This year in February, Emily was to be featured in an international igaming magazine that was premiering. She was requested to prepare an article on women in gaming which she did. Due to unforeseen situation, the magazine did not debut, her article then was stored within her confinements.
We thought of featuring the beautiful article here because we support women in the industry. We are so honored to be the ones Emily chose to share this feature to the public, one word: it is original, real, so African and you have to smile while reading it line by line. We hope you will enjoy it as much as we did while editing and publishing it 🙂
As evening approaches in Africa, everyone is rushing or eager to get home. Children probably rushing home hungry to find out what Mama has prepared, husbands rushing to share some conversation with their wives probably a project went on well or something did not work out, at least there’s a listening ear waiting. Ideally all eyes ,focus and hope is on mama, probably the whole day she’s been working in the farm , she’s been at the office, she’s been in the market selling something or stayed back as a stay home mama on her mind is a sense of responsibility and ownership to have her family have some meal for the evening, no one thinks of how tied she is, she herself does not mind how tired she is, all she wants is her house hold to feel her presence and be assured all will be well.
That’s the beauty of a woman, she will embrace and own what is her responsibility, she will give it her all, sometimes she will not know where to draw the line, a woman expands her responsibility beyond her job description, I say a woman gives birth to more job descriptions from what she is employed to do, she ideally multiplies them 😊
Women are known to be emotional beings, and this will have them get attached to their brand and naturally want to see it excel, naturally want to bring out the best from what she is tasked to do, she will go beyond and nature her JD to see bloom before her and we all know what this translates to.
In today’s world, gender equality is still being addressed and its no different in our industry, we continue to see few women interested in the industry, I must admit there is an improvement since I joined the industry three years ago.
1.Somehow women assume the industry is all about sports betting; while growing up we knew football was for men and this mindset easily made us believe it’s a men’s thing. Focusing on sales where I have been, there is a huge miss of us, you will find many are in account management, customer service, marketing few in operations but almost no one doing actual sales.
- Naturally not many women like rejections and sales is not everyone’s cup of tea, there are days you wake up to find emails/LinkedIn messages/skypes rejecting your offer, this won’t happen once or twice and will only take a strong one to rise through the rejections, understand they are not personal and keep on keeping on (selling) not to forget the patience needed, sometimes the time is just not right with deals taking close to two years before they are finalized.
Are there dangers to gender inequality? Off course we are missing on gems that will have a revolution and make change in the industry ie developers who will be able to revolutionize the industry, we need more sales minds who strengthen brands and pull practical commercial growth to companies and have more women at the front of leading brands in Africa, I look forward to having a woman leading such a brand.
Looking at Gender inequality in the gaming industry in Africa, there is a gap, a lot need to be done, women already in the industry need to understand they are creating a path for many who will follow, they need to work hard and with integrity to positively enhance their brand. Not forgetting self-development, women actively in the industry should critically analyze themselves and see gaps that need to be filled either by further education, mentorship or more self-development initiatives. Companies as well need to decide to support women, they need to spot talents within their organizations and offer training opportunities to them.
A society will be helpful as well, this will spot talent, approach companies in Africa and have women supported in whichever area is of interest to each one of them.
All is not lost for African women in igaming, there is hope because we already have few incredible minds at the top to young upcoming brilliant minds like the young Cudra Mohamed, an upcoming igaming software developer who is already giving back to the community by training young minds at it.
These are few examples of women who are bold, smart, worked hard and earned their positions competitively, I believe they need to pave way for greater minds that are coming, I can see and feel them coming 😊.
Every employer wants an employee who is equally a brand ambassador, this is an employee who gets in tune with the company, loves what they offer and passion for what they do is seen, they believe the win is for all of them, this translates to job satisfaction, and such employee will never be forced to work, with time results will be seen.
An organization that embraces gender equality, offers good environment for employees, offers timely and practical training and development support is up for a strong competitive and commercial advantage, everyone will complement the other! We have various of organizations promoting women leadership ie SA Gaming, Eventus International, Conexus Group, Sigma, BMM testlabs, Evolution Africa, Bet bonanza, SA Gaming, Palmsbet Kenya Bet Winner and many more. However much more need to be done in recognizing and rewarding such women In Africa. Eventus is setting an example at rewarding the women, I look forward to more stakeholders in Africa rewarding them. Simple as it may seem, recognition and motivation go a long way.
If a woman can love your brand the way she loves her child, if a woman can look forward to the success of your brand the way she would anticipate her family’s stability, if a woman can speak good of your brand the way she praises her community, if a woman can embrace your brand the way she boldly embraces her culture, can you imagine having many of them amongst your team!
Yours Truly,
Emily Asava
Regional Business Development Manager- SA Gaming.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.