I had been aware of WIMBIZ from its founding year,
the concept was interesting but not high on my priority at that time. Timing as
they say is crucial because our times and seasons vary. I enjoyed the gist and
snippets of information I gathered about the conferences and other activity and
at that time it was more than enough for me, somehow you hear more social gist
than substance, perhaps people were hoarding the real value, making light of
the substance within or didn't know how to express the value they were getting
from the organisation and the networks.
Over the years as I got more grounded in my
business space I began to feel the need to connect with other professional
women for many reasons:
- Network outside my sector: I knew I needed to start meeting people across sectors, outside my existing network and building relationships in professional and structured organizations. WIMBIZ immediately came to mind.
- Benchmarking: I needed to find yardsticks to measure my journey, achievements and goals against my superiors and to a lesser degree my peers, particularly to get a closer look at their business and career trajectory to model mine.
- Capacity Building: There was evidently a need to equip myself with a broader economic, business and personal knowledge on a wider range of topics that wouldn't normally cross my space.
- Expose myself to more Nigeria business practice and methods. There was a business gap I knew existed having worked only as an entrepreneur in a self structured environment and in international organizations, understanding the Nigeria corporate context was important to have and I was naturally curious to have a range of people to check in with periodically.
- Social Responsibility: Time management issues caused me to consolidate my social responsibility activity towards women, entrepreneurs, youth etc that over the years it had spread across many organisations, FateFoundation, Lagos Business Schools, EDC, Success Digest Leadership Academy, the IFCs STEP program & several tertiary educational facilities in the south west.
The Journey Begins:
I attended a few Annual Lectures and Conferences
depending on whether I liked the speaker, I found the theme interesting
and even in some cases based on too numerous to ignore text messages and emails
from WIMBIZ devotees.
The events I attended were worth it and easily was
value for money. That's how the journey started, continued, deepened and
improved. Then I joined the devotees in pulling people formerly like me into
the fold.
At the start of 2013, I got invited to participate
in planning the 2013 Annual Conference which I agreed to with trepidation. I
worked with some brilliant and extraordinary result oriented women and spent
plenty of sacrificial hours making sure we delivered great content, while meeting
the need of modern day women and looking for partnerships to support the
conference in excellence. It was both fulfilling and rewarding and I was back
on the planning committee in 2014 and 2015. I devoted much of my time to
fundraising through individuals and corporates to augment and support some of
our flag ship events. In 2013, I also had the opportunity to facilitate at
the mentee workshop sharing on my favorite topics: Networking, Goal Setting and
Actualization.
I have acted as a mentor for three years and
assisted various secretariat activity. There is much bonding that takes place
and learning across board. I participated in the 3-6 month internship
program to help young women get practical work and professional experience, it
guides and prepares them on making their CVs employment ready, positioning them
for employability and helping them transit from tertiary school life to work
life seamlessly.
WIMBIZ is not all work, there's lots of fun too.
There are a few clubs that help us de-stress and gives us the opportunity to
enjoy our hobbies with like minded women, one of which is the Food and Tavel
club. I've acted as co-chair of this club and met many foodies, we meet monthly
to try out new restaurants, recipes, cuisines of other lands and local food. We
get instructions and learn how to make the food under the chef's instruction.
As if that's not enough fun, anchoring the associates inductions in Abuja and
Lagos and the after parties are some of the ways we've let our hair down while
welcoming and meeting new associates.
In 2015, under the WIMBIZ umbrella I got the
opportunity to be a speaker at the Global Summit of Women conference in São
Paulo, Brazil on Renewable Energy and was invited to serve on the WIMBIZ
Executive Council. I understand the enormity and responsibility of being a role
model, moreover those who had served before me had made huge strides that one
would have to improve on which is no mean feat but what better platform to ride
on to meet my CSR goals of improving the lot of career women, young women and
female entrepreneurs. WIMBIZ has now become more of giving back with the
satisfaction of seeing the impact in the life's of women and their families and
youths.
My wish is that every woman gives WIMBIZ a try and
makes up their mind from an insiders perspective. You will be pleasantly
surprised. 15 years of building and growth has gone into WIMBIZ and it is
stronger and better than ever. I look forward to welcoming the new entrants and
collaborating with those of us already part of WIMBIZ. It's been a
colorful journey so far and I'm looking forward to the adventures to
come.
