Pinto scoops Ehaveco Woman of the Year award
The Phenomenal Women Awaken 2016 held last weekend saw Verginia Pinto being crowned as the new recipient of the award, while the second runner up prize went to Daisry Matias and Tanya Amey scooping the first runner up spot.
The nominees for the event this year included; Dairsy Matias, Martha Namundjebo-Tilahun, Tanya Amey, Verginia Pinto and Fortune Kangueehi.
The event started off with a buzz in the air of sheer excitement as Sylvanie Beukes, the master of ceremonies welcomed the guests. The theme for the night was ‘A women in a Men’s World’ and that was the topic of discussion the entire night.
The event hosted an array of speakers from all over the country, who were ready to share knowledge and wisdom, and women from all walks of life ready to dissect what the speakers said.
This year male speakers were included in the lineup with the likes of, Micheal Amey, Stefan Hugo, Lazarus Jacobs, Riaan Burger and Jerry Muadinohamba taking to the podium. Alongside them were the panellists namely; Una Stuurman, Hilda Basson-Namundjebo, Joan Guriras, Helena Amutenya and Afra Shimming-Chase.
The night started off with an opening speech by Helena Amutenya, who shared the history of how
the event grew from 2014, to what it was in 2016.
Estelle Tjipuka, the outgoing woman of the year, stressed the importance of the trophy during the event, “The aim of the event is to touch women in a radical way and ensure that the mind set of our woman is forever changed and to awaken the light within them. Phenomenal Woman Arise Empowerment Dinner was born under Rooted and Grounded in the year 2014, having had Madam Geingos as the honorary speaker in the said year.”
“This year we brought it back. The empowerment dinner was set out to motivate and inspire women from all walks of life and create an atmosphere of change. This is in commemoration and celebration of women throughout Namibia and from all walks of life,” she added.
Tjipuka said that the theme for this year was, “A woman in a man’s world” was chosen as a result of having more and more women penetrate the cooperate world, taking on new challenges and breaking barriers.
“We have thus opted to have men be the speakers at this year’s PWA 2016 and had a discussion panel after the male speakers to dissect the perspective of men. The panel discussion had female speakers raise their views on the points raised by the male speakers,” she said.
