Ngover Ihyembe-Nwankwo, the corporate executive passionate about gender parity

Ngover Ihyembe-Nwankwo is currently the Head Coverage at Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria and the chairperson of the WIMBIZ (Women in Management, Business & Public Service) executive council, where she is focused on deepening and re-enforcing their role as the catalyst that elevates the status and influence of women and their contribution to nation building.

Ngover is deeply passionate about advocacy for Gender Parity and supporting women to achieve their full potential.

She holds a Master’s degree in International Management from the University of Exeter, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Combined Social Sciences (Politics, Philosophy & Economics) from the University of Durham, both in the United Kingdom. She is a corporate and institutional banking executive with 20 years’ experience in financial services across a wide range of functions including, corporate relationship management, sales, credit, transaction banking, remedial account management and risk.

Prior to joining RMB, she was an Executive Principal with Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria, responsible for anchoring the bank’s international corporates portfolio, and was also previously responsible for structuring and implementing working capital and securities services solutions for corporate finance and capital markets clients across Standard Chartered Bank’s Africa footprint.

Her hobbies include reading, mentoring, travelling and culinary arts. She is happily married to a wonderfully supportive husband and they are blessed with 2 lovely daughters.

In the beginning

I grew up in a family of three girls, no brothers, and I think that really shaped the way I turned out. I grew up not realising there were any gender roles. There were just people. It probably was not until I got my first job that I realised that there was a difference or there was supposed to be a difference in the way men and women were perceived. Truthfully, I never saw it.

I am the first in the family, so I grew up with a sense of responsibility. I also grew up in a close-knit family and I’d like to believe that my father is the first experience of being with a feminist because he was and is still supportive of women, and playing their roles in the society without being discriminated. I think that definitely shaped my thinking around what I could or could not do. Also, that shaped a very strong sense of justice and fairness and that is one of the reasons why I am very passionate about the social causes I am invested in and particularly around gender parity.

Responsibilities being Head, Coverage at Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria

As the Head of Coverage at Rand Merchant Bank, I anchor the bank’s relationship. All the corporate and institutional relationships reside with the coverage team. We are the relationship managers. We advocate for clients, bring on board new clients, support existing clients, deepen relationship with our clients to make sure that we are bringing forth the entire bank’s intellectual capabilities to bear in transactions.

As the head of coverage, essentially, my role is to manage all my stakeholders internally and ensure that all our client relationships are progressing, clients are happy, well served and we are most importantly helping our clients to do great things and to succeed.

Why Rand?

Very interesting question. I started my career at City Bank Nigeria (now called NIB), and I moved on to Standard Chartered where I worked for about 15 years then transitioned to Rand Merchant Bank a little over two years ago, because it was a great role and opportunity to work with a growing organisation and quite bullish about Nigeria. The bank had an impressive suite of products and services that I could deliver to the client from the portfolio. So, moving to RMB was an easy decision for me to make, and it has been really worthwhile. It is an amazing place to be. It is the largest financial institution in Africa by market capitalisation. It is a formidable investment bank and over the years, the bank has continued to outperform its peers in terms of efficiency. We believe very much in solutionist thinking.

So, we work essentially with our clients to meet their needs and we go into every conversation with an open mind and with blue sky thinking, to really look at what the challenges and aspirations are, then we design our products and services to achieve their full potential. So, it has really been exciting! Something that makes RMB tick is our entrepreneurial spirit. Every employee is regarded as an entrepreneur and is encouraged to think like an entrepreneur and to drive activities to meet the bank’s goals. Also, RMB is unique on being very focused on community and social impact. There is really a sense that the bank cares about its employees, its impact on the communities where it operates and that the values are lived every single day. Even during Covid, RMB has had to adapt to the challenges by adopting innovative ways to stay in contact

Being Chairperson of WIMBIZ (Women in Management, Business & Public Service) Executive Council

My role in WIMBIZ is Chairperson, Executive Council. The Executive Council is made up of very strong independent accomplished women who volunteer their time and expertise to support the WIMBIZ headquarters to run all the programs of the organisation. The EC is tasked with setting up strategies to better the organisation. We also support through fundraising as well as stakeholder relationship and management. It has been an amazing journey for me, getting to work so closely with the women of the EC. They have all become sister friends as I call them, and we have all been quite focused on the WIMBIZ course. It has been very busy but extremely rewarding.

Read Also: WIMBIZ demands increased women participation in public sector

20th anniversary of WIMBIZ

It is interesting that we are celebrating our 20 years anniversary at the annual conference. The theme for this year’s conference, is “Celebrating Legacy”. It has really been an opportunity for us to step back and look at what WIMBIZ has achieved since it has been in existence. It has been mind-blowing to imagine that an organisation that started with the thought of one person then sold to others, and they all came together and formerly established it; WIMBIZ. They started this organisation and it has been growing stronger each year, especially as I Iook back to see all that has been achieved in terms of the number of people that have been impacted, which currently stands at over 200,000 women.

