It is my singular delight to welcome you to the 2018 WISCAR Leadership and Mentoring Conference. Over the more than 10 years of WISCAR’s programmes, we have had a tremendous impact on the lives of many young women who have all gone on to make their marks on society. They have sown impactful changes not only locally but several have distinguished themselves on the international stage. WISCAR has taken more than 300 women through her structured 12-month long WIN with WISCAR mentoring programme. In addition, more than 5000 women and, indeed, men have benefitted from WISCAR’s highly impactful soft skills programmes. These programmes have stood the test of time and proved their value many times over.
WISCAR has not rested on its oars but has continued to build on her programmes, to innovate on ways of positively impacting and enriching the lives of her mentees and of the other beneficiaries of her programmes. WISCAR has continued to hone the entire curriculum for utility and ease of delivery. Although the several seminars and programmes offered by WISCAR are now well known; let me give a brief outline of the key features of each year’s offerings:
- A careful matching of each Mentee with a Mentor selected to help the Mentee begin the realization of her goals and ambitions.
- Attendance at a series of rich and varied career seminars.
- Attendance at a series of professional effectiveness seminars.
- Read and analysis a number of significant books and participate in four book reviews.
- Role Modelling with targeted opportunities to network with significant and successful women in the Meet-A-WISCAR sessions.
- Several programmes, in partnership with Habiba Balogun Consulting, open to both men and women aimed at building crucial soft skills to add to their professional armoury.
Today we graduate the 9th set of Mentees to join the wider WISCAR Alumni and WISCAR Community. To the Mentees I say congratulations, for staying the course and completing one chapter of what we know will be a long and successful career. I urge you to utilise the values and skills you have acquired from your program with WISCAR. I know you will be inspired by this final Masterclass in your WISCAR journey and trust you all to go boldly and fearlessly into the next phase of your lives. The WISCAR community has faith in you, is rooting for you and will always be part of your support network.
To the incoming mentees, we welcome you to what promises to be the most transformational year of your life. You are unique and well positioned for the opportunity placed before you. Get ready to be sharpened, inspired, guided and supported!
The Theme we have chosen for this year’s conference is one that resonates with WISCAR’s practices, methods and beliefs. The Theme is: “Enriching lives, by telling our own stories”.
This Theme fully echoes WISCAR’s exemplarity model. WISCAR has always prized the voices of confirmed successful women as catalysts for the growth and progress of up and coming mentees. Treading in the footpaths of those who have gone before us is a certain map and navigator to any destination because when those who have finished a journey tell us of their travails and triumphs we know which turns to take and which ones to avoid. We must however also bear in mind that when those who wish to go on a journey speak of their intended paths, those who have already arrived from a similar journey can warn them of the pathways that are bedevilled with quicksand and other dangers. They can advise them of the routes that will ensure progress, success and achievement.
Story telling has earned its place as the most important tradition humankind possesses. The most important reason for this is that every story contains a lesson to instruct the audience. When we share our stories, we teach our communities how to love, how to forgive, how to be fair and just, and how to strive to do better than today. Story telling requires no artifice. It merely requires a spirit of sharing and caring. Some of the older ones amongst us will remember that before the ubiquity of television blockbuster movies, the best part of each day was usually in a clutch of family and friends listening to tales both tall and not. Even where the stories were fictional, they always extolled a lesson. That was how we bonded and formed lifelong ties. To quote a phrase from an article by Arnaud Collery, ‘When we share our stories a kind of alchemy takes place’. That is why the telling of our stories is so critical to all our collective futures. Our hope today is that the stories of our distinguished speakers and panellists will join us all in a pact for meaningful progress.
Telling our stories also helps us to set goals. A wise and successful woman once said: “The size of your dreams must always exceed your current capacity to achieve them”. I am extremely pleased and honoured to announce that the Iconic and highly distinguished woman who put these words on the marble of our minds is our Keynote Speaker today. Please join me in heartily welcoming Her Excellency, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, immediate past President of Liberia. In her book, ‘This Child will be Great’, President Johnson Sirleaf went on to state that: “If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough”. We at WISCAR have dreamt big and we have, in some way, actualized our audacious dream with the presence here today of a Global female Icon;
a woman of proven integrity;
a warrior for peace and justice;
a Mo’ Ibrahim prize winner;
a Nobel peace prize laureate and;
Distinguished WISCAR Award Recipient.
