2020 WISCAR ANNUAL LEADERSHIP AND MENTORING CONFERENCE
EVENT COMMUNIQUE
Introduction and Overview
The 2020 Women in Successful Careers (WISCAR) Virtual Annual Leadership and Mentoring Conference was successfully held on Saturday 28th November 2020 from 2.15pm to 6.45pm. The theme of the conference was “THE FUTURE WE WANT’’. With over 800 (Eight Hundred) delegates in attendance from across Nigeria, the Continent, Europe and the US, it was a truly a global event. Conference delegates were drawn from the Corporate World, Enterprise, Government, Development, and the Civil Society Sectors.
Opening and Goodwill Messages.
The conference kicked off with the observance of one-minute silence for all those lost in this COVID year. A special rendition of Nigeria’s National Anthem by Opera Singer Ranti Ihimoyan formally opened the conference.
We were indeed privileged to have distinguished personalities honour us with their presence at this virtual conference to provide Goodwill messages as follows;
Madam Zainab Ahmed Honourable Minister of Finance, Budget and Planning. In her goodwill message the Hon. Minister called for a future where more women occupy meaningful leadership positions across all sectors, a future that reflects our collective efforts to empower, uplift and create space for the next generation of women leaders. She congratulated WISCAR on the successful convening of the 2020 conference.
Mr. Atedo Peterside Founder & Chairman, ANAP Business Jets Ltd. In his message Mr. Peterside stated that the Future he envisioned is one where women take their rightful place in leadership roles. He stated that the COVID 19 pandemic had showcased that countries with women as Head of States had
handled the crises better. He also stated that from his experience of working with women that they tended to perform with more honesty, higher integrity, and more discipline. In so saying he charged all women and youth to keep with the spirit of the times and the social activism awakening brought about by the recent End SARs protests to ensure their representation in all critical areas of governance, political life and leadership.
Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede Founder & Chairman African Initiative for Governance in his message commended WISCAR for the outstanding contributions in preparing women for nation building. He stated that Nigeria will experience massive improvement when women are more involved in government and leadership roles. He concluded with an inspirational quote “When sleeping women wake, mountains move”.
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka The Executive Director, UN Women was next in this distinguished line up. In her goodwill message she encouraged and inspired the youth that where they start in life need not be where they end up. She charged the youth that the world was their oyster as they were Generation Equality.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former President of Liberia, 2018 Distinguished WISCAR Award Recipient and Founder Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Leadership Centre for Women & Development, delivered the final goodwill. She joined the call for a future free of misogyny and a vibrant economy in which women and youth are well represented in politics, public service and the private sector. She imagined a future in which women in the rural areas and informal sector have equal rights and access to land, credit and to technology. She called for a future of good governance, one where girls can be assured of education, healthcare and full participation in all areas of society. She called on women to be part of the change, because their time has come.
Citation and Fireside Chat
The highlight of the Conference was the Keynote Fireside with the Founder and Chairperson of WISCAR Amina Oyagbola and Dr. Ngozi Okonko-Iweala CFR. This was preceded by a specially curated citation of Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s distinguished career and achievements.
Mrs. Oyagbola formally welcomed Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala the Chairperson GAVI, and Nominee for the position of DG World Trade Organization to the convening. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala congratulated WISCAR for the convening of the conference and the excellent work in the promotion of gender equality in Nigeria and the world at large. In her conversation with the Founder she shared, her early life experience that started her on the path to a remarkable 35year career. She stated that the challenges she encountered in her career were mitigated with the support of a strong network of family, great colleagues and sponsors, here she emphasized the Presidents under which she served in her various roles as Minister of the Federal Republic. When asked about her career motivations she responded that her focus had always been driven by development and impact.
She shared her experience on women navigating the “Glass Labyrinth” a term which was emphasized in her book Women and Leadership which she co- authored with former Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard. She expatiated that women more often than men have to navigate situations akin to a glass labyrinth, glass cliff or glass ceilings as they move up the career ladder. In describing these various scenarios, she advocated more support for women in careers by those in positions of power especially the He for She’s.
In outlining what critical steps or policy changes we must take as a nation to help advance the contribution of women and youth to our economy and social development, she set the context with statistics which showed the disappointing representation of women in governance and leadership roles
- Globally only 7% have women as Head of
- Globally 1 out 4 parliamentarians is a
- In Nigeria only 5-7% of parliamentarians are women and just 16% hold cabinet
- Only 6.6 % of fortune 500 companies have female CEO’s.
She then highlighted some of the solutions to changing these statistics including importance of increased female political representation, women organizations unifying to support women who aspire to political positions by providing financial, moral and mentoring support. She also charged women to be their sister’s keeper. She commended the Nigeria youths for their creativity, intelligence and energy in driving for the future they want.
Still in conversation, with the Founder of WISCAR Amina Oyagbola, Dr. Okonjo- Iweala stated the need to create a transparent government and stable economic environment to enable the youths thrive and empower themselves as they are indeed the future of Nigeria.
