Young women urged to form the right perceptions about themselves

An International Consultant at Black Bridge Consulting Limited, Maame Awinador-Kanyirige has urged young women to form the right perceptions about themselves in order to build their confidence.

She said the way people thought about the world and themselves was what shaped their confidence.

She therefore urged young women to think about themselves as being capable to achieve any task at any given time.

Ms Awinador was speaking at maiden E-LEAD Conference in Accra. The conference is part of the COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience Programme (CoRe), which is an initiative of the Springboard Road Show Foundation, in partnership with Solidaridad and the Mastercard Foundation.

The programme is aimed at supporting over 692,000 young people in the country. She was speaking on theme ‘Confidence a key success factor for women in the world of work and business”.

“Sometimes how we think about the world and our thoughts about ourselves shape who we are. It sounds simplistic and that is how people miss it because the greatest things in life are the small and simple things.

“Perception and how you see yourself is so important. You need to believe that you are unique and have what it takes to be able to make it wherever you find yourself,” she stated.

You cannot know everything

Ms Awinador also noted that forming the right perception helped in learning and discovering new things.

“When you begin to think about yourself in a positive way, even when you walk into the room or you are in a space and you don’t know something, you not ashamed of not knowing but rather an opportunity for you to discover.

“You cannot know everything and discovery starts from not knowing so not knowing is great. The problem starts when you think you know. When we form the wrong perception, our reaction becomes wrong and so if you doing business or going into any field of work, you need to see yourself as having everything it takes to succeed,” she explained.

“It doesn’t matter who you are, there are going to be new things that will confront you but you have to talk yourself into believing that you are good enough,” she added.

Blasting the Class Ceiling

The CEO of GDA Concepts Limited, Oheneyere Gifty Anti, and The Programmes Director of the Despite Group, Ms Afia Pokua, and Comfort Ocran, the Lead for the CoRe Programme, Mrs Comfort Ocran took turns to share their thoughts on various aspects of the conference theme, ‘Blasting the Glass Ceiling.’

Making her submission from South Africa, the Chief Digital and Fintech Officer of the MTN Group, Ms. Yolanda Cuba urged women to always negotiate life’s choices with a keen sense of awareness of who they were and where they were going in life.

“COVID-19 and all the restrictions that come with it can be very frightening, scary and intimidating. But you can look at how others are responding and let that be a guide in designing your own solutions.

“With innovation, technology and a focus on the new normal, you can take advantage of new opportunities and go on to do greater heights in the midst of this pandemic than you ever did before,” she stated.