WiGA: การเข้าถึง ไม่ใช่ความสามารถ ที่เป็นตัวขัดขวางผู้หญิงในวงการเกม
Women in Africa’s gaming industry are not being held back by a lack of talent but by limited access to strategic decision-making roles, according to Deniese Chinnappen, Women in Gaming Africa (WiGA) ambassador and founder of Shift Technology.
Speaking to SiGMA News during SiGMA South Africa, Chinnappen said the industry’s biggest challenge is ensuring women gain exposure to the rooms where major commercial and regulatory decisions are made.
“From where I sit, the biggest barrier isn’t capability, it’s access,” she said. “Africa’s talent pipeline is fantastic. It’s great. It’s strong. It’s technically sharp, commercially aware. It’s just where do women sit in the face of accessibility and having access to these strategic sorts of roles.”
According to Chinnappen, women are often trusted to execute projects but face greater challenges when seeking influence over strategy and decision-making. “We need to be able to articulate how our work is actually contributing to the bottom line, to revenue, to risk mitigation, to the negotiations,” she said.
Another obstacle is the lack of sponsorship from senior leaders. “Mentorship guides you. It builds a certain element of confidence,” she said. “But senior roles come from a position of advocacy. Someone’s got to be there advocating for you.”
Her comments come as women’s participation across Africa’s gaming sector continues to grow. According to AfriplayHub, women are increasingly taking leadership roles across gaming, regulation, technology and operations, while industry groups are creating pathways for mentorship, leadership development and networking.
In a LinkedIn post, AfriplayHub noted that women are no longer participating only as players but are becoming “leaders, regulators, and architects of the gaming industry,” helping build a more diverse talent pipeline across the continent.
Inclusion must go beyond representation
While diversity panels and awareness campaigns have value, Chinnappen argued that lasting inclusion requires structural change. “Panels are great because they raise awareness,” she said. “We first need to be aware of something before we can actually incite change.”
However, she warned that awareness alone does not create progress. For Chinnappen, inclusion improves when women are given ownership of key business functions. “When women are trusted with access at the right levels, revenue ownership, succession planning, performance conversations, evaluating strategic direction, that’s where things start to change.”
She stressed that high-potential women should be exposed early to commercial, regulatory and risk functions. Chinnappen also criticised what she described as “symbolic representation.”
“Don’t just put us there because we need to meet some sort of regulatory criteria,” she said.
She added that genuine inclusion becomes normalised when women are entrusted with responsibility.
Corporate and entrepreneurial paths build different skills
Asked for advice on choosing between corporate careers and entrepreneurship, Chinnappen said both offer valuable, but different, experiences.
“They really do build different muscles,” she said. “You learn how capital flows. You learn how decisions are actually made.”
Entrepreneurship, meanwhile, develops speed and ownership. “It teaches you velocity, ownership, resilience and risk tolerance.”
“Entrepreneurship can accelerate influence because you control the table. You are the table in a way,” the WiGA ambassador said. “Corporate, on the other hand, can accelerate credibility because you’re having to work within a certain level of structure.”
Her final message was to avoid making career choices out of fear. “Choose based on what you feel compelled to do.”
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