Raising the Next Generation of Financially Empowered Women: Lessons From the Dealership Floor to the Dinner Table

Dec 30, 2025
3 min read

By Warren Foyn

Founder – NextGen Auto Group LLC | Dealer Principal | Leadership Coach

For over two decades I’ve led large automotive dealerships, turned around struggling businesses, and coached hundreds of sales executives and managers. But the most important leadership lesson I’ve learned didn’t come from boardrooms, budgets, or brand turnarounds. It came from raising my daughter, Kelly.

Because as much as I’ve worked to build high-performance teams, I’ve realised that the most meaningful legacy any of us leave behind is the mindset we instil in the next generation—especially our daughters.

In South Africa, where women still face disproportionate barriers to financial inclusion, entrepreneurship, and career advancement, building confident, financially literate young women isn’t just a parenting goal. It’s an economic necessity.

And the responsibility starts at home.

1. Financial Confidence Begins With Exposure, Not Perfection

Women are often conditioned to be cautious with money: “Don’t take risks, don’t make mistakes, don’t lose anything.”

But wealth is built by learning, testing, failing forward, and trying again.

In my automotive career, I’ve rebuilt dealerships by doing exactly that—diagnosing problems, taking controlled risks, and empowering teams to own their numbers and decisions.

I’ve taught the same principles to my daughter.

Recently I told her: “Whatever you earn through your own initiative, I’ll match.”

She immediately started exploring digital design as a micro-business. We sat together structuring her first product line, marketing plan, and pricing strategy.

Not because I expect her to become a designer.

But because I want her to see herself as someone who can start something, build something, and get paid for her value.

Financial confidence is built early—long before anyone opens their first bank account.

2. Leadership Must Be Modelled, Not Preached

I lead dealerships through growth by focusing on three pillars:

Ownership
Accountability
Action

It’s the same at home.

Children—especially girls—don’t listen to what we tell them nearly as much as they watch what we do.

Kelly watches me train 6 days a week at 50 years old.

She sees me run businesses, build investment portfolios, negotiate partnerships, and mentor others.

She sees the resilience behind each chapter of my life—the hard failures, the reinventions, and the wins.

Leadership doesn’t require perfection.

It requires visibility.

When young girls see that success is messy, nonlinear, and achievable—they grow into women who lead boldly.

3. Equitable Economies Start With Empowered Households

I grew up in a generation where men were expected to lead financially and women were expected to support quietly in the background.

That model is long outdated—and economically limiting.

Women control an increasing portion of global purchasing decisions, yet remain underrepresented in leadership roles across industries. In automotive retail, the gap is even wider.

But I’ve seen firsthand what happens when we empower women:

Sales teams with women outperform on customer engagement
Female sales executives convert more consistently
Women managers create healthier, more collaborative team cultures
Households with financially confident daughters fare better over time

Equitable economies aren’t created by policy alone—they’re built by households that raise women who understand money, value, negotiation, and leadership.

4. Entrepreneurship Is a Mindset, Not a Job Title

In my dealership, I coach my sales executives to “think like business owners.”

It changes everything—how they prepare, how they communicate, and how they treat their customers.

I’m teaching my daughter the same.

Entrepreneurship is not about starting a business—it's about: