Category: Women In Business

Dr. Chinasa Trinitta Amadi is the founder, Ariella Health and Fitness Ltd, a company that offers consultancy services in healthy living, weight loss and wholesome foods. The Russian-trained medical doctor and UK-certified nutritionist returned to Nigeria to propagate her message of lifestyle change that will help reverse chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes, obesity and other non-communicable illnesses. Working with 30 medical and non-medical staff, her advocacy in this field of preventive medicine holds promises of reducing the economic and financial burden on Africa’s deficient healthcare system. Assistant Editor CHIKODI OKEROCHA reports.

 

The gospel of healthy living, which she so passionately propagates, is simple, but profound in its outcome if adhered to diligently. The founder, Ariella Health and Fitness Ltd, a company that offers consultancy services in healthy living, weight loss and wholesome foods, Dr. Chinasa Trinitta Amadi, has been consistent with her message that by simply being more intentional with one’s health and adopting lifestyle modifications, treating and, often times, reversing chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes, obesity and other non-communicable sicknesses will be a walk in the pack.

Chinasa, who is a Russian-trained medical doctor and UKBoard-certified nutritionist, said she had reached over 6,000 clients around the world with her message that lifestyle modifications such as eating the right foods, getting enough sleep, exercising, and managing stress effectively are the tonic to improving one’s overall wellbeing. Between last year and January this year alone, the Abo-Mbaise, Imo State-born lifestyle medicine physician’s client base hit 2,500.

She also said she hoped to reach or work with over 10,000 clients in the next five years; projecting that by this time, Ariella Health & Fitness Ltd would have become a household name. Although, Dr. Chinasa has been in the health and wellness field for about 10 years, shewas certified a lifestyle medicine physician by the International Board of Lifestyle Medicine last year. This made her one of the about 15 board- certified lifestyle medicine physicians in Africa.

However, unlike other medical professionals who would have most likely stayed back and practiced in Russia where she trained, Dr. Chinasa chose to return to Nigeria. That was in 2013. “I have a lot to do for my people. Aside being a certified Nutritionist, I am also a lifestyle medicine physician. Right now, we are just about 15 in Africa. So, I think that we have a lot to give back to our community; we have a lot to help eradicate lifestyle diseases,” she told The Nation.

Chinasa, who is the director, Trinitta-Rose Charity Organisation, said the goal of lifestyle medicine as a specialty was to help reduce or, possibly, eradicate the prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, obesity and other non-communicable lifestyle conditions among people. While noting that these chronic health conditions can be prevented by lifestyle change, she said what is required of health enthusiasts is personal discipline and intentionality to learn how to eat better, move better, get enough sleep, and exercise.

Reiterating that “it was important that I come back home and render that service despite how difficult it is,” she stated that it had always been her desire to feed her passion for preventive medicine. It was her passion to help her community and Africans generally to eat healthy in order to live healthy that led to the founding of Ariella Health and Fitness Ltd.

With a tagline, “… Rediscover you,” the company has been combining the finest of clinical and lifestyle medical practices to offer weight loss services, meal prep services, corporate workforce fitness, and health talks, among others, to its clients from diverse backgrounds. It also offers lifestyle medicine practice and consultations, as well as has several published books on fitness.

The company, which has offices in Lagos and Port Harcourt, Rivers State, works with a team of 30 well-motivated medical and non-medical staff from both locations. Its target clients include health enthusiasts, especially women in urban Nigeria, aged 25-55.

Chinasa explained her choice of target audience thus: “I feel that if you get the women in the healthy pack, they will influence their families, their men and their children.”

She insisted that in pushing her message that “health is wealth”, and that “prevention is cheaper than cure,” she was not driven by money, but by passion.

“Of course, we need the money to survive, but it’s first about the passion; the passion drives me,” she said, noting that the message had been well received based on feedback from clients, as people were becoming more intentional with their health.

“People are becoming more aware. People are beginning to place a premium on themselves. I will say the difference between now and five years ago or even 10 years ago when I got into this health awareness fieldis much. People are learning to take charge of their health. Obesity is a growing epidemic globally and people don’t want to be obese anymore, it’s not good for their health. So, we see people taking charge,” Chinasa said.

She, however, said there was still a lot of work to be done considering that health was one of the most-abused sectors. “We have a lot of education to do. First of all, our people need to be re-oriented about the concept of getting specialised care from professionals. It’s very important. It’s not been easy trying to change the perception or mindset of people,” she said.

Chinasa said the need to heed medical professionals’ advice, especially those in her area of specialty, had never been this compelling. For one, she said doing so would help correct the misconception around genetic predisposition on health. “People still think that because their father had hypertension, they must have hypertension. Because your father had diabetes, you must have diabetes. No. Genetic predisposition on health is just 10 per cent, epigenetics is 90 per cent,” Chinasa explained.

While also clarifying that it didn’t have to be that because everybody in one’s family has high blood sugar, one too must have high blood sugar. She said those were some of the things she had been trying to change.

Her words: “Even these days, we are seeing people that don’t even have any genetic predisposition coming down with hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, and other non-communicable diseases. So, those are the people we are targeting.”

She blamed the rising cases of chronic health conditions on people’s lifestyle. “We are adopting a Western lifestyle. We are leaving our whole food, our vegetables, our local foods and we are going more for packaged foods; we are going more for processed food; we are going more for fast foods, and these fast foods take us down the fast lane of ill-health. So, it’s predominantly our lifestyle. That’s why these are called lifestyle diseases,” she stated.

According to her, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, arthritis and even some cancers have been linked to lifestyle. “We don’t move anymore. You find out that we sit down at one point for the rest of the day, and most times the only time we stand up out of eight hours in the office is just two times to just ease yourself, that’s all. We are not intentional with moving. We are not even intentional with sleeping. How many people know what sleep is in Lagos?

“Those are practices that affect us down up to the cellular level. And that’s why we are seeing the rise in these conditions,”  Chinasa emphasised, citing a scary statistics, which projected a 103 per cent increase in diabetes in Africa by the year 2023.

