Mercy Gilbert is Parliamentary Alumni, Freelance Presenter, Journalist, Events Manager with decades of track records.
She is the Chairman of Petts Wood & Knoll Conservative Association, Hera UK Ambassdor, Public Speaker, TV presenter, TV and Radio panelist, PR, Marketing and Events Management specialist.
Mercy has worked on and delivered charitable and entrepreneurial projects within the UK and around the world.
She is also Vice President of Clapton Football Club which happens to be the first English club to play in Europe.
Mercy also used to work on the board of AFCON UK.
Mercy is also involved in organisations that has to do with women empowerment.
She is also Director of Football and Boxing Academies.
Mercy Gilbert is also the Chairman of Conservative Ward which happens to be one of the strongest seats for the Conservative Party in UK.
Mercy holds Master of Science Degree in Media Culture and Master of Arts Degree in Media Culture and Communication.
A mother of five wonderful children, in this interview, Mercy speaks on her journey into sports particularly Football and Boxing and why she devotes her time to promote Women Empowerment in Africa:
Q: You are into sports, which is not really a field for women, what prompted you into it and which sports are you into?
A: I am into football and boxing. I have always loved football and I used to play football, I was the only female in goal amongst all male growing up. I was good because of being left footed. I am Vice President of Clapton Football Club which was the first English Club to play in Europe. I use to work on the board of AFCON UK and that opened up doors for me.
I then went on to work with Team Zimbabwe and Team Nigeria. They both, under my watch, came first and second in the AFCON UK tournament.
That’s Team Zimbabwe UK and Team Nigeria UK.
Q: What plans do you have for women who have passion for sports
A: I am setting up a women’s football team under Clapton Football Club and we hope to see women getting equal pay and playing both nationally and internationally. The same with Futsal, a game that is popular in South America a form of football but is female friendly than football itself. We will be hosting the Afghan women’s football team and playing
against teams in UK at the prestigious Olympic Park. This will be covered by popular TV stations in UK for sports.
We have some big names in football attending the event as well as celebrities and influencers. We have partnered with a company that seeks to empower women through their clothing.
The organisation I am an Ambassdor for, Hera have a special division for sports, these include: golf, sailing, and football.
This will be the biggest tournament that Hera is part of it.
Q: Away from sports, I know you are involved in other empowerment organizations, do you think African women are properly empowered?
A: I am in many ways involved in organisations to do with women empowerment and working together with Fem Foundary to hold networking events.
Events that will bring together like minded women who want to empower other women and those who are already doing phenomenal things for women both home and abroad. We want to work together with First Ladies across Africa to bring change in Africa as the girl child is often in Africa not given, especially, in education, equal opportunities.
We are also working together with organisations such as Universal Peace Federation to bring education to those disadvantaged groups, not just women. But we are not offering hand outs but hand up for them to help them to help themselves.
We have on board some very powerful leaders in both business and political sectors who are working together to create employment not just as market women to do business on day to day basis to feed their families but we are teaching them to think big, think global business how their businesses, especially with the African Trade Agreement, can expand and create local jobs for the communities, make Africa products where the supply chain from start to finish is African. We are working in partnership with western countries to make this possible!
Women in Africa biggest problem is lack of good education, early pregnancy, child brides, prostitution and period poverty. We have organisations we are working closely with to eradicate these problems but of course money is often the biggest problem.
We have the simulations but lack adequate funding to progress at the speed we would have loved to see but Rome was not built in a day. We are doing our best to see women at the top.
We commend countries such as Botswana which has a lot of educated women and women in government. A close person I deeply admire is the General Secretary of Botswana, a woman, Neo Maruapula. We will be taking a Trade Mission to Botswana later this year orchestrated by her.
There are so many great women both in history and currently that are doing great things I am privileged to be working with and hope together we can make a difference globally and leave a legacy.
