By Agatha Emeadi
Optiva Capital Partners is a wealth management company and wealth retention company providing bespoke solutions across investment immigration, investment advisory, international real estate, mortgage services, and insurance.
Its Chief Executive Officer, Jane Kimemia-Nechi is a pan-African business leader with over 27 years of extensive experience in senior management roles in various financial services.
In this interview, she advised GenZ girls to build value into themselves so as to command respect in the society.
She pointed out that mothers are created and equipped by God to be nurturers.
“It is said when you educate a woman, you educate the nation. That is why it is absolutely important to empower women to effectively play this role, especially in this age driven by the Internet and social media.”
In this regard, and against the backdrop of the 2025 International Women’s Day, Jane Kimemia-Nechi, advised that mothers limit the screen time of their children.
She posited that most parents erroneously think that giving their children screen devices to silence them when they cry is the best.
She strongly condemned this, revealing that she makes sure her little ones do not see the screens, including the people looking after them.
She said that for the minders of her little children, it is to make them recognise that it “is work schedule and not the time to attend to the phone.”
Looking at the indices, are women making progress in line with United Nations goals for gender equity and inclusion?
In terms of statistics, it is a long way for women achieving their representation across organizations, at all levels and in terms of seniority. In most organizations, one would see that women tend to fizzle out as they get higher. So, are we achieving progress? I will say we are in terms of awareness. There are more women who are breaking the glass ceiling. But is it enough? I say no because I think there is a lot more to do. I read an article about a bank in Hong Kong, where 70 percent of the board members are female. They did not set out to do Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI). I think that is one of the things that women must include. So, apart from having the structures, it should be part of governance requirement for companies to include women in senior positions, though it is a matter of merit. Nobody will hand over authority to anyone on a platter of gold because you are a woman. That has been the conception, maybe sometimes misconception of what DEI is supposed to be. Women have made some progress, but it is not enough.
Looking at women at all levels, especially women at the grassroots, at the very basic bottom of the pyramid, some women are described as petty traders; and these are women who have raised their children through such businesses. Therefore, what are the structures for them to be included in the hierarchy of the affairs? Recently, I read that 42 percent of Nano-Micro-Medium enterprises are women-led. This is quite huge. So, what opportunities do these women have to grow from the micro-level to have structures whether it is funding and training opportunities to expand their market? This is clearly what we need to do because most of those women’s businesses do not go beyond micro-level because of the non-availability of structures and framework which would have supported them to grow into an industry. With that they could access funds, get educated and trained while in the market. A lot of work has gone into women’s progress, but we still need more to achieve equity and inclusion.
In what way has your organization aligned with the UN objectives regarding women?
At Optiva Capital, consistently, women constitute 60-70 percent of our workforce. Women are well represented across all the job levels. So, we marked the IWD 2025 on Friday. The theme, ‘Accelerate Action’, calls on all structures and people in power to accelerate action which includes empowerment, inclusion and diversity. We will be launching a bigger gender for the women as part of accelerate action. We will be launching a platform called ‘Women of Power’ not ‘Women in Power’. The reason is that I do realize that every woman is a person with so much power. The difference between people who realize their true potential in life and the ones that are just the mediocre is the power of one’s mind and that is the first thing to overcome. As a man thinks, so does his mind work. The ‘Women of Power’ is the recognition that obviously women go through so many challenges like balancing life, families, career, life issues, but should not discount or remove themselves from the race of life. The women of power forum is actually a recognition that those circumstances should make one the unique human being of power that she is. So, it is a call to women to be real, that the power to change circumstances is real. Again, how does one use her circumstance to elevate herself into power and recognition or allow herself to be destroyed? Therefore, the women of power is a call for all women both old and young to work for our story, power, embrace what we have been through to use it and elevate ourselves. Again, while understanding that our life circumstance is a unique tapestry of who we became; consequently, instead of discounting one’s self, the woman should launch into power. The launch is part of our agenda as Optiva Capital Partners in celebrating the IWD in line with accelerating actions.
How do you accelerate action?