“Initially, Type 2 diabetes, which is the most common diabetes, was called adult diabetes. But now, we are seeing it in people as young as 10, 11 years old. It was associated with age before, but now a lot of young people are coming down with it,” she said.

While noting that in the case of diabetes, for instance, the first question to ask is: “What are you eating?” she said it is not for one to say he or she doesn’t take sugar, but for him to admit that he is eating the wrong things. “You know they say prevention is better than cure. I say it’s not better than cure; it’s cheaper than cure, because one session of dialysis, in the case of kidney failure, is not less than N40, 000.

“Then, imagine having to eat your vegetables, and you are having your beans with some vegetables or maybe yam porridge with so many vegetables, it won’t cost you up to N1,000. But the first thing you say oh! It’s expensive. But it’s cheaper than the hospital bills. So, prevention is cheaper and better than cure. Lifestyle medicine is more of a preventive medicine. So, we are trying to help people learn the rudiments of prevention for themselves and for their families,” the expert said.

Although Chinasa and her team currently propagate this message of lifestyle change without any government support or involvement, she, however, said it will be interesting to see more particular interest by the government for preventive medicine because it will reduce the burden of healthcare generally.

“Our healthcare system is already very deficient. So, it’s not good to worsen the burden. Teaching people to prevent diabetes, hypertension, putting up policies that will make them improve their lifestyle; maybe give them some sort of incentives will reduce the burden on healthcare as a whole.

“It will also help the already meager budget allocated to healthcare. So, in the long term, it’s going to be cheaper for the government. So, I look forward to, hopefully, possible collaboration because it will be beneficial, especially to the future,”  Chinasa said, adding that her company currently relied on social media space and other platforms to propagate its message.

Interestingly, she does not owe the success of her gospel of healthy living so far only to her avowed passion and training in this specialty. Her own personal health challenge when she was much younger also contributed.

At 16, she was already hypertensive. She was also a bit overweight, weighing 80 kg. Despite being obese, with her BP also going up, she started eating  healthy, being intentional with moving, and learning different ways to exercise without going outside.

Her efforts paid off. She said since then, she had never heard a BP drug in eight, nine years, not one BP medication. She has never had asthma crisis in over three or four years either.

Chinasa said part of her plans for the next five years was to set up a lifestyle medical facility in Nigeria, strictly for lifestyle medicine. “That’s the goal, a place where you can come to, like away from the usual, and then you are getting these lifestyle specialised care,” she said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To expand market access and economic opportunities for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Africa, especially women-owned businesses, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), in partnership with West Blue Consulting, United Parcel Services (UPS) and Trade Law Center (TRALAC), has unveiled a digital trade solutions platform, tagged ‘eTradeHubs portal’. Assistant Editor MUYIWA LUCAS looks at how the platform will push possibilities to the hands of women traders and entrepreneurs in Africa, including Nigeria.

 

It’s a game-changing innovation. The eTradeHubs portal, a digital trade solutions platform, among other deliverables, provides a 24/7 interface for women traders and entrepreneurs in Africa (along with their male peers) to connect and access timely and up to date information, skills and operational tools, offered by the various service providers within the supply chain.

eTradeHubs portal, which was developed by two indigenous African technology providers – Global Trade Solution (GTS) and West Blue Consulting – was also designed to leverage the benefits arising from the operationalisation of the African Continental Free Trade (AfCFTA) Agreement. So, it was aimed at reducing the time and cost of doing business by supporting enterprises at all levels – from micro to multinational.

Some of the features of the portal include a multi-country tariff and trade information tool as well as a Duty Calculator. This means that a first-time trader or existing trader wishing to import raw materials or export finished goods can search on the portal for the specific HS Code, related tariff lines, preferential rates of duties, and regulatory procedures and documents required for that specific item.

The Duty Calculator further provides an estimate of the customs duty, tax and levies of the destination region or country, to aid in financial and logistics planning. Using the eTradeHubs portal, the trader is able to process trade documentation, manage compliance, workflow and costs – all on the same platform, without the need to visit multiple regulatory agencies, entities, websites and physical offices.

The platform also enables enterprises to scale-up and digitise their operations by providing access to online training, webinars and workshops. The portal currently provides country data of Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) sub region, with more countries and sub regions soon to be added, in line with the ‘Digitise five million African SMEs’ initiative.

The ICC, West Blue Consulting, UPS and TRALAC, through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), announced a partnership in February that will provide capacity building programmes and tools, including co-developed trade and information portal called eTradeHubs, to help women-led Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) expand their operations to new markets in Africa and around the world.

Through the auspices of the Women Traders in AfCFTA working group, the partnership will collaborate with advocacy groups, trade associations, and other stakeholders on the continent to support women-owned businesses.

Trading under the AfCFTA Agreement began on January 1, 2021, after months of delays caused by COVID-19. The AfCFTA aims to bring together 1.3 billion people in a $3.4 trillion economic bloc, making it the largest free trade area since the establishment of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the AfCFTA could become the largest regional free trade zone in the world, with a combined business and consumer spending of $6.7 trillion by 2030.

The commission also estimates that intra-African trade would increase by 15 to 25 per cent, or $50 billion to $70 billion, by 2040. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development has estimated an increase of up to 33 per cent.

However, to deliver on its transformative potential, the AfCFTA needs to support the creation of decent jobs, reduce inequalities and promote sustainable, inclusive development. Advancing gender equality is key to achieving these objectives.

Women play a significant role in trade in Africa and will be essential to the continent’s success in leveraging the full potential of the AfCFTA. Most entrepreneurs in Africa are women, but women continue to face challenges and obstacles that limit their competitiveness and make their businesses less productive than those owned by men.

Women also comprise the majority of informal cross-border traders in Africa, though these female traders are disproportionately affected by non-tariff barriers (NTBs), including corruption, harassment, misinformation about customs procedures and regulations and confiscation of goods.

At the virtual launch of the partnership, ICC Secretary-General John W.H. Denton AO, said: “The economic, social, and health consequences associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have unequally impacted the lives and livelihoods of women business owners everywhere.

“We are extremely proud to partner with UPS, TRALAC, and West Blue Consulting to level the playing field in Africa and provide women entrepreneurs with the required resources to digitise their businesses. Women-led businesses are the backbone of their local economies – we can’t afford to leave them behind.”

