# Monica Geingos

Monica Geingos (née Kalondo; born 15 November 1976) is a Namibian entrepreneur, lawyer and First Lady of Namibia since 2015. She has been a board member and director within many of the country's large companies. She had also chaired the Presidential Economic Advisory Council.

## Quotes

* I've decided that enough is enough... I will not be silenced anymore,"
* “Change does not come without challenge,” Geingos said, “I am challenging gendered insults this Women’s Day.”
* “I will not be silenced anymore, especially not on Beyoncé’s internet,” the First Lady said. “If I allow myself to be silenced, bullied, and insulted, I may be signalling that this kind of conduct is okay, that it’s normal.”
* “Disrespecting women is an important enabler of gender-based violence as it reduces women to objects,”
* Power does not concede without a demand, and neither does patriarchy,”
* “Next time you see a woman going through crude forms of abuse, remember this: it’s not what they think about that individual woman, it’s what they think about women and their place in society. Challenge it. By standing up for one woman, you stand up for all women,”
** Namibia’s First Lady Stands Up to Misogynist Internet Trolls in Powerful Viral Video Global Citizen (March 11, 2021)
* Monica GeingosAvoid falling prey to older men and engaging in transactional sex,”
** Transactional sex is an epidemic in our region The Namibian (9 November 2023)
* I was not a young girl when I got married. There is a big age gap difference between us but firstly, I was not young to a point where I relied on my husband for money. By the time I was married, I was a multimillionaire. I had multiple houses that I owned myself before I got married, so if my husband decides to kick me out and box me, I will just say to him ‘oh, Hage, thank you and I’m gone’. One way to protect yourself from abuse is to build yourself up so that when they start abusing you in the middle of the night and say hurtful things to you, you have your own house to go to but when you don’t have anything, you’ll be stuck,
* Having sex is nice but it is only nice when it is consensual. Some people have made sex as their means of survival, they do it for money and when things go wrong they end up regretting it. Sex is supposed to be made to produce babies and not to be for transactional purposes,
** Work hard and avoid transactional sex – Geingos The Namibian (16 May 2023)
* We used to have 23 percent female representation in parliament but, with the stroke of a pen it went up to 48 percent. So, we managed to double our female representation with that decision,”
* The private sector has to do more, they have to do it faster, and there needs to be targets,”
* “It’s not only about representation at the top. It’s also about hiring female talent so female talent is around when decisions are being made on leadership and key positions within an organization.”
* But government help is still needed in providing better access to capital for female entrepreneurs and prioritizing government procurement from female-owned or represented businesses,
* “We should make it wrong to procure from businesses that are all male. Because, they’re not inclusive of our societies,”
** African First Ladies: Private Sector Trailing Gender Equality Voa News (September 27, 2017)
* Families are supposed to play their role in the future of the youth by providing love and ensuring protection, having a sense of belonging, and offering financial support for youth development programs.
* There should be parental involvement in youth matters, and without all these, families have not played their role in youth engagement and development as supposed to be,”
* ‘Be Free Youth Concert’ will establish and build a youth campus where many youth development activities will be taking place. After the building is done, it will be handed over to the ministry, because it belongs to the ministry,
* We spoke to the Ministry of Sports, Youth, and National Service about building a youth concert. The ministry gave us 5 000 square meters. We will put up the building,”
* Bible classes, discussion of youth unemployment, business development, access to finance means, and family mediation to discuss children and youth-related matters are among other activities targeted in the youth concert journey. “The activities we will be doing here are part of intergeneration,”
* We happened to have young people who want to be where they want but have no financial means. This will be a good platform for youth to come together, share ideas and knowledge, and discuss issues for youth development,”
* Be Free Youth Concert has already introduced a financial means, selling 30 percent of tickets to young people, elders, and stakeholders who want to contribute and participate in youth development, and hosting gala dinners among other strategies to mobilize funds.
* We will be using our own money to do all these, including fixing the current place which belongs to the Ministry of Works and Transport, to be used for the first phase, as from the 1 September while the Youth Concert building is to be finalized,”
* “Shooting first and aim later is my philosophy,”
** FLON calls for youth empowerment Windhoek Observer (June 30, 2023)
* “’Funding my family’s lifestyle’ is an incredibly unfair characterisation,”
* “My son and brother are adults. As far as I am aware, the business relationship between my son and Doron was limited to the co-ownership of two small and medium enterprises, of which interest my son has been trying to dispose of for the last 12 months,”
* “Neither my son, nor brother have a business relationship with Cohen involving a government tender or contract.”
* I abhor corruption and I have not benefited from the Namdia contract or any tender involving the government.”
** The Diamond Dealer and the Kalondos The Namibian (July 7, 2022)