ZAMBIA:MARGARET MWANAKATWE IS APPOINTED BARCLAYS BANK FIRST FEMALE MANAGING DIRECTOR IN AFRICA

Record ID: 566204

  • Title: ZAMBIA:MARGARET MWANAKATWE IS APPOINTED BARCLAYS BANK FIRST FEMALE MANAGING DIRECTOR IN AFRICA
  • Date: 1st January 2001
  • Summary: VARIOUS LOCATIONS IN ZAMBIA (RECENT) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS OF AFRICAN WOMEN WITH CHILDREN/ CARRYING BOWL ON HEAD (4 SHOTS) 0.14 2. SV POLICEWOMAN 0.16 3. SV FEMALE PILOT 0.18 4. VARIOUS OF MANAGING DIRECTOR OF BARCLAYS BANK, ZAMBIA, MARGARET MWANAKATWE AT TRADE FAIR (6 SHOTS) 0.52 5. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARGARET MWANAKATWE "It's one that puts me on the hot spot. It's one that makes me feel I have to achieve. I don't have a choice in the matter because I seem to be a test case for the women folk and the black folk. So I need to ensure that I am successful because my success will perhaps be the success of many other people that are looking up to me to succeed." 1.21 6. CU/SV MARGARET WITH CLIENTS 1.38 7. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARGARET MWANAKATWE " A Zambian lady has been made MD for BP in Namibia. Fantastic. I'm just beginning to feel that there are a few of us out there, and sometimes you're made to feel as though you're unique. My feeling is that there are a few more like myself, there are a few more like the lady who is going to Namibia, that need to be brought out and given a chance to excel and when you see those few you realise that in fact there are not a few out there, there are a lot more out there." 1.58 8. MVS MARGARET'S CHILDREN 2.09 9. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARGARET MWANAKATWE " I moved to France and I was a housewife for about three to five months and I hated it so I decided to apply myself and I started lecturing on an MBA programme. I lectured on financial accounting and financial management at a European Institute called Maxins." 2.22 10. SV MARGARET'S CHILDREN 2.28 11. MV MARGARET TALKING TO PEOPLE 2.34 12. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARGARET'S SON "Mummy, she's very, I feel pleased for her about getting her new job. And then she told me that many people are under her. But I am also happy that she can come here at 18 hours and she can spend more time with us because at Investment Centre sometimes she would come out at 02 and she would then be with us a lot." 2.51 13. MV MARGARET ARRIVING HOME WITH HER CHILDREN 3.08 14. MV MARGARET AT AN OFFICIAL ENGAGEMENT 3.17 15. MARGARET WITH HER CHILDREN Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 16th January 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS IN ZAMBIA
  • Country: Zambia
  • Reuters ID: LVA9X16XBM7IDQCK7T1YC81M9IXC
  • Story Text: In Africa, there's still some way to go to reach
    male/female equality. But there are signs of progress for
    those who are willing to fight for it. In Zambia, one
    African woman managed to work her way to the top at the
    prestigious Barclays Bank. Reuters took a look at what it
    took to get this far.



    The traditional role of an African woman has
    always been played out in the home - but, thankfully, times
    are changing.

    Although women still don't have the same access to
    education and opportunity as men in Africa - there is room
    at the top for those who are ready to fight for it.

    Take Zambia's Margaret Mwanakatwe for example.

    She was recently appointed Barclays Bank's first
    female managing director in Africa.

    The forty year old now runs all of the bank's
    business in Zambia - putting her in charge of 800 employees.

    Before a round of severe job cuts she would have
    been responsible for twice as many.

    But Margaret's new position comes with an extra
    pressure - as an African woman with real power she knows
    she has to set a good example.

    She says "It's one that puts me on the hot spot.

    It's one that makes me feel I have to achieve. I don't have
    a choice in the matter because I seem to be a test case for
    the women folk and the black folk. So I need to ensure that
    I am successful because my success will perhaps be the
    success of many other people that are looking up to
    me to succeed."
    As a woman it can be a lonely life at the top,
    but Margaret thinks there are plenty of other women out
    there who should join her:
    "A Zambian lady has been made MD for BP in
    Namibia. Fantastic. I'm just beginning to feel that there
    are a few of us out there, and sometimes you're made to feel
    as though you're unique. My feeling is that there are a few
    more like myself, there are a few more like the lady who is
    going to Namibia, that need to be
    brought out and given a chance to excel and when you see
    those few you realise that in fact there are not a few out
    there, there are a lot more out there."
    With three children to look after Margaret had to
    struggle to escape the life of a traditional African mother.

    She says "I moved to France and I was a housewife
    for about three to five months and I hated it so I decided
    to apply myself and I started lecturing on an MBA programme.

    I lectured on financial accounting and financial management
    at a European Institute called Maxins."
    Even her children, who get to see a lot less of
    mummy than most of their schoolmates, have some kind words
    to say about her new job.

    Her son says "Mummy, she's very, I feel pleased
    for her about getting her new job. And then he told me that
    many people are under her. But I am also happy that she can
    come here at 18 hours and she can spend more time with us
    because at Investment Centre sometimes she would come out at
    02 and she would then be with us a lot."
    Margaret went to primary and secondary school
    in Zambia, as well as studying for a first degree there.

    It was only much later that she went abroad to
    study accountancy in the UK.

    Now Margaret is perhaps Zambia's top banker
    and rightly recognised as one of the country's best
    financial brains.

    And if she can balance the books at Barclays
    as well as she has balanced her work and her family - then
    this businesswoman's future looks bright indeed.




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