For West Blue Consulting CEO and founder Valentina Mintah, “the adoption of smart solutions by women in business and trade will ensure increased flexibility for women to work from home whilst raising children, improved access to global markets, networking opportunities and a significant shift of women from the informal to the formal sector.”

Mintah expressed optimism that the eTradeHubs portal, by lowering the entry barriers to cross border trade, will allow entrepreneurs grow their business rapidly. She said the informal sector will not be left out as info-graphics and videos in local African languages will be introduced to deepen inclusion and diversity.

President of UPS International Public Affairs & Sustainability, Penny Naas, said: “Research shows that only one out of five businesses that exports is led by a woman. At UPS, we’re moving forward by helping women-run businesses, maximise their participation in trade through public-private partnerships that provide policy recommendations and support with knowledge sharing and building skills.

“Our partnership with the ICC, TRALAC, and West Blue Consulting will offer exporting workshops for women entrepreneurs and to advocate for enabling environments that pave the way for African women’s success.”

T he Executive Director, TRALAC, Trudi Hartzenberg, said the adoption of digital trade solutions for the AfCFTA would address border management challenges that disproportionately impact women traders.

She said TRALAC was pleased to collaborate with ICC, UPS and West Blue Consulting to support digitisation of women’s businesses, to enhance their competitiveness in the AfCFTA and global markets.

The partnership forged by ICC, West Blue, UPS and TRALAC will be supported by the ICC’s Centre of Entrepreneurship, an initiative to prepare and mobilise the next generation of entrepreneurs around the world.

With regional hubs in Istanbul and Beirut, ICC will announce future hubs in Africa and South America this year. The hubs in Africa, according to ICC’s Global Communication Officer, Timothy Conley, will be used to implement the partnership’s programmes and reach out to SMEs across the continent.

 

 

 

The Team Lead, Excellence Advisory Limited, a technology business support services provider, Excellence Anurika Joshua, is leveraging technology to help Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) build structure and run their businesses with ease. She is also the founder, Techy Train, her company’s training arm, which offers technology-based vocational skills primarily to women and youths. It has trained over 3000 women and youths from across Nigeria, Ghana, United States and United Kingdom so far. She shares the inspiring story of her rise to firm and fortune, her initial challenges and plans with Assistant Editor CHIKODI OKEREOCHA.

 

Her fighting spirit is extraordinary. While women faced with the same or similar challenges as hers, when she started her entrepreneurial journey in 2019 would have probably capitulated, the Team Lead, Excellence Advisory Limited, a technology business support services provider, Excellence Anurika Joshua, stayed on, refusing to give up the fight to survive in the face of a turbulent marriage, which, by her admission, became toxic shortly after wedding in 2015.

Narrating her ordeal, Excellence told The Nation that she got married in February 2015 while a student at the University of Ibadan (UI). But, unfortunately, the marriage packed up later after what she described as “Three years of severe emotional and physical abuse, a failed suicide attempt and no job.” “I was broke and I had a two-year-old son. I was desperate to survive, pay my bills and feed my son, but the more I looked for help, the more I was exposed to harassment and abuse,” she added.

But, Excellence refused to allow the situation to break her. With remarkable grit, tenacity and instinct for survival, she succeeded in weathering the storm and founded Techy Train, which provides access to technology-based vocational skills primarily to women and youths across Nigeria, Africa and the world. In fact, she was able to keep hope alive until, as she put it, “I found technology, harnessed its power and leveraged it to earn big from my bed, working virtually for individuals and corporates.”

By dint of hard work and perseverance, the 2018 graduate of Biomedical Laboratory Sciences from the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, has carved a niche for herself in the provision of technology business support services solutions to MSMEs. She said her vision is to pioneer a paradigm shift in entrepreneurship in Africa by helping African born businesses build structures that are  sustainable, profitable and thrive globally.

Backed by experienced partners, an Advisory Board as well as highly motivated staff, Excellence Advisory Limited is located in Abuja. However, 90 per cent of its clients, according to the Team Lead, are outside Abuja. The company, however, takes clients globally, having been duly registered in the United States, too. But, Excellence said there were plans to expand the company’s services outside the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), even beyond Nigeria’s shores.

According to her, Excellence Advisory has a bouquet of services that have already positioned it as the destination of choice for MSMEs seeking for consultant to help them handle everything tech so they can focus on what matters most: their real businesses.

Some of the business support services that have endeared the company to MSMEs and non-profit organisations include Business Advisory Support Services (business plan development, finance model design, profit maximisation etc.); Management Consultancy Support Services (marketing template design, product design, services design, corporate communications etc.); Learning and Development Support Services (business training, customised trainings etc.)

Others are Business Operations (customer relations, cash management etc.); Process Re-engineering Support Services (creating internal structures, finance and audit processes, procurement, and supply chain design etc.); Strategic Branding Support Services (digital marketing, social media campaigns, brand statement design etc.); Info-tech Support Services (software development, APP development, website development, bulk SMS).

A key aspect of Excellence Advisory’s soaring brand, according to the Team Lead, is its subsidiary Techy Train. Registered as a business in July 2019 and formerly called Animations with Excellence, Techy Train is the training arm of Excellence Advisory Limited. The platform provides access to technology based vocational skills mostly to women and the youth. And it does this by using “accelerated learning” techniques that allow trainees to learn faster and remember more of what they learn.

As the Abuja-based budding entrepreneur explained: “The key is “involvement.” Our approach follows from the old saying: “What you hear, you forget; what you see, you remember; what you do, you understand.” Our lessons are simplified and practically tailored, which gives you an option to actually see what you’re learning beyond learning using our engaging audio + visual demonstration technique that helps you apply faster and immediately.

“Furthermore, you have an option of joining our robust internship where you get to do and grow and then earn. So, when women sign up with us, they learn, work and earn. We have trained over 3000 individuals from across Nigeria, Ghana, United States and United Kingdom. Over 20 per cent of them have gone up to get good employment in the online media space, while over 50 per cent have used the lessons they learnt to grow their business/enterprise and some have gone on to up-skill further in tech.”