As we are planning the 20th anniversary conference, we felt it was important to give people the sense of the scope and the breadth of the organisation. That was why we started out with the Big Sister Program which we ran last week, 20th – 22nd October across six locations; Bonny Island, Uyo, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Lagos Island and Lagos Mainland. This week, we will celebrate 15 legends, audacious women who shattered the glass ceilings long before we knew the phrase and paved the way for us to follow. Following this, we have a mixed gender tournament holding at the Ikoyi Club on October 31, 2021. We choose golf because it’s a sport that most women don’t interact with, but it is great for networking, C-suite conversations and relationship building with mentors and sponsors.

The Golf tournament brings together C-Suite level men and women playing and winning together as a team and more importantly connecting with each other. We have the Arts and Fashion Exhibition, a chance for us to have amazing young talents showcase their work to the WIMBIZ family. Get more women interested and more knowledgeable about what it means to invest in art. There will be a fashion show, again giving an opportunity for some amazing female designers to show their work. Next week, we get into the conference week, we will start up with a full day virtual Masterclass. The idea is to replace the breakout sessions we usually have at our physical conference. We have got interesting anchors and panellists for each of the heart burning topical sessions. The conference will be on November 4-5, 2021. It’s a one-and-a-half-day event. We have an amazing line up of plenary speakers, keynote speakers and as usual, we have our fiery debate happening on day 2. It is going to be about 2 weeks non-stop of events, celebrating legacy and bringing people together and really passing the message about gender parity and what it means for our country to achieve her full potential.

Passion for advocacy for Gender Parity and supporting women to achieve their full potential

I was born to support and advocate for gender parity. Coming from a family of three girls and no brother, and being Nigerian, and I am sure many other African women would relate with this. Very early on, I would hear comments like, “Oh my God, there isn’t a boy…” I have to admit hearing this over and over again, I could not really understand it and certainly at home, it was not really brought up. Not like it was an issue in my family. In fact, my father was seemingly oblivious of the fact that there were girls or boys, there were just children. Then he pushed us to excel at school and undertake several extra-curricular activities, he taught us to really open and expand our minds. And as I mentioned, it was not until I started work that I then saw some discriminatory practices and bias against women, and I was very surprised because that was not the way I had perceived the world to be but then, it opened my eyes to the fact that truly discrimination exists and women face a lot of pressure and challenges with just being able to stay in their career, and being a professional woman, I would face those challenges. So, when I found out about WIMBIZ, I was so excited because I wanted to get the chance to meet with other women who had or were going through similar challenges and get tips and support to achieve. I was also excited because I now have the opportunity to give back through participating in the various programs. I attended my first conference, got hooked and signed up. I have been with WIMBIZ for about 14 years.

My passion for gender parity really started quite young, and with each passing year comes a burning desire to see equality and parity particularly for Nigeria where a lot of the messaging we see and hear is doom and gloom. I believe that the country has a lot of potential and can be great, thus, I believe that one of the ways to unlock the prosperity that exist in this country is to bring together both men and women to work together for the greater good.

We are doing so already; we do see a number of women in leadership positions and amazing men who are very supportive but we also need to do a lot more around strengthening the laws and policies. We also need to be intentional around where we want to see women and how we want to involve women. And like men, I believe that women should be free to choose what they want to be and some women may choose not to be in formal employment. In summary, what is most important is that there should be a level playing field, investing equally for both men and women, and there is a punishment for anyone who discriminates against women.

Being a corporate and institutional banking executive with 20 years’ experience in financial services across a wide range of functions

My years in financial services are across the various products and functions I have been fortunate to work in. It shaped my thinking around success. It has built competencies and honed my ability to communicate, negotiate and has helped me to look at things from several perspectives before reaching a decision. It has given me the opportunity to lead teams which has taught me a lot about myself: I have been able to refine, grow and even learn from my various team members. Also, to understand teamwork and bringing people together with like minds in the right environment and right leadership style can be transformational, both for the individuals in the team and the organisation as a whole. This has been a learning point for me and highlight in my career.

In what ways were you responsible for structuring and implementing working capital and securities services solutions for corporate finance & capital markets clients across Standard Chartered Bank’s Africa footprint?

In Standard Chartered, I started off with transaction banking, initially under cash management and solutions, and then moving on to head the transaction banking business which included trade and then to relationship management. One of the roles that I held that was particularly interesting for me was being a part of the finance team for Standard Chartered outside Nigeria. Coming back to the country, I was responsible for working with the investment banking and transaction banking side of the business to bring both together on the corporate finance deals we were working on. So, typically when you do corporate banking transactions, you have a very small team who is involved in the transactions because you need to ensure that the information walls are tight, and not all details about the transaction would be in the open. My role was essentially to sit as part of the deal teams, and look at the entire transaction Wholistically ensuring that we bring all part of the bank to meet the client’s needs, and when we put the solution forward to the client, it works.

