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By Sinazo Mkoko

“In my role as the MD for Coca-Cola Beverages SA, I’ve done my best to play my part to help create a cohort of women who are empowered, resilient and have serious mental fortitude. They can hold their own in business and are helping shape our organisation and creating lasting legacies for themselves.”

So said the MD for Coca-Cola Beverages SA, Velaphi Ratshefola, at this year’s Standard Bank Top Women conference. Known as the world’s fastest-growing platform for women who lead, the two-day conference took place at The Galleria Conference & Events Venue in Sandton last week, bringing together global thought leaders and experts to offer inspiration, practical solutions, networks, and support to thousands of women entrepreneurs in Africa.

If you missed the event, you can watch it here: 

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Velaphi acknowledged the challenges that women continue to face in and outside their workplaces. 

“You, more than anyone, can speak with depth about the challenges you face both in and outside the workplace. These challenges are your lived experiences. Many women go through their entire lives working hard to navigate the world to make it easier for themselves and others.

He said it is concerning that we’re still tackling the challenge of gender equity and women empowerment not only on the continent but also around the world. “We’ve seen the resurgence of women’s oppression in some spheres of our society in the form of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and men reinforcing their dominance.”

He added that the women empowerment discussion has been taking place for a very long time, and it’s possible that women are exhausted from talking and fighting for something that men don’t have to fight for.

“This discussion has been taking place for a very long time, and I’m certain that women are exhausted from talking and fighting for something that men don’t have to fight for. We need to shift the conversation to take a critical look and discuss what lives we need and some of the system challenges women still face.

“The Standard Bank Top Women Conference remains a key platform to have such debates, engagements, and reflections on how far we’ve come on the transformation journey and economic inclusion of previously marginalised people,” he said.

Velaphi went on to say that as a country and as businesses in particular, they’ve played a major role and have made some great strides in helping correct past imbalances and for this, we should be proud. He said the importance of diversity, inclusion, and economic empowerment for women to end poverty and inequality can never be overstated.

“Most of us have very clear ideas of how to go about achieving true empowerment for women in business. We’ve tested and implemented some of these ideas and turned them into actionable plans, and we know they work. But why is it taking so long, and in some cases, we’re regressing? It almost seems like we need to build a case for women empowerment once again.

He emphasised the importance of engaging men in women’s economic empowerment.

“I believe that we need to accept that we may have discounted what should’ve been a big part of the agenda—making men an integral part of the conversation.”

He added that advancing any agenda requires a critical voice of pragmatists from those that hold the power to amplify the importance of the agenda and, most importantly, to support it.

“Everyone is responsible for the true empowerment of women. “We truly believe that if we harness the intellect and the energy of all South Africans, no one can stop us.”

Read the latest edition of the Standard Bank Top Women Leaders publication here: 

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