Nairobi , Kenya ( CNN ) -- When I think of the story of African women , I immediately think of my mother and I want to use her story as a frame of reference in how African leaders can improve the lives of women . My mother is a huge inspiration to me but sadly , many African women do not have the opportunities that she has . They are the backbone of our nations and their success will lead to the success of Africa . Using this platform afforded to me , I would like to tell our leaders the five things African women need to succeed . I was born to a woman who having completed high school in the early 1970s , got married , had me and went about the business of being a mother and wife . I must have been about seven or eight years old when my mother got her first job as a secretary . Today my mother is Group Human Resources Manager ( Kenya , Uganda , Tanzania ) for Car & General . She 's pursuing a degree in clinical psychology . I think I should mention that my mother went back to school at 50 . She turned 60 in February 2012 . 1 . Education . It can never be said enough . Nowhere is it as clear as it is in Africa that educating a woman is educating a nation . My mother is who she is today and my siblings and I have turned out to be who we are because she went out at the age of 50 , sat in the same room as people half her age , so she could learn . She already had a job she was great at but she had a thirst for knowledge . And today , my mum is a better mother , grandmother and friend all because of the education she had and the knowledge she pursues to this very day . Caroline Mukoto : Kenya 's Queen of radio . 2 . Economic empowerment . The African woman needs to be able to fend not just for herself but also for her children . This is something my mother always drummed into me and I am largely my mother 's daughter ; driven , focused but also determined to be financially independent . In my early 20s , I could n't figure out why she went on and on about getting a job , being good at it and earning my own money -- but today in my 30s I get it . What drives me crazy about the policy around this is that money is never allocated in a way that benefits women and home first . Instead , it feeds a handout mentality , we never give women a hand up . It 's a really horrible cycle . This is why I 'm very proud of what my mother did . If you can give a woman a hand up and she can stand , she 'll help another woman too . Anytime I go to an area where there 's poverty , we never give just money , we give seeds so they can plant or animals they can rear . I 'm involved in a greenhouse project for the areas where the land is dry . The people always have to pay us back in produce and even when they are done paying , they are so excited because they have money in their pockets , you would think they were Bill Gates . That is what happens when you empower a woman . See also : Mother 's day not so rosy in Africa . 3 . Access to health care . My mother had a job that gave her medical cover and hence access to doctors and healthcare facilities for herself and us . For as long as I can remember my mother took charge of our health . My brother [ John ] was born with a blockage in one of his lungs and had the worst case of asthma I knew of , but mum 's health cover took care of that and John 's subsequent health needs , as he battled with asthma throughout his teens . She was a better mum not because she understood medicine , but because she had access to health facilities and doctors . Too many women are forced to watch their children die , even from the simplest , most treatable illnesses , simply because of poor access to healthcare . Read also : 'Why women must be free to choose ' 4 . Exposure . In a world where women have such few role models -- looking at my mum whose mother tilled the land -- she had no way of doing better for herself or charting a bigger and better path for me and my siblings , if it was n't for the exposure to a wider world that she got through the working . You can not become what you can not see . Today , mum pursues her dream in clinical psychology and supports a daughter who chose to adopt because my mum is more exposed to different circumstances than most . Do n't just tell women what is possible , show them . 5 . Hope . When all else is gone , nothing remains but hope . If my mother had written this piece , she would say pray and work . To an international audience , I call it hope with a purpose . As long as we give the women of Africa hope , so long as we do n't tread on their dreams and those they have for their children -- these women will rise and with them their children and right alongside them this continent . Today , the daughter of Rose Mutoko stares at the world through the lenses of CNN . Who would have thunk it ? The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Caroline Mutoko .
Caroline Williams is a well - known and sometimes controversial media personality in Africa . She believes that providing for women of Africa , provides for Africa . Lists education , employment and access to health care among top three things women need .