In a rich fire-side conversation jam-packed with so many inspirational nuggets Dr. Okonjo-Iweala charged participants to be true to themselves, exhibit self- confidence, a sense of purpose and vision, and then take considered risks in pursuing that vision.
PRESENTATION OF THE DISTINGUISHED WISCAR AWARD
Following an insightful and inspirational session, the 2020 Distinguished WISCAR Award was presented to Dr. Okonjo-Iweala in recognition of her outstanding contributions to building a better world and her advocacy for good governance, health care and women empowerment. The Award was received on her behalf by the Chairperson of the WISCAR 2020 Conference Planning Committee Folake Ani-Mumuney.
In her response Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala expressed her delight at receiving the award and thanked the Board and Management of WISCAR for the esteemed conferment. She stated that the award was particularly special as it was coming from her own country and bestowed by an organisation with women’s empowerment at its core. She thanked all the young men also in the room and encouraged them to keep supporting women.
Following the presentation of the Distinguished WISCAR Award, the Founder’s Address a central part of the WISCAR convening was delivered.
The Founder’s Address
Amina Oyagbola once again thanked participants for being such a great online audience. She subsequently took the audience through the highlights of the WISCAR year;
She recognised the 11th stream of mentees, 28 graduates from the 12-month WIN I & II programme. She also announced the successful launch and completion of the WIN 3 program with 13 brilliant young women aspiring to Executive Management positions.
She further announced the collaboration with UN Women Nigeria to deliver the Beijing +25 inter-generational Mentoring programme. This project provided world class mentoring to a group of 25 exceptional young women. She thanked all the resource persons and Mentors who had contributed to the successful execution of the various programmes in the course of the year and the WISCAR Secretariat for superb delivery. She celebrated all the esteemed Advisory Board Members and the leadership of the Chairs of WISCAR’s sub-committees.
She expressed gratitude to all the speakers and panellists who had very graciously accepted WISCAR’s invitation to inspire and empower others by participating in the event. She specially thanked the keynote speaker, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, for acknowledging the important work that WISCAR is doing and for gracing the occasion with her esteemed presence.
She expressed her sincere appreciation to all the 2020 Donors and Sponsors for their generous financial and in-kind support in an exceedingly difficult year, and all donors who have supported WISCAR in the past.
She concluded by describing the future that WISCAR envisaged and would work towards in the years ahead. She described a future in which every one of us will be champions of equality; a future in which all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls will have been erased from our society; A future in which every citizen can aim for the stars without regard to gender, economic position, age, race or ethnicity. A future of good governance and the spirit of giving, and a future where we recognise that it will take everyone working collectively to achieve that future that we all desire.
Inspirational Talks
The next segment of this rich online programme was inspirational talks by a spoken word performance artist and two WISCAR Alumni.
Maryam Bukar Hassan delivered a specially written and inspired spoken word performance on the conference theme ‘THE FUTURE WE WANT’’. Her words emphasized the magnificence and conviction when women cease opportunities and wait on no one to create the future they want but instead armed with self- belief, and courage take on those bold visions because the future is Now.
WISCAR Alumni Folake Owodunni and Morolake Ojuola, respectively shared their transformational experiences being a part of the WISCAR mentoring programme. They testified of the structured mentoring programme as an enabler and direct contributor to their global success. They both emphasized on a future where young women and girls can achieve their full potential, and an equal and enabled world with access to quality role models and mentors.
Plenary Session/ Key Learnings/ Recommendations
The event had one plenary session with the theme The Future we Want: An Action Plan for Accelerated Development and the Role of Women & Youth as a Growth Multiplier. The distinguished panellists were; Monica Musonda Founder/CEO JAVA Foods Zambia, Shola Akinlade Co-Founder/CEO Paystack; Yewande Sadiku CEO Nigeria Investment Promotion Council, and Fred Swaniker Founder African Leadership Academy. The discussion was moderated by Kadaria Ahmed, award winning journalist and CEO Dara Media.
Key Learnings from the plenary session;
- Africans need to re-think their own educational system and not follow the status quo. It is important for everyone to think differently, and be willing to try new things
- Create an education system that is not dependant on the scarce resources of teachers and professors but one that is based on an abundant system built on youth, where they can teach each other with the available
- Be focused, consistent and believe in yourself
- It is important for everyone aspiring to have career longevity to have both male & female supporters
- Women entrepreneurs should be clear on their’ ask to government with regards an enabling environment, in other to move the dial forward. They should also learn to evaluate their businesses to ensure
- We all need to challenge our policy makers and champions of women empowerment with concrete action and demands with regards our expectation, and articulate the outcomes we want and
- It is important to get the right quality of social and intellectual capital in the public sector to enable us see real change
- Government should create the rules, provide mechanisms for enforcement and regulation and then get out of the
- Government should create an enabling environment to drive private sector innovation around
A unique feature of our first ever virtual conference was our roundtable sessions, with the opportunity for delegates to be mentored by 14 remarkable mentors from within the WISCAR network.
Round Table Session
Our distinguished mentors in the intimate break-out sessions shared their career journey, challenges and success stories. The sessions were interactive and delegates had the opportunity to ask their burning career questions.
