The International Finance Corporation (IFC) Women on Boards and in Business Leadership program, under the leadership of Loty Salazar, has come out with a recent publication comprising case studies that featured four women from Sierra Leone and Liberia. The publication was authored by Ann Moline, with additional material provided by Brenda Bowman and Jacqueline Williams.

Liberia and Sierra Leone have faced compounded challenges in recent decades, Violent government overthrow, civil war, corruption, and economic breakdown. The 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic took the lives of more than 11,3000 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone further crippling already struggling economies.

In 2018, the international finance corporation (IFC) a member of the World Bank Group, in partnership with the chambers of commerce in Liberia and Sierra Leone, launched its global women on Boards and in Business leadership(WBBL) program to help increase female representation in boardrooms and grow the pipeline of the talented women preparing to ascend to senior management positions.

Titled “Being Bold-Case Studies on Women’s Business Leadership in Sierra Leone and Liberia the publication presents four powerful examples of how women leaders in fragile markets are using their passion, intelligence, skills, and talents to transform their economies and societies.

The four women recognised are Ajara Boamah, Stephanie Duncan, Dr Fatou Taqi and Dr Williette Kemi James

Dr. Fatou Taqi is the Director of Academic & Career Advisory & Counselling Services and the Students Complaints Commission at the University of Sierra Leone. She also coordinates the University ICT Team. She is a lecturer at the Department of Language Studies & the Institute for Gender Research & Documentation, Fourah Bay College.

She is passionate about women’s empowerment and gender equity. She enjoys being a mother, travelling & networking.

Fatou recognises the challenges Sierra Leone faces on many fronts. She believes women could be a great part of the solution but remained largely marginalized from representative politics as well as decisions making systems at the community, district, regional and national levels.

Her solution to these challenges is forming a critical mass that can serve as a collective resource, leading by example and showing that with voice and agency women have a place at the table and can help solve the profound societal and economic problems facing her country.

Dr. Williette James is the current Head of the Mass Communication Department at Fourah Bay College (USL) and is also the first Female President of the Academic Staff Association , University of Sierra Leone.

Dr James is a Gender Advocate who understands the ripple effects of the sparsely represented women population in Sierra Leone’s media. Research has proven that about 20% of Sierra Leone’s Journalists are women while women hold 25% of male leadership positions in the country.

Dr. James believes that as long as the representation gaps persist and as long as the decision-making on newsworthy headlines or programming lacks diverse voices, it will be difficult to reduce media bias and change societal misconceptions that women have no place in prominent media roles.

Dr. James has asserted that “if institutions are to thrive women must be an integral part of leadership. They must always be ready to smash every glass ceiling above them and walk through the debris with bravery and Wisdom.”

The big obstacle for her was overcoming gender bias in Sierra Leone’s media landscape. Willette’s solution is to break the glass ceiling that has served as a mitigating factor to become a change leader who could influence future generations of Journalists.

*Stephanie Duncan* was the former Secretary-General of the Liberia Chamber of Commerce, Liberia’s oldest and largest business member advocacy organization. Born and raised in Liberia Stephanie moved to the US to pursue her university degree. As an entrepreneur herself, a key component of her work focuses on Liberia’s Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises, promoting, protecting, and helping to grow MSMEs in Liberia. Stephanie is also the founder and Chair of the Women on Board Network Liberia, which promote gender diversity on the boards of public and private organizations and thereby enhance corporate governance.

Liberia’s women entrepreneurs represent an important economic force in its recovery. They offer enormous potential to create markets that drive sustainable growth and reduce poverty.

She affirmed that “Poor governance is directly linked to poor business performance. Conversely, /I have seen from my own experience that businesses with sound governance have better access to government grants and financial support from investments and Banks.”

Duncan’s first Job out of college in Washington D.C coincided with a highly politicized and publicised 1991 Sexual harassment case decades before the # Mee too Movement.

Ajara Boamah, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Royalty Concepts. Before founding Royalty Concepts, Ajara worked under the Office of the President as the Logistics Manager for the Office of Diaspora Affairs, where she made significant contributions to capacity building and Diaspora relations between the Government and the people of Sierra Leone.

Ms Bomah has held leadership positions at Fasiedon Media where she was a pivotal part of the team responsible for marketing, communications and creative leadership. Ajara also managed the DSTV brand and business in Sierra Leone for Transnational Sierra Leone.
At Transnational, she was responsible for office management, public relations, sales and marketing. Ms Bomah holds a Master’s degree in Social Therapy from Smith College School of Social Work and a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology & African Studies from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

Ajara moved to Sierra Leone in 2008. Since migrating back to the continent, she has been inspired to help and motivate young Sierra Leoneans to live their dream and has done so in her spare time with projects geared towards the next generation of leaders.
Ajara is passionate about working hard to bring her client’s events to life.

In a region with one of the highest rates of entrepreneurial activity in the world where women are more likely than men to be entrepreneurs, female-led enterprise profits are on average 34 per cent lower than men.

Ajara believes that “increasing women’s business represents a tangible way to boost Sierra Leone’s economic output. Women Entrepreneurs have enormous energy and passion and if we can harness this, as well as level the playing field so women can have the same opportunity as men.”