A Seminar To Inspire   

A seminar aimed at encouraging and inspiring upwardly mobile and career-focussed women holds in Lagos

The maiden edition of BusinessDay Inspiring Woman Series, which held on 29 July at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos, attracted quite a number of upwardly mobile career women, drawn from all spheres of life. This group of women converged on Terra Kulture, not just to network but learn from the select speakers’ wealth of experience in varied facets of life. The speakers, who are professionals in different callings, noted that successfully navigating the challenges in modern living required the contribution of women who have proven to be better managers as against the prejudice held by their male counterparts. One after another, the speakers stated that African women have the required education and skill, and as such should be given the opportunity to contribute to nation building.

Some of the participants

In his opening remarks, Frank Aigbogun, the publisher of BusinessDay, expressed that, in the last three years the paper had become not only a reference but a defining point for every woman of substance, passion, excellence and guts. “Women have become not just good as home makers, but in governance, politics, business and the corporate sector. Today, around the world, women have become groundbreakers in all these sectors. And the time to acknowledge and appreciate them has come,” he said.

Explaining that the series is aimed at addressing some pressing needs for contemporary African Women and inspiring the younger generations, Kemi Ajimobi, convener of the seminar, said: “There is a need to bring women who have played positive roles in the process of national renaissance and women development. From private entrepreneurs to public bureaucrats, these are women of dignified behaviours, and exceptional highfliers.”

Speakers at the one-day forum included Funke Osibodu, Dr. Doyinsola Abiola, Sola Adeoti, Yewande Zaccheaus and Yemisi Ayeni. From Ghana, came Hanna Tetteh, the Minister of Trade and Industry.  The speakers took turns to share their experiences and the various hurdles they had to cross in pursuing their careers.

Yewande Zaccheaus, Managing Director, Eventful Limited and chairperson of Women in Management and Business, WIMBIZ, set the ball rolling by advising the women to be true to themselves. She stressed that confidence is a trait that dispels the mentality of the possibility of failure. “When I left the bank, I was quite confident that I will excel in my business venture. I never thought I was going to fail and I refused to allow anybody to derail me. I had some challenges but they weren’t enough for me to change my mind,” she said.

Zaccheaus began her career as a legal officer in the Nigerian-American Merchant Bank. Then, in 1989, she joined Ecobank Nigeria plc, as the pioneer Company Secretary and Legal Adviser. She resigned in 2002 as a Deputy General Manager, to establish her own business, Eventful Limited, an events management company. “A lot of people thought I was crazy because I decided to go into an unknown terrain – event planning. Some wondered how I could have gone so high and come so low. But I was determined to succeed in my venture,” she said. While highlighting the benefits of working in a structured organisation,  Zaccheaus explained that one learns a lot about team work, team building, diplomacy and corporate governance that come in handy when setting up a business.

Yemisi Ayeni, the Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Pension Fund, affirmed Zaccheaus’ submission on working in a structured organisation. But she advised women not to be overly sensitive to criticism, as this easily dampens one’s morale, enthusiasm and drive. She revealed that hardwork is an essential tool that can be employed in quelling criticism that one encounters in the course of working within an unfriendly environment. “You can be thrown into the worst environment, but you have to make the most of the situation and achieve good results. If you work hard and deliver good results, even somebody who is easily inclined to cut you down at the knees will recognise what you do. While I was working at Price Waterhouse, London, most of my colleagues were white guys. There was a time I reported to a boss who couldn’t stand me. He wanted to see me fall so badly. But in those few years I reported to this man, I worked like a Trojan horse.”  Media doyenne and chairman, Integrated Microfinance Bank, Doyin Abiola hinged her presentation on the need for women to be instinctive and focused. “At times, we are not prepared for something, but once you get into it, it is important that we keep our eyes on the ball. As women, we should have the instinct to know what is right and what is wrong. And wherever we find ourselves, we should seek support from our male counterparts as well. In my own case, the men have been very useful to me. Also, some women have been useful to me too, while some other women couldn’t stand me,” she said. Abiola is, indeed, a woman of many firsts in Nigerian media: first female Features Editor––Daily Times––Editor, Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief––Concord. Abiola argued that there is no limit to the knowledge that one aquires in life. “After my career in journalism, I went back to business school because I wanted to have a good knowledge in finance. At the time I was doing that, I didn’t know I would be appointed the managing director of a microfinance bank.”

In her contribution, Sola Adeoti, managing director of the defunct City Express Bank, advised women to be conscious of their health status. Pointing out that most women unconsciously get too involved with pursuing their career that they pay less attention to their health. She said “A dead person cannot have dreams.” Giving an account of her near-death experience with breast cancer––which elicited tears from quite a few members of the audience––she narrated how she overcame the health challenge. Having survived the scourge, Adeoti said she realised there are various ways one can manage oneself in the physical, psychological and spirit realms. As a result of her vision and passion to give back to humanity, she began to explore ways to create an avenue for giving moral support to the lonely and less privileged, and providing them with medical assistance to manage the disease. To this end, Adeoti founded MariaSam, a non-profit organisation, which is aimed at facilitating the founding of a research centre for cancer and leadership building in Africa. Five years after her ordeal with cancer, when she went for her last check-up, Adeoti disclosed, her doctors gave her a clean bill of health. “But during the last five years, I have sold Ankara, jewelry, cars and I came close to selling pampers,” she said.

Funke Osibodu, the Managing Director of Union Bank, advised women to see the positive side in every drawback. “Look for the good in everything, ignore the other side. That way, you stay optimistic. The beauty of being a woman is that you are underestimated. And it pays to be underestimated. Some people say that it is a man’s world, but I don’t even see the men. All I am interested in is doing my best and making myself relevant. We must be relevant to the people around us. And that relevance must go on till the end of time,” she said.

Like Osibodu, Hanna Tetteh urged women to be relevant and cultivate the habit of hard work. “Women have to make themselves relevant and work as hard, if not harder than, their male counterparts. Let people who have faith in you and give you an opportunity to prove yourself [be proud]. Of course, there will be people who will help you along the way in achieving your goals. It is important that you conduct yourself in such a way that you won’t let them down,” she said. In 2000, when she contested and won election into Ghana’s Parliament, she was the youngest representative–and still is. Bemoaning the fate of women in politics, Tetteh noted that they have not been as lucky as their male counterparts. “… For a long time, women were not given the recognition that was due to them. And though there has been an increase in the rate of women’s involvement in politics, it is not the easiest of professions for women.” Identifying the two types of politicians that exist in every society as those who seek to make a difference in people’s lives and those who seek to make a difference in their own lives, she added: “In politics, you tend to see the best in people and the worst in people.”

At the end of the forum, all the speakers were united in the opinion that it is imperative for a woman to marry a man that supports her career. If not, they agreed, it will create friction in the home front and this tends to have adverse effect on the woman’s career.

—Kemi Akinyemi

Tags:  BusinessDay, Frank Aigbogun, Kemi Ajimobi, Terra Kulture