The Biomedical Scientist-turned entrepreneur  emphasised: “Technology provides a level- playing ground for women across the world to work and earn good from their convenience and on flexible terms.” While pointing out, for instance, that there are thousands of women who are in the unemployed state she used to be, broke and desperate but handicapped, she said she founded Techy Train to help such women earn more money from the comfort of their homes leveraging technology-based vocational skills.

Excellence, who stated that the rate of unemployment in Nigeria is high, said women are the worst hit. She, however, added that the COVID-19 pandemic made the situation worse for them. While pointing out that the situation of women unemployment in Nigeria was more of an issue of underemployment, she said: “Women are rather exposed to vocational skills like soap making, hair making without going further to the skills for the future: technology skills.”

The Digital Skills Trainer explained that through Techy Train’s online academy, the company offers women skills like web design, effective social media management, virtual assistance, design thinking, graphic design and more.

“Our lessons are highly simplified and pre-recorded screen practical for them to access at their pace and convenience.

“The uniqueness we provide beyond simplifying their learning process is our skill bank where participants of our training who have scored 80 per cent and above in cumulative assessment and discipline are inducted into and offered opportunities to work and their skills further improved.

“We also provide technology services like digital marketing, content creation, video editing and more that aim at helping women build sustainable businesses leveraging technology to build structure and running their business with ease. We do this by teaching them how to do it themselves, doing it for them or doing it with them,” Excellence said.

But how did Excellence Advisory Limited and its subsidiary, Animations with Excellence, registered in August 2020 and July 2019, respectively, become hot items in Nigeria’s MSME space and women empowerment in such a remarkably short time to the extent that she could look back and say with so much pride and confidence that “I am beyond amazed at the rapid growth, the lives touched, level of impact reached as well as the profit made?”

What is the secret of her blossoming business empire despite the initial hiccups she faced? What did she do differently from other existing and aspiring women entrepreneur? More importantly, where and how did she draw the strength to declare her interest in becoming Africa’s number one technology business support solution provider, as well as her ambitious push to connect women with digital skills in Africa to the world?”

From all indications, Excellence seems to have had it all worked out right from the onset, which was why in the midst of her marital travails, she never failed to prioritise self-development. “I actually started learning by myself online, first via YouTube, Google and other blogs. Then I could afford training. Codecademy, PluralSight, LinkedIn Learning, Google digital skill training all helped me a great deal,” she confided in The Nation.

Obviously tech savvy, smart, ambitious and above all, determined to hold her own in business, Excellence said she also learnt Facebook advertisement from Oyekunle Damola. She also took a course on Content Marketing from the Content Marketing Institute and others. “I am self-driven and have given myself to learning. I read voraciously and still do. Books on technology, business, and entrepreneurship are key topics I find most interesting,” she said.

She also learnt web development from Udemy, the leading global marketplace for teaching and learning, connecting millions of students to the skills they need to succeed. Udemy Inc. based in …. helps organisations of all kinds prepare for the ever-evolving future of work. Its curated collection of top-rated business and technical courses gives companies, governments, and nonprofits the power to develop in-house expertise and satisfy employees’ hunger for learning and development.

Expectedly, her immense capacity to self-develop and hone her entrepreneurial skills via extensive training paid off. For instance, Excellence was selected as one of the 50 finalists from the Access Bank Womenpreneur Pitch-a-ton Africa, the first women-in-business support initiative of its kind designed to provide female owned businesses across Africa an opportunity to access finance and world-class business trainings as well as mentoring opportunities.

On the strength of her emergence as one of the 50 finalists, Excellence was sponsored to a Mini Masters in Business Administration (MBA) with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a World Bank Group. That was in 2019. Through the Cherie Blair Foundation, she also got access to do a Financial Literacy course with the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC), the Entrepreneurship Centre of the Pan-Atlantic University. She also earned a scholarship to an Executive Growth Entrepreneurship Program with the EDC.

The Abia State-born entrepreneur cum digital skills trainer also won the Access Grant for Start-ups (AGS) Survivor Woman Award in 2019. Excellence said she used part of the fund to sign up at codecademy for one year. Codecademy is an American online interactive platform that offers free coding classes in 12 different programming languages, including Python, Java, Go, and JavaScript.

Apart from the training and courses, Excellence said she also surrounded herself with value-aligned people who have been of tremendous help to her such as Founder/CEO of Learntor, a Nigerian digital consultancy focused on agile digital transformation, data analytics and digital marketing, Mercy George-Igbafe and Tabitha of Virtuous Core Limited, among others. She said many individuals and bodies helped her afford the courses.

Having come this far, Excellence has a few success nuggets for aspiring women entrepreneurs. “Start somewhere, keep going, leverage as much help as you can get and automate your processes. Finally, believe in yourself and go all out,” she counselled, adding that women and, indeed, other MSMEs, should learn to outsource their weaknesses that are key areas of their businesses so they can focus on areas of strength that matter.

The expert also shared her thoughts on why MSMEs in Nigeria fail. According to her, many of them don’t have enough visibility. Also, most of them don’t start businesses with the intention of sustainability hence no structure. Although, she acknowledged that owning and running a business in Nigeria can be quite complicated as nothing prepares one for the challenging business environment, she however, said understanding that the key to starting anything in Nigeria is structure will save MSMEs so much troubles.

Excellence also said some MSME founders are not ready to invest in themselves to help grow their businesses. Many of them, she added, lack of staying power. “Nigeria can hit you left, right and centre from power to bills to taxes and all in-between, if one is not brave, you might not stay through,” she said.

March 8 of every year is International Women’s Day (IWD). It is a day set aside to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women while highlighting the problems they face. This year’s edition themed “Women in leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in a COVID-19 World” highlighted how women can be equal partners in decision-making processes, especially those regarding policymaking. Some Nigerian women share their perspectives on how to achieve gender parity and inclusiveness with Assistant Editor CHIKODI OKEREOCHA.

They came from diverse sectors and vocations, but they were united by their common position that gender parity is desirable and, in fact, achievable; and that the time had come to make women equal partners in decision-making. Those were the positions canvassed by Nigerian women across sectors and careers, who joined their counterparts worldwide to mark the International Women’s Day (IWD) on Monday, March 8.