I could go on and on, but I do not want to, in any way, foreshadow or pre-empt the stories we will hear from Her Excellency today. Thank you, your Excellency, for choosing to be here with us today.
It was Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, the 19th Century French journalist and editor of Le Figaro who said ‘plus ca change plus c’est la meme chose.’ In English, ‘the more things change, the more they stay the same’. After several decades and more of female emancipation, and even though tremendous progress has been made, certain recent events suggest that women worldwide still have mountains to climb in the quest for equality. It is not only in Nigeria or Africa but worldwide that women continue to face discrimination. In politics, in the economic spaces, through sexual harassment at work and by physical abuse at home. These are all blights that society must continue to fight for socio-economic development and for enduring social harmony. It is no longer a cliché that women are often the best agents for peace and reconciliation. Indeed, whenever women have spoken up in defiance of tyranny, fresh windows of solution have opened. Still, women all over the world face different challenges that are not unique to one race, one country or one place in time. Indeed, the challenges of inequity at work and at home are universal. There are of course nuanced differences from country to country but the universality of socio-cultural expression finds less than subtle similarities. Recently we have seen the naming and shaming of the #metoo movement. That is a valid method for fighting oppression and harassment in the workplace. We must however remember that it is not the only method. The recent walk out by Google staff protesting office harassment and inequality is another example. To adopt Churchillian prose:
‘women must defend themselves whatever the cost
We must fight in the workplaces
We must fight in the schools
We must fight in the homes
We shall never surrender our equality’
Still, the #metoo movement must be extolled for encouraging women to speak up more about their experiences. It must be praised for lending voice to the previously voiceless.
The goal; must be to continue to press for progress and we must adopt as many approaches as there are cultures. As many paths as there are communities and as many strategies as there are women. Let us boldly tell the world that women are ready to take their rightful place in society. Women’s rights are quite simply, human rights. No more. No less.
We are especially fortunate to be able to hear from Her Excellency President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf today. But we also have with us other women, and men, of great substance and outstanding achievement. Our speakers include; Ambassador Nozipho January Bardill – International Diplomat, Corporate Relations specialist and Chair, Nelson Mandela University Council Hadiza Bala Usman – Public Administrator and MD NPA, Polly Alakija – Artist, Author and Chair Lagos State Council of Arts and Culture, Kofo Akinkugbe – Real Sector Entrepreneur and CEO Secure ID Group, Aisha Ahmad, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, Tunji Lardner, Leader of thought and raconteur, Amina Oyagbola, versatile Corporate Executive, Consultant and WISCAR Founder. Compering today is a notable organisational effectiveness consultant, Habiba Balogun. Finally, Innovative Nigerian playwright and artiste, Ifeoma Fafunwa will present some thought-provoking sketches during the course of the programme.
I want to specially appreciate, our Patrons, my formidable fellow Advisory Board Members and our wonderful and growing community of Mentors for your continued support and all that you do to keep WISCAR going and for being available today. I also express profound appreciation to the 2018 Conference Planning Committee for the labour of love in working tirelessly with the WISCAR Secretariat to ensure the smooth hosting of this event. We thank ALL our Donors and Sponsors for their generous financial and in-kind support to WISCAR this year and from inception; without your support we wouldn’t be here. Last, but not least, I thank the staff of the WISCAR Secretariat for their hard work, passion and dedication for advancing the WISCAR vision.
I thank you ALL for choosing to spend the day with WISCAR. I have no doubt that you will leave this gathering Empowered, Emboldened, Fearless and Charged to make a difference! In closing I do so with a quote from our Keynote Speaker, Her Excellency, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf:
“To girls and women, everywhere, I issue a simple invitation. My sisters, my daughters, my friends; Find your voice. ”
I thank you for listening.
Amina Oyagbola
WISCAR Founder, Chairperson – www.wiscar.ng; info@wiscar.ng
CEO, AKMS Consulting Ltd- www.akmsconsulting.com
24 November 2018