Our distinguished round table hosts were; Comfort Lamptey Representative of UN Women to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Suzanne Iroche Director Strategic Alliance Promotion Company Ltd, (Former MD/CEO FinBank PLC), Adenike Ogunlesi Founder & Chief Responsibility Officer of Ruff ‘n’ Tumble, Munira Shonibare CEO and Founder of IO Furniture, Folake Ani-Mumuney Chair FBN Insurance Brokers, Bukola Smith Executive Director, Business Development FCMB, Funke Amobi Country Head, Human Capital for Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, Habiba Balogun Principal Consultant Habiba Balogun Consulting Limited, Tokunboh George- Taylor Managing Director Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Eyono Fatayi-Williams General Manager, External Relations Nigeria LNG Limited, Temitope Jemerigbe Chief Executive Officer DKK Nigeria, Lola Esan Director Ernst & Young, and Ibukunoluwa Oyedeji Chief Financial Officer of Ecobank Nigeria Limited.
Conclusion and Appreciation
The Conference concluded with the graduation of WISCAR’s three cohorts of Mentees for the year 2020, from the WIN 1 & 2 and WIN 3 Programmes of the WIN-with-WISCAR Mentoring Programme and the UN Women Beijing +25 Inter- generational mentoring programme.
Mrs. Folake Ani-Mumuney, WISCAR Advisory Board Member and Chair of the 2020 Conference Planning Committee and Fabia Ogunmekan WISCAR’s Executive Secretary gave the vote of thanks with special appreciation to Distinguished Keynote Speaker Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the keynote panellists, all our speakers.
They thanked all WISCAR’s sponsors, donors and participants for making the 2020 WISCAR Annual Leadership and Mentoring Conference a memorable and glittering success.
Our 2020 Corporate sponsor line up was made up of the following organisations;
First Bank, Pacific Holdings, Central Bank of Nigeria, FCMB, Stanbic IBT, Nigerian LNG, I HS , FBNQuest, Sterling Bank, UBA Foundation, Shell, Mainone, Oyagbola Chanbers, Ruff & Tumble, DKK Media, Hill+Knowlton Strategies, AKMS Consulting and Wild Fusions.
The event was excellently compered by organisational effectiveness consultant and social justice activist, Habiba Balogun.
Advocacy & Policy Recommendations from the Panel and Keynote
- Gender Inclusivity, Women economic empowerment and Women’s political participation.
Following the discussions of the panel and the keynote speaker, we note that there is a lot more that can be done to create more gender inclusive economies, for which the business and political case has already been made. Current statistics cited during the fireside inform that;
- Globally only 7% of countries have women as Head of
- Globally 1 out 4 parliamentarians is a
- In Nigeria 5-7% of parliamentarians are women and 16% hold cabinet positions.
- Only 6.6 % of fortune 500 companies have female CEO’s.
In a country where over half of its population is female, we understand that in order to make progress that there must be political appetite for change. The correlation between political will and progress of women’s participation and inclusivity was highlighted at the conference during the goodwill messages by Mr. Atedo Peterside and Mr. Aig-Imouhkuede when they expressed confidence in female leadership and what they bring to the table from their experience when they choose to claim their rightful places in positions of leadership and governance.
WISCAR thus advocates for the establishment and enforcement of gender inclusive policies especially within politics to enable women to take their rightful place as co-developers in nation building in elected offices in 2023. WISCAR demands the implementation of the 35% female participation in political and appointive positions in line with the recommendation of the Nigeria Gender Policy. Towards the attainment of this goal of inclusivity and equal representation WISCAR calls for the adoption of the Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill.
2. Education
We advocate for improvements in our education system with emphasis on innovation. WISCAR is especially concerned about ensuring that no child is left behind in terms of access to education. In this regard WISCAR advocates for the ratification and codification of the Child Rights Act in all 11 States where it is yet to adopted. In the states where it has been enacted we call for enforcement mechanisms to be put in place to ensure that the most vulnerable are protected by these laws. We advocate that all girl children are afforded the opportunity for a competing chance at life through comprehensive access to education in the primary and secondary school years. We condemn forced and early marriage in all its iterations and call for an immediate criminalisation of these acts.
3. Gender Based Violence.
In the course of the year with the onset of COVID 19 and the lock down a shadow pandemic of epic proportions in the form of gender based violence was magnified. WISCAR calls for more awareness around the protections afforded by the VAPP ACT while applauding the opening of more Sexual Assault Referral Centers (SARCS) nationwide. WISCAR applauds the work of all Government agencies, and civil sector organizations working tirelessly with victims of gender based violence. As part of its contribution towards this particular issue WISCAR will donate part of the proceeds raised at this Annual Conference towards organizations that support victims of gender based violence to enable them pursue the justice that they deserve. In addition WISCAR calls for support for the recent bill against gender based violence against women in tertiary institutions which currently had 106 Senators as sponsors.
Women In Successful Careers (WISCAR) Lagos, Nigeria
December 2020 www.wiscar.ng