IWD was earmarked to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women while highlighting the problems they face. It is a day to acknowledge and make people aware of women’s rights and gender equality, and a call to action for accelerating women’s equality, this year’s edition was themed “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world.”

This year’s edition highlighted how women could be equal partners in decision-making processes, especially those regarding policymaking. This is so considering the need to bring to light the tremendous efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic while highlighting the gaps that remain.

It was against this backdrop that Nigerian women joined their counterparts across the world to celebrate the day and also lend their voices to the discourse. Although some of them, who spoke with The Nation, brought diverse and interesting perspectives into the conversation, a common thread that ran through their position was the need to empower women and incorporate them in decision-making.

For instance, make-up artist and social entrepreneur Rosemary Obi said because of women’s struggle to achieve equal opportunity in the work place, there has been noticeable alteration in the world of work by the massive entry of women into paid employment. According to her, the male breadwinner model has become a thing of the past, as women are no longer waiting to be handed relief of any kind, but have become self-reliant.

“I think women are already taking position by force even without waiting for anyone to offer it to them. A popular saying says if they did not offer you a seat at the table, bring your seat along,” Rosemary, who pioneered “Project FX Africa,” the first ever make-up reality show in Africa, said, adding that one thing that organisations can do is create more opportunities for women to participate in decision making “Because for as long as women are not allowed, it would always feel like a silent war of genders going on.”

The entrepreneur, who is also the convener, “Empower 1000 Women,” which empowers African women in various crafts, also said although, issues around the COVID-19 pandemic formed the theme of this year’s IWD, there was a pandemic before COVID-19 struck and it is called the gender-based violence. According to her, the coronavirus pandemic only heightened the threat for so many women in such situation.

She, however, pointed out that CPVID-19 force a lockdown that opened a can of worms in so many homes. “Reports of domestic violence, failing businesses and depression took an upward swing in Nigeria and some other parts of the World. COVID-19 only brought to the open the ills that have been in existence for a very long time,” Rosemary said.

She, however, used the platform of this year’s IWD to call on the Nigerian Government to ensure that as the nation recovers from the pandemic, a more gender inclusive society, where women and girls’ rights are protected, is highly promoted.

The acclaimed make-up artist stated that at moment, Nigerian women are disproportionately represented in the political space because most of them see politics as a dirty game and they want to be alive for their kids for as long as they can. “Taking care of the home is top priority to Nigerian women.

“Although in recent times, most women are now indicating their interests towards participating in politics, in order to correct the wrongs that have been made in our country and continent as a whole, women never give up. So, I see a woman becoming president in a not so distant future,” she said.

While many women would naturally share Rosemary’s optimism that a woman would become Nigeria’s president in a not distant future, digital strategist and founder of Learntor, a consultancy company focused on agile digital transformation, data analytics, and digital marketing, Mercy George-Igbafe’s optimism appeared to be measured.

Mercy raised a number of posers: “How many women are actually interested in politics and how many men are willing to step aside for women to take on leading roles in politics? In the media, more women and men are rising and speaking up; they are building their platforms. But the question is how many people have voter’s card and how many will go the extra mile to support them by voting?”

The ICT amazon also said the impact of Covid-19 on women, especially those with children, could only be imagined. “I would imagine how hard it would be for people with children. Having to be with the kids 24 hours can only come with its own challenges. Many people have lost their lives from lack of food while others to Covid-19. More job loss is increasing the unemployment rate nationally and globally,” she said.

Mercy, while pointing out that Covid-19 did not happen to women only, but to every living person, she said the pandemic was a blessing in disguise of sort. She said, for instance, that Covid-19 had pushed her to be more creative and innovative, particularly considering thatt Learntor also came at a time when people were looking to learn new skills and widen their job prospects.

The Creative Director/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of OS Creations, a premium women’s ready-to-wear clothing brand, Oluyemisi Shonubi, said Nigeria had more women in business than most countries in the world. hence, many women-owned businesses were badly hurt by the pandemic.

She said as a result, many of them have not been able to get their business operations back to an optimal level since the pandemic struck. “In fact, so many businesses have had to close down, livelihood has been affected and business growth stifled,” the fashion entrepreneur lamented.

With regards to gender equality, Oluyemisi said this has been a major challenge for decades. According to her, women are under-represented in key decision making positions all over the world. She, however, said this should not be the case, insisting that drastic measures should be taken to change the narrative.

To achieve this, Oluyemisi said there was the need for organisations to change their recruitment practices and culture and drop the mindset that certain positions must be filled by a particular gender. “Rather, recruitment should be based on competence,” she charged.

She also said more emphasis should be placed on work-life balance, which, according to her, helps to reduce stress and attrition rate especially amongst women. “Many women are not able to reach the peak of their career due to the inability to balance managing their homes and work adequately at the same time,” Oluyemisi pointed out.

Oluyemisi also urged more women to step out and to take on leadership roles in the economy, politics and governance. “Women should participate at all levels of the governance. One of the ways to achieve this may be by giving certain incentives to encourage more women to fill these positions,” she recommended.

She, however, admitted that acceptability’ remained a major factor in women’s quest to take on leadership positions. According to her, the Nigerian political space (and in most countries) is mainly patriarchal, making it difficult for women to compete on that space. She, however, said some women have successfully beaten this mindset.

On her part, the Managing Director/CEO of AyoIroha Clothing Ltd., a garment manufacturing company, and its sister company, Fashion Brokers Consult Ltd, Ayo Joy Okpa-Iroha, pointed out that it was not that Nigerian women were not participating in politics, but the level of their participation was not significant enough.

She, however, attributed Nigerian women’s low participation in politics to the peculiar nature of Nigerian politics, which, according to her, is more about money politics than one driven by values, responsibility, fair play and truth. She also said cultural discrimination and segregation played a major role in the Nigerian society.

The correct this anomaly and achieve gender equality, the Creative Director of Elareall Designs, a female fashion brand focused on bespoke tailoring, fabric crafts, ready-to-wear, and t-shirt branding, Esther Sunday, said some harmful practices against women and girls that deprived them from having a voice must be eliminated.

