International Women’s Day 2021 at KOKO

Our “Women @ KOKO” initiative joined people all over the world to celebrate International Women's Day on 8 March, under the theme #ChooseToChallenge.

This global theme encourages all people, especially women, to challenge gender bias and inequality, and to choose to celebrate women’s achievements as we strive to create a more inclusive world.

On the day, we were honoured to be joined by two women who have made great contributions to, and have been pillars of, female leadership in the technology space in Kenya and internationally.

• Ory Okolloh is a Lawyer, Activist, and Blogger. Until recently, Ory was the Managing Director, Omidyar Network and Luminate Group in Africa - both part of The Omidyar Group - a diverse collection of companies, organizations and initiatives united by a common desire to catalyze social impact.  She was formerly the Policy & Strategy Manager for Africa with Google, and also founded Ushahidi in the aftermath of Kenya's disputed 2007 presidential election.  In 2011 Ory was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, and one of Africa's most Powerful Women by Forbes Magazine. In 2014 she was named Time 100's most influential people in the world.
• Nivi Sharma is currently Chief Operations Officer at BRCK, the onramp for frontier market internet users. Nivi has dedicated her career to digital access; for children, youth, and adults and founded eLimu, the first company to digitize the Kenyan Primary School curriculum for revision and literacy.

In the end, a virtual meeting was probably advisable, given the huge turnout from the women across KOKO!

Our panelists shared what the #ChooseToChallenge theme means to them, based on some of their experiences, whilst offering insights and advice on how to manoeuvre around the challenges that women face in the work space, other professional spaces and at home.

Some highlights of our discussion included:

• First and foremost, challenge yourself – especially with doing the difficult things in life
• Don’t look only for diversity in representation, but also exercise diversity in thought processes
• Push for change and challenge the status quo at every stage of our lives – don’t wait until we’re at the top to drive change
• Feelings of nervousness are normal and it’s a universal feeling. Confidence comes from recognising that other people have similar experiences
• If you feel a sense of ‘imposter syndrome’, try to split your thoughts between: ‘do I belong here?’ or ‘am I just nervous?’
• Whatever stage we are at in our career or life generally, we should not let ourselves get ‘comfortable’ – we should always be eager to learn and challenge ourselves in aspects that we think we can’t change about ourselves, personally and professionally

In support of the day, KOKO’s leadership is giving all female employees the New York Times bestseller ‘The Daughters of Kobani’, a story of courage, equality, rebellion and justice, which is described as "an unforgettable and nearly mythic tale of women's power and courage" by the author Elizabeth Gilbert.

We continue to celebrate all the women at KOKO, for IWD 2021 and throughout the year!