various organizations and the government as well as try to to to see ways in infrastructure to meet money and finances to this women so right now the Government Social do working a lot with women in stock groups and they can access finance using got group as collateral for loans so i see a lot of meanness being done and i highly. Encourage more from our government and ministries but so far its good its a journey that every country needs to take a sucker is a saving Credit Cooperative thats what diana was saying thats using the acronym for im looking at your twitter page and this has created an. Innovator. And parents who are on that lets talk about the front runner of it how can you bring all the women along with you have a business from an alpha entrepreneurs are you holding open the door you smashing through the Glass Ceiling what is the metaphor that you feel is appropriate for what your doing. Well i would still say current runner. I do while i was the chairperson of the can your suspicion of the money of manufacturers which was the 1st lady owned 57 years to actually lead that idea i have found a lot of women who said gosh you know you sort of made it possible for us and we never thought it could be done and while i was there what i did start is a program called women in manufacturing where were trying to do to bring women along because you tend to find a lot of women in fact majority of. Our manufacturing however in a small scale in their whole you know its their site hassle and one of the things were trying to do in the program is to actually make women because it said actually women women start businesses you know sort of to record their lives also to accommodate their lifestyle but they never sort of tend to take it up to the next level and thats what were trying to do in this program called women in manufacturing so in that regard i do that i also do a little coaching and mentoring and especially to youth and especially to women. And people online are telling us that that is so important the coaching and the mentoring this is one person who says women lack proper advice and guidance which might pose a risk for them to initiate a move ahead and their entrepreneurial ventures to reduce barriers a mentor can help or take the right direction and advice and give her advice during the decisions like financial and risk taking diversification for you mentor ship did you have any do you offer it. At the beginning i respect to have one if i can talk to my youngest self when i was just putting our actually inside myself to you know look for maybe different manners technical. And management kind of main and i think yeah and i think that. The. Women are different you know its really made and not only women and friends but all the entries just starting up. Today like what im doing is actually. Fairly young people. Who are talking that come clean and they need my apply or my guidance on what i would kind of like them about and yes i think i really meant she pukki for we managed to. Buy a few had us add something to that yes to fly with what i write and to get out of your ad will be one sentence go ahead already today had an interesting word called super mentions room here on the program called. Investor impact where hundreds women have won an award and what theyre doing is theyre going to have such a. Super mentor to each and every woman in your actual truck leaving in manufacturing whatever your needs to actually want to do to make sure that you grow so definitely mentorship as very relevant mentorship is a must i have a coach i have a mentor and that you need your eyes when youre going to go from diana a vat thank you so much for saying your Business Success story things really appreciate it across the african culture thats really kind of give the last word to a Business Owner and a founder have a listen. I think like if we enable we meant to be more into business this we both our g. D. P. Not only for africa by the global g. D. P. So its commonly say that adds investing in a while money is like a basing in the whole community so think about investing in more women in africa thanks to brandy when i was there online. To. As flames engulfed me on this and the world watched in horror but behind the smoke screen a mucky gold is devouring the forest and its inhabitants there killing called the personal Police Standing up on defending the force back elian sends a message to everybody and community fault lines meets those on the front lines of defending their environment and asks who stoking the flames in both scenarios Brazil Amazon banning on aljazeera. Just said on aljazeera as this year comes to an end we look ahead to 2020 and the stories that may shape the year people in power investigates the shocking treatment of disabled people in Eastern Europe calves and exclusive look at the Worlds Largest conference on h. I. V. In rwanda will be efforts achieve an aids free africa a true part series charging chinas rise as a 21st century superpower. Un leaders will gather in spain to discuss issues about Climate Change and examine the possible Global Solutions join us for live coverage of december on aljazeera. A chinese casino empire is transforming cambodia green bot funny Rapid Development and criminologists one o one a few the winners and losers in cambodia to see how the sun aljazeera. Hello im Barbara Starr in london these are the top stories on aljazeera crowds of people accusing un peacekeepers of failing to protect them from rebel attacks are still out on the streets in eastern democratic republic of congo theyre defying a curfew imposed for a 2nd day of protests after a 2nd day 2 people were killed on tuesday alexey obrien reports. Around 18000 u. N. Peacekeepers are in the democratic republic of congo to protect civilians from attacks by rebel fighters. But some civilians went on the attack themselves at