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One of my favorite women leaders in Africa was never elected to political office. She is 71-year-old Tereza Mbire, fondly known as Mama Mbire, chair of Uganda Women Entrepreneurs Association Ltd. Mama Mbire has six children, one of whom is Charles Mbire, chairman of MTN Uganda Ltd., the country's No. 1 telecommunications services provider. She also has 10 grandchildren, a diploma in hotel management from Tadmora Hotel in Israel and a teacher's certificate from Kinyamasika Teachers' College in Uganda.
This is a woman who likes to start and run businesses. In 1973, she opened a flower shop, Kampala Florist, after that was a garment-manufacturing operation called Pop-In and then came Home Pride, a bakery that introduced sliced bread in Uganda. She later went into interior design with her launch of Habitat Interiors, which is still operating. Asked by a reporter if she has achieved all she wanted to in life, she replied: "I have not achieved all, otherwise I wouldn't be here working. If I was 30 years younger than I am today, I would have gone into bigger businesses, and instead of the sky being the limit, it would be my beginning."
Women's leadership in Africa is at a new beginning with last October's election of Ellen...