Applause as African Voices features continent’s “Strong women”

By AZUH AMATUS

CNN African Voices sponsored by data grandmasters, Globacom, will this weekend shift focus to some of Africa’s most enterprising women.The 30-minute magazine programme last week featured Olympic Sports with focus on Julius Yego, Kenya’s Javelin thrower; Paralympics swimmer Achmat Hassiem of Cape Town, South Africa, and Zambia’s runner, Ngozi Asinga.

However, this weekend’s edition will feature strong women across Africa who are breaking down boundaries by being the best they can be regardless of the challenge, according to CNN and programme sponsors, Globacom.

Those to be featured include South Africa’s first African female pilot, Asnath Mahapa, one of Uganda’s biggest media personalities, Flavia Tumusiime, and Ghana’s social media curator, Nicole Amarteifio.

“Viewers of the popular magazine programme will see how this icon – Tumusime – continues to build her legacy by empowering women to move into the spotlight,” Globacomsaid in a statement.

For the pilot, Mahapa, who currently flies Airbus 319 and 320 for South African Airways (SAA), she will take viewers through her amazing journey in a profession dominated by the menfolk. But as viewers will find out, it has not been all rosy: “To cut my story short, I went through a nightmare to get to where I am today; I went through periods where I didn’t have a job. In actual fact after I obtained my Commercial license, I stayed without a job for over a year. No matter how many companies I approached, I just could not get anything,” she says.

The third guest Nicole Amarteifio is the creator and executive producer of the webseries, An African City.  She shares with the audience how her personal life inspired her to create the series and how it is helping change the face of the African woman within mainstream society.

 

African Voices was aired on CNN International at 11.30 a.m. on Friday. It will be repeated at 3.30 p.m. on Saturday, 1.30 a.m. and 8.30 p.m. on Sunday. Viewers can also watch the show on Monday at 12:30 p.m. and on Tuesday at 6.30 a.m.