She also said patriarchal systems designed to disempower women must be dismantled. According to her, women need an enabling environment to achieve equality with their male counterparts.

Diadems Global Support Services Limited is a human capital management consulting firm based in Lagos. Its Managing Consultant, Modupe Bankole, is leading a team of professionals with diverse experience across sectors with expertise in the Human Resource (HR) value chain to help organisations achieve high performance and improve value returns. The HR professional shares her plans to expand into the West African market and also establish a hub that will provide administrative tools, technology, experts and needed support to encourage entrepreneurs start their businesses with Assistant Editor CHIKODI OKEREOCHA reports.

The Managing Consultant of Diadems Global Support Services Limited, a Lagos-based human capital management consulting firm, Modupe Bankole, has stormed the Human Resource (HR) space with avowed commitment to helping  organisations achieve high performance and improve value returns.

Since February 2016, when she set up the company, Modupe has been leveraging her over 20 years’experience at local and global organisations, with the last 12 years in senior management positions, to dangle some unique  value propositions to organisations seeking to significantly improve their overall performance.

For instance, the certified HR professional has in the past five years carved a niche for herself in the HR space by rendering services that are context specific and best fit for organisations undergoing peculiar challenges.

It was Modupe’s response to the awareness that the bulk of in-house HR professionals in Nigeria and beyond are bugged down by administrative work, which leaves little or no time for resourceful strategic support for the wider business.

According to her, Diadems Global Support Services Limited is a service organisation with competence in human capital management, backed with requisite certification to support businesses and organisations with value-adding services; ensuring that they focus on their core businesses.

“At Diadems, we offer professional support and business solutions anchored on experience, competence, passion and customer service. We critically support you through all the aspects of human resource management by evaluating issues as they impact your business, and consequently deploying our expertise and competence to proffer the needed solutions,” Modupe said.

Explaining further, she said: “Our human capital management approach offers the benefits of competent, efficient and effective back-room service without intruding into your daily operations. We are not only a service provider, but a value-adding partner positioned to help your organisation achieve high performance and improved value returns to your principals.”

To make this happen, Modupe, a graduate of English from the Lagos State University (LASU), and Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Lagos, told The Nation that Diadems has a team of professionals with  experience across sectors but with expertise in the HR value chain.

More importantly, the company, she said, understands business from operational, financial and market perspectives hence, the advice it gives are professionally aligned with the entire business, not just the people.

“We are members of the Netherland-based Hofstede Insight International Consulting Network, which is renowned for its expertise in helping organisations determine optimal culture.

“We are also PROSCI Change Management certified and our team members are certified by international and national professional bodies including Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI), Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM), Nigeria Institute of Training & Development (NITAD) etc.,” she added.

Apart from her high-profile certifications and membership of professional associations, Modupe also earned Special Executive Masters Programme (S.E.M.P.) in Human Resources Management from University of Huddersfield Business School, United Kingdom (UK). She also attended the Leading Change and Organisation Renewal programme at Harvard Business School.

A thoroughbred cross-functional professional whose experience includes Business Development, Marketing, Customer Service and HR, Modupe was a member of the Governing Council Hotel & Personal Services Employers Association (HOPESEA) from 2015-2019. She is the Vice Chairperson, National Membership Committee of the CIPM.

With her intimidating credentials and hands-on experience, coupled with her passion to change the narrative of HR practice, Modupe told The Nation that her foray into the human capital management space was motivated by her desire to help close the huge gap especially in the area of organisational culture and how it impacts individual and institutional performance.

“Despite improvements in the HR space, I still see huge gaps especially in the area of organisational culture and how it impacts individual and institutional performance. I truly believe our overall organisational performance will significantly improve if small and large businesses pay more attention to this area. So, Diadems brings its expertise to bear on this and across other HR value chain,” she explained.

The Diadems’ expertise, which Modupe draws so much strength from, The Nation learnt, stemmed from her hugely rewarding career that traversed a mixed bag of very useful roles including Marketing, Sales, Business Development, Customer Service to HR, with the privilege of working in sectors such as Hospitality, Manufacturing, Agriculture and Services which includes Legal, Logistics, Consulting and Leasing.

Besides, Diadems is a member of the Netherland based Hofstede Insight International Consulting Network, which is renowned for its expertise in helping organisations determine optimal culture. Accordingly, Diadems’ capacity to help organisations determine optimal culture stems from its understanding that HR strategy is dependent on current business objectives and organisation’s capabilities in terms of people, tools, finance etc.

“We are talking of HR approach with consideration for sector, industry, size, resources. The competencies of your workforce and the support they receive in terms of soft and hard skills determine the efficiency of your organisation which in turn impacts the bottom line and ultimately, is a competitive advantage,” Modupe stated.

The expert emphasised: “Diadems not only solves people’s challenges, but resolves business challenges too. We are an impartial partner.” And these are not empty claims. Many projects completed by the human capital management consulting firm or are in progress attest to Modupe’s soring influence in the HR space.

For instance, her firm undertook the Performance Management System project for the Federal Civil Service, Institution-wide Organisational Culture Alignment for the Lagos State University, and Institution-wide Performance Gap Analysis for Lagos State University.

Diadems also did Capacity Development Programmes for Secondary Schools for Inoyo Toro Foundation, Human Resource Management in the Hospitality sector, for Hospitality Business School, as well as New Trends in Employee Recruitment for the Lagos State University Career Development Centre, among other projects.

However, Modupe’s rising profile in the HR space is not without surmountable challenges. One of them is client’s initial resistance to accepting professional advice because company XYZ is doing a different thing. Putting it in perspective, she said: “We have to convince them (clients) that the business objectives, resources etc are not same so strategy may not be similar.

“As an example, if you engaged Diadems for a project on Interdepartmental Efficiency and you tell us to run a soft skill programme on Interpersonal Relationship, we want to know why you think you need that particular solution. In our experience, the issues may be deeper. It could be poor job description, irrelevant Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), poor accountability matrix, cultural hindrances, inefficient policies/procedural manuals etc.”