It is about mindset shift and self-awareness. Looking back, one should ask, why am I a woman? What is within my sphere of control is the power of self that is aligned to purpose which we underrate in terms of accelerating action. There are so many things we can say about what institutions and government need to do, but the most powerful part of accelerating action is accelerating oneself, then be determined that whatever success that is available, a lot more is possible for me. It means that I will use everything that I have been through to elevate myself. So, our view of accelerating action is accelerating one’s self and life becomes easier. When one is accelerated, you find like-minded people, find help and move forward. Even though it takes a lot of self-awareness and discipline, intentionality and to know that what is possible for other accomplished women is possible for me.
How can women at the grassroots accelerate actions?
What I am saying is applicable to every woman. It is the power of self-belief, embracing and loving one’s self. Whatever you have is worthy of embracing. My mum was a nurse in a local primary health centre in Nairobi. We used to go to the farm every day and milked cow in the evening. But I think it is the power of her mind, there was empowerment at that level because we believed we could be anything in future. Empowerment is not about the level, but the mind absolutely. Embrace whatever you have and aspire to get stronger.
With IWD2025 in mind what message do you have for the young girls?
To the younger girls who I am passionate about, they are a generation that if we do not do anything fast, it might be a generation that will be lost in this era of social media, where they want what they see. Recently, we have been speaking with young graduates who we want to groom and shape their minds to be successful at the market place. What I find out from them is just funny. At 26, a lady will say, she is a serial entrepreneur, a consultant and I want to be a CEO somewhere. I simply think they are a generation that needs to get back to the drawing board because they are trying to reap their future when they have not sown. Maybe it is possible for a few, but it is not the way to succeed in life, there is absolutely no short cut to hard work. They want to be like ladies who have spent 28 years in corporate services.
There is no microwave success and one just emerges, no way. One must do the time. I asked a lady that wanted to be a consultant ‘Do you understand who a consultant is because I know a consultant is a subject matter expert. I personally can be a consultant because I have 28 years work experience, but you do not have the experience whatsoever and claim you are a consultant. Have you done the time? My message to them is to be real and embrace themselves and the journey. Success is connected with time and resilience. What are their unique journeys in life? They need to close out the noise.
The young people are growing up with so much noise, scrolling away their lives, so please close out the noise and determine for yourself what your worth is. What you want might not necessarily be what is relevant to the next person. Again, my message to the young ones is to close out the noise, get real and find out who are you, whom do you want to be when all the noise is faded. This discovery will take time and discipline. All these going to 7-star restaurants, posing with a glass of wine in front of an aesthetic building are meaningless.
What are all those for? What are people following them for? There is a whole generation whose understanding of success is totally misplaced and it is to go back to the drawing board. We need to get them back on track before it is too late.
Do you think the government can do something to reduce the frivolity of the social media? Guess you are aware of the latest Lamborghini cars competition among our young ladies?
Government intervention is interesting, but I think as parents there is quite a lot we can do. I was just reading about Sweden, which was the very first country to adopt the whole digital learning many years ago. Everything then was online, but I can tell you that they have wiped away all digital learning and returned to the classroom. In Sweden today there is so much allocation into reading. The reason they removed the digital learning was because the quality of education reduced. When I say it is about the home and parenting, how can two-years-olds be in possession of screen gadgets which interfer in their concentration, focus, ability to learn and be patient. It is a lot of wrong influence for the young people. So, what is the grounding is simply to go back to the home. What have parents raised their children to become, how will they cut off the noise and navigate well? I personally believe in reading and writing.
Regarding mothers raising teenage children in an internet age, what advice do you have for them?
I think of the young minds before the teenagers. If the right discipline is instilled, we can achieve a lot. In most homes, a family is seated and everyone is on their phone. It means they are living together but everyone is on their space. I say to Mothers should limit the screen time of their children. Most parents think that giving them screen to silence them when they cry is the best. No, it is not. I have little ones who I make sure they do not see the screens, including the people looking after them. It is work schedule and not the time to attend to the phone.