Stop settling for less, women in banking industry told

Top women experts in the banking sector across the East African region, including board members, chief executive officers, managing directors, and operations officers, among others have asked their junior counterparts to always work towards elevating to the top instead of settling for lower positions.

Speaking at the Women in Banking and Finance conference held in Kampala on Friday, different top women banking experts from the region said that the majority of their junior counterparts are lagging behind because of low self-esteem, lack of self-confidence and believability.
This disadvantage, they said, is exploited by their male counterparts who are ambitiously grabbing opportunities.

“Our role as women should be to ensure adequate representation by training women to take up leadership positions, sponsoring and supporting other women to ascend to top positions. We need to increase women’s participation in the labor force, enhance earnings, ensure access to productive assets, and eliminate gender bias and discrimination,” Ms Maria Kiwanuka, the Board Chairperson of Standard Chartered Bank Uganda said.

According to her, women in the past would be sidelined in the banking industry but now the ground has been leveled it is upon them to grab more top positions. 
“In the positions we have occupied, we have added value because, for example, we have seen female managing directors performing excellently,” she said.

Ms Kiwanuka who is also the former Finance Minister said current top leaders in the banking industry must train their junior counterparts to take on leadership roles.
The 2023 statistics from the Uganda Bankers’ Association (UBA) show that only 24 percent of women employed in the banking industry are at the level of at least a chief executive officer or executive director.

They add that over 52 percent of roles in banking and finance are now held by women, but only 58 out of the 186 board members in financial institutions are female and only 7 serve as Board Chairpersons.
The managing director Citibank Sarah Arapta said that women should work towards reversing this trend.

“This will be done if young women in the sector take up these positions. It is we women who must break the current barriers because if you don’t do it, no one else will do it for you and this should start by knowing who you are,” she said.
Adding, “If we don’t start by appreciating the uniqueness within us, no one will. Know your own inner strength and see how you articulate it.”
According to Ms Goretti Masadde, the CEO of UIBFS, women ought to be aggressive and take on positions.

“Go for higher positions whenever you see an opportunity, believe in yourself and that is how you will rise to the top,” she said during the conference hosted by the Uganda…