But as Modupe assured, Diadems has a diagnostic tool used to extract root causes. “The purpose of training is to close gaps. When you effectively do this, you can measure good return on training investment,” she said, noting that another challenge is client biases based on company’s size. But as she pointed out, “Bigger is not necessarily better and pay should be determined by value of output not perception of size.”

Despite the challenges, Modupe is unwavering in her single-minded focus to positively impact the HR and strategy value chain. Encouraged by her focus areas, which include Performance Management, Organisational Culture, Learning & Development Interventions and Change Management, she is currently working with a Massachusetts based company in the US on how to expand into the Nigerian and West African market.

Although Diadems, which is based in Lagos, has presence across Nigeria, its ambitious expansion plan will see its footprints in markets across Africa. “We are agile and mobility is a major advantage,” Modupe stated.

She also announced plans to establish a hub that will provide administrative tools, technology, experts and needed support aimed at encouraging entrepreneurs start their businesses.

Diadems also plans to scale up its capacity development for students in secondary and tertiary institutions with a structured approach to choosing and starting a career. “There is a gaping hole in this area. This is part of our responsibility to the community and the nation,” Modupe told The Nation.

The company already runs a mentoring programme, in conjunction with partners. The programme targets young graduates, women groups and those in career transition.

In addition to post exposure to the International Centre on Sexual Exploitation, Diadems organizes Sexual & Gender Based Violence (SGBV) seminars to create awareness and assist those in need.

Some of these interventions will, hopefully, help address perceived gender biases in the workplace, which, by Modupe’s admission, are even worse than they seem. According to her, gender biases are rooted in cultural and societal nuances, and the solution starts with the acceptance that the gender disparity exists in workplace.

She, however said thankfully, that realization is finally getting into public discourse. “Gender equity in workplace starts with the facilitation of equal opportunities right from the provision of education. I am not one to say that some jobs should be reserved for a particular gender, but I am so sure that equal opportunities will throw up more women not just in the work place, but in the top positions,” she said.

The HR expert added that “Organisations can further help by reviewing inappropriate policies and assessing the culture – not what we say we do but what we actually practice. Organisations should be aware that they can be held vicariously liable by the courts in cases of sexual harassments in the workplace.  Diadems offers sexual harassment policies and training as part of its services, for instance,”

 

 

She ditched a plum job in the telecoms industry to feed her passion for fashion designing. Today, Esther Sunday is the creative director of Elareall Designs, a female fashion brand focused on bespoke tailoring, fabric crafts, ready-to-wear, and t-shirt branding. The electrical engineer-turned fashion entrepreneur is a volunteer instructor. She has trained over 500 women in fashion designing. Her foray into fashion, she said, wasn’t driven by money, but a desire to lift others. She shares her plans to set up a fashion hub with Assistant Editor CHIKODI OKEREOCHA.

 

It was a move that verged on something akin to career suicide, literally. Otherwise, why would a young, promising lady abandon a well-paid, highly coveted job in the telecoms industry to pursue a career in fashion designing? Why would she, after spending five years studying Electrical Engineering and emerging one of the best 10 in her class, turn her back on the job to become a fashion designer, which many people derogatorily call tailor?

Esther Sunday, a 2008 graduate of Electrical Engineering, from the Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma, Edo State, triggered these posers when she resigned from her job in a telecoms company and threw her hat in the fashion ring. That was in 2014. Before then, she had worked at Alcatel and Sofitel, and also went into make-up artistry, shoemaking, and a bit of roofing. Yet, there was still something missing.

“I just felt something was still missing. I was enjoying what I was doing because I love things that are challenging, but I wasn’t at peace with it. I just wanted something that I will be at peace with; something that won’t be demanding me to be here when I don’t want to be there. Fashion was the place I found peace,” she explained.

To bring her near-obsession with fashion nearer home, Esther said when she was down and couldn’t understand herself, “fashion brought me back to myself. And then it (telecoms) was a bit of what everybody was doing; I wanted what I was distinct at,” pointing out that money is one thing while peace of mind is another, she said if it was for the money, “I would have stayed in telecoms.”

Evidently driven by a passion for fashion designing and, of course, search for job satisfaction, Esther’s parents and close friends, however, refused to be swayed by her explanations. They could not fathom why a graduate of Electrical Engineering would resign from her job in telecoms for a career in fashion designing. So, they kicked and raged.

“My parents were angry and confused; they didn’t know what was wrong with me when I resigned from my telecoms job. My daddy couldn’t understand why I did it. It was quite a battle for me and my family,” Esther stated, adding that, at a point, she refused to eat and even went into depression. Several entreaties by her mother to find out what was wrong with her and, possibly, proffer solution did not yield the desired result.

However, Esther was battling to discover her chosen career path when, one day, while going through Facebook, she saw a fashion designing school and something immediately clicked. And the fact that growing up, the aspiring fashion entrepreneur was fond of a sowing machine in the family also served to cement her decision to delve into fashion designing.

“There was this sewing machine in my house; it’s still there. The machine is like my first baby. So, most times, when I was young, if I was not happy, I would go and sit by the machine, and I would just be fine. It’s like there is something there that calmed me down,” Esther recalled.

So, the day she went through Facebook and saw a fashion school in Ghana, Abbi Creation University College, Accra, marked the turning point in her career pursuit. “I called my mum and said I want to go and study fashion. She said are you alright? How can you leave engineering and do fashion? I also told my dad and he said it wasn’t possible. That was the new battle,” Esther said.

She, however, said when her father eventually gave his nod for her to do fashion, he opted for her to go to a fashion school in Nigeria rather than Ghana. But Esther said she insisted on going to Ghana.

According to her, she needed a place where she will be away from everybody so she can think and know what she wants. She even paid for her trip to Ghana from her savings, including all the necessary school fees, in dollars.

But that wasn’t the end of her bumpy road to pursuing her dream. Upon her arrival at the school, Esther was shocked to learn that the tuition fee had increased by 20 percent. She was also told by the management that the duration of her course was no longer six months. It dawned on her that the money she had could only cover four months.

