Pépécy OGOULIGUENDE, President of the NGO Malachie, mentor coach in leadershift, international lecturer and Alumni USA, animated, surrounded by other panelists, for the first time in Port-Gentil, a Masterclass workshop of several modules including transformational leadership, financial management, results-based management, structuring of associations and networking. The aim was to strengthen women's leadership skills and give them tools to become self-sufficient through entrepreneurship.

"We have experienced an event that has affected the world, including the Covid crisis and people are struggling to bounce back," said the main speaker of the workshop. It is therefore, according to her, to "accompany them, give them strategies to get back on their feet and start again. For that, we really need a mental, psychological, emotional and financial preparation to be able to meet the new challenges.

In this workshop, financial management held a special place, as most of the young entrepreneurs find it difficult to save. Gwénaelle Simbi, wife of MaratAbyla, a financial intelligence coach, made it her duty to give the participants keys and tips to master finances and especially to save.

"The financial intelligence which, unfortunately, is not learned at school, is the set of skills that allow an individual to become financially free, autonomous and not dependent on people," she said.

Pépécy OGOULIGUENDE having made the empowerment of women one of her hobbyhorses, invited Micheline OTOUNGA, an experienced resource person, to the meeting, who put the objectives of the masterclass in relation with women's rights:

"The place of a woman is the home! We don't deny it, but women must know that in society, gender equality issues must also be instilled in them."

For this first event in Port-Gentil, Pépécy OGOULIGUENDE was surrounded by local civil society organizations, including Talents de Femme, Agir pour le Handicap à l'Ecole and the NGO PaulSarah. Scholastique MAGANGA, president of the last mentioned, welcomed the initiative:

"In the 21st century and even more so at a time when the authorities of our country have decreed the decade of the woman, it is important that each woman stands up and takes charge of her life ideal."

At the end of the workshop, the objectives were achieved and the participants left satisfied. Graziella, an entrepreneur, said:

"The biggest problem today for entrepreneurs, we certainly undertake but we have difficulty managing our finances. And we need more of these kinds of events to learn how to manage our finances and, why not, develop our activities more."

After this meeting, the next step will be to set up a platform bringing together the women trained in this way, who will be able to benefit from coaching in the implementation of their projects.

DID YOU SAY LEADERSHIFT? WHAT IS IT?

We all know more or less what leadership is. At least, we can characterize what a leader is. For some time now, a new concept has appeared in the semantic field of these notions. In any case, less familiar to many of us, the

leadershift, which describes "the leader's ability to change and elevate his or her leadership to a higher level so as to not only move his or her organization upward but also by training other leaders.

In other words, it is about considering that being a leader is far from being an end in itself. The leader is called upon to adapt to a constantly changing world that requires him to develop certain abilities, by being flexible and aware of the changes he must make within himself, in order to improve himself and positively impact the environment around him, it being understood that the good leader is the one who has the predisposition to train other leaders. What John Calvin Maxwell, one of the leaders of this school of thought and author of many reference books, summarizes with the formula: "a good leader makes others shine".

For this specialist in leadership and theorist of the leadershift, who is also an international speaker and pastor, we must start from an observation that has two consequences for leadership.

The first is that the world has never experienced such rapid and profound changes as it is experiencing now. For leadership, two main consequences follow from this state of affairs:

-Knowing how to get the best out of others;

Shift from a goal-oriented mindset to a growth mindset;

Don't just climb, build ladders for others;

Moving from leadership to connection by involving employees in decision making;

-Understand that diversity is beneficial;

Base your authority on certain moral values, including integrity (inspire trust) and courage (take risks).

For leadershift practitioners, a leader is a person who constantly questions himself and never stops climbing. Leadershift workshops are designed to give leaders the tools to develop individual action plans, with clearly identified and quantified objectives to be reached at the end of a calendar agenda with activities to be carried out.

To go further, it is useful to read Le leadershift - Les 11 changements essentiels auxquels tout leader doit se prêter by John C. Maxwell, published by Le Trésor caché (Canada), 2020, 264 pages, 20 €.