Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my distinct pleasure to welcome you to the 2022 WISCAR Annual Leadership and Mentoring Conference. Thank you ALL for choosing to spend your Saturday evening with us as we celebrate the end of what has been a challenging, yet successful and impactful year at WISCAR. We are grateful to God and to all of you, and do not take your presence here for granted.
How time flies! It seems like yesterday that we gathered for our last conference, but another year has passed, and our body of work has increased both in pace and in capacity towards the continued drive to achieve our mission; ‘Developing Women to Build a Better Nation’. Our impact and results motivate us to persist in our contributions towards nation building, through advocacy for gender equality, capacity building and mentorship of the next generation of women leaders.
On the cusp of our 15th year of operation and activity, we continue to consolidate on the gains from previous years as we look towards the future we desire for our people (male and female), for our country, and, for the continent.
Our mission at WISCAR remains the preparation of talented women, of all ages and generations, to imbibe and manifest ethical leadership, as we believe these attributes are key to sustainable development and galvanization of the change we want to see. It is our conviction that with the empowerment of increasing numbers of professional women, they in turn will empower others, enrich the talent workforce, contribute to growth, and help to develop the gender equitable policies that are required for nation-building.
Our methodology for delivering on our vision remains a focus on structured mentorship. For those who are not familiar with the WIN-with-WISCAR Mentoring Programme, its key features include:
- A careful matching of mentees with selected mentors to aid the realization of their mentoring goals and aspirations.
- Attendance at a series of rich and varied career seminars and masterclasses.
- Participation in the WISCAR School of Excellence.
- Book Reviews.
- Role-Modelling with several opportunities to network with successful women in careers during the Meet-A-WISCAR sessions.
Today, we celebrate the graduating cohort of our WIN-with-WISCAR Mentoring Programmes, WIN 1 & 2 and WIN 3; 51 female professionals, who following a rigorous selection process qualified for the WISCAR Programmes. We supported them in structuring, shaping and concretizing their career goals and aspirations they proclaimed in January 2022. They have stayed the course and demonstrated their commitment, determination, resilience, and agility to lead and succeed. You will be hearing a brief testimony shortly from a WISCAR mentee. Oluwayemisi Mafe will speak on behalf of the three cohorts and share her reflections on the impact of the programme and what this year’s conference theme means to her.
At WISCAR we pride ourselves on never being too far from our beneficiaries and indeed the WISCAR Alumni continue to play their role in paying it forward as mentors, as collaborators and partners in our sustainability. We put energy and action behind our advocacy to empower and enable more women to have a seat at the table. WISCAR Alumni are represented on the WISCAR Advisory Board and our Committees. The WISCAR Grow and Learn Initiative (GLIN), a project launched by the WISCAR Alumni in 2017 continues to receive support from our Alumni and mentees, with our last three cohorts consistently choosing to execute a project around the initiative. This year was no different as the Mentees of the WIN 1 & 2 programme, as part of their compulsory requirement to deliver a group project, chose to conduct a one-day mentoring session with students of the Ilupeju Senior Secondary School, Lagos thereby impacting the lives of 60 girls.
With the GLIN initiative and support from our mentees, we have been able to reach over 2,000 young girls so far.
Our complementary programmes to the WIN-with-WISCAR Curriculum, Meet-A-WISCAR (Mentoring Journeys) and the WISCAR/HBC Career Series continue to be well attended and impactful. This year we had over 600 women and men attend and participate in our virtual Meet-A-WISCAR with the MD/CEO of Mondelez West Africa, Oyeyimika Adeboye and the CEO of Lufodo Group, Ajoke Silva, our WISCARs. The mentees of these phenomenal women, Funlola Pearce, Accounting & External Reporting Lead at Mondelez Sub-Saharan Africa and Kemi Lala Akindoju, CEO of the Make It Happen Productions also took part.
Following another well received call for applications we are delighted to welcome the incoming cohort for the 14th Stream of the WIN 1 & WIN 2 programmes who will commence in January 2023. We warmly welcome you to the WISCAR community and trust that you will find your time with WISCAR to be worthwhile. We urge you to take advantage of this unique opportunity to develop yourself and catapult your careers. I exhort you to begin with the end in mind!
In addition to our flagship WIN-with-WISCAR Mentoring Programmes we continue to be engaged to provide bespoke mentoring programmes to private sector organizations. These engagements are built on our history of success. We remain grateful to FCMB for the opportunity to return in 2022 to execute their 7th Cycle of the SheVentures Mentorship Programme. We are immensely proud to be part of the success stories of over 100 female SMEs impacted in this cycle. We look forward to continuing this partnership in the years ahead.
In September 2021, WISCAR was appointed Private Sector Liaison partner to UN Women Nigeria with a mandate to strengthen private sector support and participation towards the acceleration of several UN Women Gender Equality and Gender Empowerment Initiatives. A key mandate within our deliverables was to increase private sector uptake of the UN Women/UN Global Compact Women Empowerment Principles (WEPs). We are pleased to announce that in partnership with UN Women, UNGC and other key stakeholders, we have surpassed the target set, with currently over 100 signatories to the WEPs. We celebrate and recognize the organizations that have signed on and we encourage other organizations yet to sign on to commit to doing so to improve their performance, enhance their brand and enable their ESG reporting. Equality means better business.
At WISCAR we continuously innovate and improve on our value proposition and offerings to meet the needs and expectations of our stakeholders. We are therefore pleased to announce the WISCAR Membership Hub will go live from 1st of January 2023. The WISCAR Membership hub complements our membership and mentorship proposition, as a safe and exclusive platform for WISCAR Members to interact with one another.
