President and founding member of Women in Agriculture and Rural Development (Ward), Nowongile Cynthia Molo has been awarded the Female Entrepreneur of the Year award at a ceremony in Bhisho on Friday.
President and founding member of Women in Agriculture and Rural Development (Ward), Nowongile Cynthia Molo has been awarded the Female Entrepreneur of the Year award at a ceremony in Bhisho on Friday.
The organisation was formed 1997 and was eventually launched in 2002, extending nationally to include all nine provinces. As its head, Mama Molo (as she is affectionately known) has visited many foreign countries including the United States of America, China and India, to establish partnerships and share her experiences of rural development in South Africa.
Considered a pioneer of rural development, Mama Molo has received many accolades, including the Provincial Entrepreneur of the Year on two occasions, awarded by former Agriculture MECs Maxwell Mamase and Gugile Nkwinti, and recognition by former Eastern Cape Premier Nosimo Balindlela for preservation of the Xhosa language and culture on radio.
Working with women
“Most women in rural areas are illiterate and are not aware of their rights, during the formation of Ward the country was in a crisis mode. Our husbands were being retrenched, leading to divorces and people being abused. We needed to do something to remedy the situation in the best way possible.
In our households we consider our man as presidents and we are the premiers because all the departments and sections are run and dependent on women. We were not only looking at agriculture but also to empower women as [a]whole so that women can stand on their own and become independent and raise their families. We wanted to heal people’s lives and also feed the body, mind and soul.” says Molo.
Ward has assisted women in forming co-operatives and starting up projects; some of these projects have gone on to supply major stores from the wares that have been produced.
Molo believes there are still challenges facing rural women like ukuthwala, and women and child abuse.
"Women still do not have equal rights with their male counterparts as in other areas cannot own land." says Molo.
New generation
She has been instrumental in the formation of a component structure, Youth in Agriculture and Rural Development (Yard).
“I believe that as women we need to pass the baton. Our children should consider agriculture as a business and they have grasped that concept, seeing that it was through agriculture that they have studied and became educated.”
Her organisation has assisted women who are now are driving their own tractors and opening their own factories. Ward has already produced the youngest TOTAL Female Farmer of the Year with a hatchery project run by 29 year-old Bongiwe Kali.
Molo is also the Director of Ilima Agri Service, a member of the National Marketing Council based in Pretoria, a council member of the National Wool Growers Association, and a member of the credit committee for Uvimba credit control and rural development finance.
