Success is building a cathedral with the bricks others have thrown at you - by Ines Ciza

Mawazo riding her bike to success

Success starts when you believe in yourself and you do what you need to do to succeed. Unfortunately, women - in particular in the coffee industry - tend to sabotage their own success even before they start! Women need to remove from their thinking: “I am not ready to do that” or ”I will do that when I’m better prepared”.

Modesty and perfection may seem minor behavioral patterns, but for most women the smallest things can often make the biggest difference from reaching success.

 “Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance”. By Kofi Annan, Former General Secretary, United States.

So the question is: can the coffee industry make a difference in the elimination of gender based on equity? Absolutely, it can! When everything seems desperate to women, nothing can feel certain. We have seen women coffee farmers stand up for themselves and see changes in small ways which bring about big outcomes.

A vivid example is one of the Burundian women in coffee industry (IWCA-BURUNDI Chapter member) named Mawazo who got a bonus last year from the sale of her coffee. Her cherries participated in the competition of Cup of Excellence 2014 and were among the lots that were selected among the winners. This special woman in the coffee industry, Mawazo, used her bonus from the sale of coffee to purchase a bicycle in order to support her family. She said: “First of all, I bought a bicycle so that I bring easily my cherries to the washing station, and secondly, if one of the family members falls sick, she/he can get transportation in order to go to the hospital”.

Women all over the world need to stop making matter worse for themselves. Instead, they need to participate. And stay in the game. Make decisions, make errors, make changes. Exercise resilience. Love. Work. Play. Enjoy, and cry bitter tears. That’s what life is all about. We just need to know and understand that things can and will get better.