The theme for this year’s conference is “FOR THE NATION: THE POWER OF INCLUSION.” We believe this theme with the critical inflection point at which we currently find ourselves. Our theme is a call to galvanize action by all (private and public sector) to enable and accelerate women’s inclusion in governance, women’s leadership in organizations and active female participation in all spheres of our nation. With 2023 being a critical election year, it is a call to people to take deliberate steps to elect public servants that are gender sensitive who will bring about the change that we all seek. In the 2019 elections, we were disappointed at the decline of female representation in all strata of governance, currently at 3.6%. This year during the International Women’s Month in March 2022, the National Assembly rejected key gender bills that sought to provide a more equal and equitable future for women in Nigeria. The upside to the rejection, is that women are waking up and coming together to use their power and influence to change their destiny. In the words of the authors of the book, For Women and The Nation, Dr. Nina Mba (of Blessed Memory) and Cheryl Johnson-Odim, ‘We form a Multitude.’
Our conference theme is a clarion call for change for a better future. For all the good people of Nigeria to step up and demand for fairness, equity, and inclusion of all citizens to move our nation forward.
Given the intractable economic challenges the nation is faced with, it is imperative that we put all our human capital to work for our development, our shared prosperity and a better future for all of us. As the DSG of the UN said: “there is no bird that flies on half a wing”
We must remember that women are excluded because of stereotypes. Stereotypes that others harbor of us and stereotypes that we have been socialized to harbor of ourselves. We must reject these stereotypes. A wise woman, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie once observed about Stereotypes ‘The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.’
We are approaching a strategic transition period in our nation, where we will come together again to decide the course of our future. We must be deliberate about ensuring our representation in every sphere. We should no longer wait to be given power; we should take it. We should no longer wait for opportunities to be handed to us; we should create them. This means that we must continue to build capacity and strategically organize ourselves to be present at every table at which decisions are made, decisions that will affect us. We should all come out and vote. We should vote for female candidates and for male leaders that are gender sensitive.
To help unpack and discuss our conference theme in more depth, we are indeed privileged to listen to distinguished panelists including Adia Sowho, Chief Marketing Officer at MTN, Tosin Oshinowo, Principal Architect of cmDesign Atelier, Hawwah Gambo, Journalist and Female Candidate for the Federal House of Representatives under the African Democratic Congress (ADC), and Chukwuemeka Onyimadu, National Economist for the UN Women, in a keynote panel moderated by Tunji Lardner, Journalist, Development Expert and Public Servant.
It is my distinct pleasure to announce our keynote speaker for this year’s conference. She is, simply put, a ROCK STAR! She is a globally acclaimed, multiple award-winning writer, gender activist, and sought-after speaker; our own Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. We are excited and honoured to have her grace our own stage tonight, live and in person. She is an Author and public speaker of global repute who continues to impress upon the world the need for gender equality and equity. She is an inspiration to women and girls all over the world and to all of us at WISCAR. Today she becomes a distinguished member of the WISCAR Family as she joins our roll call of exemplars and role-models as the 11th Distinguished WISCAR Award Recipient. Ms. Adichie, we are delighted and excited to have you in the room with us all the way from the USA. We thank United Airlines, our sponsor, for making this possible. We are proud of the strides you have made and are honoured to be associated with you. We are eager to listen to you, to learn from you and be inspired by you.
Today we also bestow an award on a National Icon and Shero. The late Professor Grace Alele–Williams who remains a true embodiment of our values at WISCAR. In her memory and honour we have initiated the Professor Grace Alele-Williams Alumni Impact Award which in subsequent years will be bestowed on; a deserving WISCAR Alumni.
Our profound appreciation goes to our esteemed WISCAR Patrons, our Advisory Board Members, our Committee Chairs and Members, our Mentors, our 2022 Resource Persons and Facilitators and our Donors and Sponsors who all contributes, in no small measure, in oiling the wheels of the awesome machine that is WISCAR. We are grateful to all the members of the 2022 Conference Planning Committee and the 2022 Fundraising Committee led by Folake Ani-Mumuney and Bukola Smith, respectively. Thank you for your hard work, dedication, and sacrifices in enabling the delivery of yet another world-class event. Special appreciation to the WISCAR Team, led by Fabia, for your hard work and dedication to the WISCAR vision. In talking of the WISCAR team, I must not fail to mention that it has been a year of transitions at WISCAR. This year, we bade farewell to Chinwe Onwuzirike, WISCAR Programmes Officer and Mary Katambi, NYSC intern and Chibok girl as they both moved on to pursue further studies.
Indeed, Time does fly! I distinctly remember welcoming Fabia Ogunmekan to the WISCAR family a few years ago! Today, we announce her transition, as Fabia Ogunmekan, WISCAR Executive Director moves on at year end. She hands over the baton after 5 years at the helm to a worthy successor. We thank Fabia for her sterling contribution to WISCAR. We shall be duly acknowledging and appreciating her and the WISCAR team later this evening.
Once again, we celebrate all women and our HeForShe’s; the wind beneath our wings, who contribute to making the world a kinder and better place. People who give of themselves so that those who come after them may benefit from their sacrifice. We applaud women who are deliberate in their efforts to succeed and be heard and respected. Women who stand for what is right, fair, and just. Women who stand for change. We celebrate those who came before us, on whose shoulders, we stand. Those here with us that we admire and look up to; and those who will come after us. Together, we stand in solidarity. Together we shine the light on women’s rights as human rights. We call for Inclusion for the Nation, for Women, for Men, for the Youth and for People with Disability. We implore each and every one of us here tonight to commit to always providing a voice for the voiceless for only then can we enthrone justice in our lives.
Thank you for listening.
Amina Oyagbola
Founder/Chairperson
Women in Successful Careers (WISCAR)
December 10, 2022.
