ILLOVO women inspire female students

The University of Malawi hosted ILLOVO Women in Leadership (I WIL) on 06th April 2024, at the Mwambo Lecture Theatre, where they interacted with over 100 female students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and other programmes. The women hold leadership positions across various departments at ILLOVO Sugar Malawi, one of the country’s best-known sugar producing companies. The university career talk, themed “Inspiring and Empowering Women: The Next Generation of Leaders,” was a success as students found inspiration in the stories shared by ILLOVO women, detailing their beginnings and the achievements they have accomplished.

As one of the women in leadership at ILLOVO, holding the role of Business Partner, Mrs. Jeanie Manda began by explaining the objectives of the ‘I WIL’ initiative, which include prioritizing recruitment, development, advancement, and achieving a 30% representation of women in leadership by 2026. She also stated that “I WIL” aims to sponsor female leaders in business and to hold secondary and university career talks. Manda shared her journey from her undergraduate studies at UNIMA to her current position, highlighting some of the challenges she has faced and how she overcame them, as well as sharing her achievements.

She continued by encouraging the students to work extra hard in their studies, emphasizing that outstanding performance is the only thing that speaks for them. Furthermore, she encouraged the girls to be resilient, stay focused in their studies, and not allow distractions to hinder them. Manda advised them to seek assistance and guidance from the right people and systems that already exist at UNIMA.

“Adjust to the changing world, utilize the resources that surround you, learn from those around you, whether here on campus or in the industry, and don’t get discouraged by what people say about you,” she emphasized.

During the function, Dr. Victoria Ndolo, Head of the Department of Human Ecology and Agricultural Sciences, expressed gratitude to the management of ILLOVO for visiting UNIMA and delivering a career talk to the female students, aiming to inspire them during their learning process. She further expressed how impressed she was with the objectives of ‘I WIL’ which focus on inspiring young girls and women in STEM to help them realize their full potential. Dr. Ndolo also extended her gratitude to the guest speakers for sharing their stories with the girls, emphasizing the message that they should not limit themselves but always believe they can reach high levels.

“It is within the School of Natural and Applied Sciences that we find most of the STEM-focused young girls and women that ‘I WIL’ targets,” she said. “We are pleased to share that as a School of Science and Applied Sciences, our vision is to become a center of excellence for scientific technology, training, and research for sustainable development,” She informed the gathering that the University has increased the enrollment of women across all programmes, particularly noting the high enrollment of girls in the School of Natural and Applied Sciences compared to previous years.

The Assistant Registrar (Welfare and Sports), Mrs. Eluby Kafumbata, also expressed gratitude to the ILLOVO women for dedicating their time to inspire UNIMA students. She further encouraged the students to always speak up and learn to report issues to the right people when they encounter various challenges.

The university career talk concluded with a session of questions and answers, during which students had the opportunity to interact with the women from the sugar production company. As a gesture of appreciation, ILLOVO women distributed branded items to students and members of staff present during the event.