Besides, she was told that she can’t finish the course in four months so, she should go back to Nigeria and prepare herself and then come back to Ghana. But Esther would have none of that. Having come that far, she opted to study for four months a two-year course. “So, by the time I finished paying for everything I had less than N20,000. That’s what I had to use for the rest of the class,” she said.

Within the four months, Esther put her heart and soul into learning the job, knowing that she had very limited money to carry her through after paying the extra fee. She said the school’s admin officers admitted that they could not believe that somebody could actually grasp the course the way she did in four months. So, at the end of the four months, Esther came back to Nigeria fulfilled and ready to take on the fashion industry.

Although Esther returned to Nigeria armed with the necessary skills to call the shots in fashion designing, it was quite a struggle convincing her father to allow her to put her skills to use. When she announced her intention to start, her father insisted she must go back to engineering; that allowing her travel to Ghana to learn fashion was just to make her happy and get herself back after going into depression.

“That was another struggle,” Esther told The Nation, adding, “My daddy still kept saying you should go and work in Shell, Chevron; you can’t waste five years in engineering and go and be doing fashion. And that was when I went into shoemaking. That was when I went into roofing. By doing all of these maybe it will make him happy. Fine, they will make him happy, but they won’t make me happy.”

But she was determined to make herself happy. She officially made up her mind to start her fashion business in 2017. That year, she registered Elareall Designs, a female fashion brand focused on bespoke tailoring, fabric crafts, ready-to-wear, and t-shirt branding. But the business itself started in December 2018.

Located in Bariga, a suburb in Lagos, Elareall Designs has been the destination of choice for women in search of classy, quality wears with impeccable finishing. Although, Esther said she works more with Ankara fabrics, she also does English wears, but based on request by customers. She also said plans are on to move into ready-to-wear.

“You know because of COVID, people don’t really want to come for you to measure them. There is no physical contact so, to make it easy for them, we are trying to dabble into ready-to-wear,” she said, adding gleefully, “I am now happy because I am into what has always been on my mind to do.”

There was noticeable lull in the fashion industry, as in other industries, following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria last year March. For instance, Esther said by April, many fashion designers and their customers were still talking about how to survive and not cloth making. Many of them were not doing anything until around May when they started making facemasks to sell.

It was not until August and September that customers started coming back. However, most of them, according to Esther, are now moving into ready-to-wear. “People don’t want to come and measure cloths anymore; they just feel it’s not safe. But we are picking up,” she said, adding, “That’s why I told you we are now trying to move into ready-to-wear so that we will just be producing and people will just be picking up.”

 

‘Opportunities for fashion entrepreneurs huge’

Esther said the fashion industry is lucrative and the opportunities therein for entrepreneurs are equally huge. She said, for instance, that fashion is currently moving to the area of having multi-functional attires and sustainable dresses.

She said unlike before when a particular dress is only for evening wear or an event, for instance, fashion is now evolving to that point where a particular dress can work for different kinds of events; you just have to style it differently.

“That is where fashion is going to. And that is where luxury fashion is going to be more expensive now, because now I can give you attire that can work as an evening wear, it can work for a church, and it can work for a party wear. So, you don’t have to buy new dresses. But now I have to make the cost of that one dress equal to the three dresses you are supposed to buy,” she said.

Esther also gave statistics to underscore the immense opportunities in the industry. She said, for instance, that research shows that the fashion industry is worth over $2.5 trillion globally, with Africa’s share estimated at less than one per cent of that total.

Also, Euromonitor suggests that the Sub-Saharan fashion market is worth $31 billion, with Nigeria accounting for 15 per cent of the $31 billion ($4.7 billion). “With this figures, it shows that the market for fashion entrepreneurs is large, as there are different niches to focus on with respect to our given skills and potentials,” she said.

 

Throwing lifeline to vulnerable women, girls

As lucrative as the industry is, Esther said she was not motivated by the desire to make money, but to leverage her skills in fashion designing to impact lives. “Yes, the money is there, but it’s about the value I add to the community. I have a fashion business, but I want to use my skill to help women,” she declared.

It was a declaration most profound, rooted in Esther’s avowed passion to rise by lifting others. And she demonstrated this much when she offered her services as volunteer instructor, free of charge, to teach women and girls fashion in collaboration with Kindle Africa, a Non-governmental Organisation (NGO).

Kindle Africa is a development organisation dedicated to improving socio-economic conditions of vulnerable women and children across Africa by providing opportunities for formal and informal education towards self-employment.

Esther was invited by the vocational side of the NGO to help train women so that they can also become productive to themselves and their communities. Since then, she has been teaching women and girls who left secondary schools basic fashion designing. The six months empowerment is in two sessions in one year, January to June, July to September.

“It is a six months programme. So, in that six months, we teach them basic fashion designing, how to sow a top, a skirt and all that. So, at the end of the six months, they have an exam; we give them styles to make. So, when they are done making, we now judge by how consistent, how good they have been especially your stitching; your stitching has to be fine,” she explained.

For trainees, the icing on the cake is the opportunity of being placed for internship (IT) with fashion industries, where they learn more and most times, they take them in as their staff. “Some of them learn from their IT and they always want to start off. But I always tell them that it is better they stay for about one year and get grounded especially if the company say they want to retain them,” Esther said.

She said she has trained over 500 women. “In a year, we are able to train 100 women. But we are looking at expanding. If we can expand the class to accommodate more machines because fashion designing is not something you talk about, you should do it.

“As you are being thought, you should also work it. If we can get sponsors and get more machines in class, we can accommodate more and we will increase the number that we are going to be training every year,” Esther said.

The Edo State born fashion enthusiast, who described herself as a ‘Fashion Engineer,’ in reference to her ability to apply her training as an engineer to fashion, said her plan is to establish a fashion hub. Her words: “I have seen people that are trained, and they can sow, but they don’t have the wherewithal to own a shop and buy equipment.

“So, I am looking at having a hub where you have your sowing machine, your pressing iron, and your table to draft and cut. All you do is come with what you want to make, use all the machines you need for your designs and the table, pressing iron and then you go. In fact, that’s what I am looking at first before setting up a fashion training school.”

She also stated that her intend was to be a known brand in the whole of Africa. “That’s how my brand will start and then go global,” she announced.