Women empowerment

For me, empowerment means to hand somebody power. And there is a school of thought that says power is taken and not handed, but I believe empowerment really is allowing someone to come into their own power. There are several forms that this can take; it’s by removing barriers and discriminatory laws. Sometimes, it can be through providing capacity building such as teaching, learning, helping people acquire skills and competences, mentorship, providing access to capital and so on.

Women empowerment to me is being able to support women to achieve their full potential, whatever that may be.

Are there enough women leaders? How can this be better improved?

We can argue that everybody is a leader in their own right. We lead in our communities, homes and some other areas where we find ourselves.

What I would like to see though are more women in leadership positions in management, business and public service. To answer if they are enough in those areas, I would say “No” and the statistics speak for themselves. When we look at the proportion of women in business running large scale industries comparative to men, there are not enough women. When you look at women who are starting businesses and are running micro sized businesses, there are a lot of women probably even more women than men running micro sized businesses. For me, it is how you support these women to transition from micro to medium and then large. Same for Management, when you look at the intake in most industries, you would find that across some sectors, you can find an equal balance with men and women who come on board. But as they progress on the career ladder, women sadly fall away.

Of both listed and unlisted companies¸ looking at statistics, in leadership, how many women are CEOs? We need to understand what the pipeline of female leadership is even to companies that already have female sitting on their boards or sitting at the hem of affairs.

First of all, a lot of work needs to go into understanding of what is holding women back. That is why our work at WIMBIZ through the WIMBIZ Research is to really interrogate the issues and look at what lasting recommendations can be effected to make some changes happen. We need to look at laws and policies to ensure we are on an equal level playing field. We also need to support women who get into top management roles to be the best that they can be.

I also think we need to be intentional about what we would want to see. Personally, I would like to see a 50:50 men and women in leadership. We need to be very intentional about the target and do the right things on getting the right people into the role.

So, it is clear that a lot of work needs to be done. As WIMBIZ, we are playing our role. We have held a number of townhall sessions and continue to educate women around the constitution, electoral process and we applaud the many other stakeholders who are working tirelessly to get many women involved in politics.

Do we have enough women on boards? What is the way out?

We don’t have enough women on boards. We believe that we need to understand what is pushing women away. Why we are seeing women falling away in the mid-career level. We have done some work around this and have come up with a gender scorecard which would be launched at the conference. The idea behind the gender scorecard is that it gives companies a transparent way to measure gender parity and helps them to create tangible workable steps to achieving gender parity, which they can measure overtime to ascertain their progress. We believe that if this is adopted as it should be, we would certainly see more women coming through, staying in their organisations and transitioning into senior management and of course given an opportunity to see more women emerge as board members, CEOs and Chairmen.

What is your take on women in politics? How important is it for women to be involved?

Looking at political representation, the numbers are abysmal. When we look at the States, we do not have a female Governor, also the state and federal legislative houses, and you look at the overall representation of women which I believe stands below 5% today, it is important for women to be involved because a lot of the things we are advocating for would be much easier to be achieved. I dare say we may not have certain issues we face today, if we had women in the room when the laws or policies are made. I think it’s not for women alone but for the country as a whole. We need diversity; diversity of thoughts which brings about creativity. It provides the avenue for people to come up with innovative solutions for people to grapple with over the years. And we can agree that there is the need for that creativity because of where we see our country today. Looking at security in our country today, studies reveal that when you involve women in conflict resolution, you have longer lasting peace. So, it is quite clear to me that the absence of women in our political terrain, is partly responsible for where we see ourselves today. So, I believe we all want to see a change, to see Nigeria of our dreams. Then, we have to ensure that the electoral laws and policies are designed in such a way to give access to a diverse number of people, men and women, and we begin to see representation of leadership in politics across all demographics which is not what we see today.

2023 is drawing nigh, in what ways can women who desire to get involved in politics get involved? How is WIMBIZ helping to encourage more women to join?

We would like to see more women taking up political positions in 2023, and my personal wish is to see a female vice president and of course, a female president in my lifetime.

WIMBIZ is helping women get into politics through collaboration with a number of NGOs and stakeholders. We have also been running townhall events, put out communiques around our thoughts on the current electoral laws and the changes that need to be made to level the playing field. We are also encouraging all our women to get their PVCs, to go out and vote. We are also encouraging our women to support other women through the electoral process. We recognise not everyone wants to run, but then there are a number of roles that we can all play, through providing campaign support, going out to vote and just being there and cheering them on to victory. WIMBIZ is non-partisan and yes, we do believe that the Nigeria of our dreams is still possible, and can be achieved with the involvement of women. That is what we keep advocating for.

What day is it that you can never forget and why?

This is an interesting question. There are lot of days that one would not forget for various reasons. I would probably say it was when I had my first child, and the reason I would not forget was because it was a traumatic 24 hours and every day, I am grateful that we both pulled through, but I am aware of the many women who lose their lives through maternal mortality, and it makes me happy that we came through it. It is important that as a country, we must have the right healthcare and support, and again, we must have the right policies and laws to ensure that women losing their lives at child birth is not a norm.

It often requires women to put in extra effort to get a desired goal. What do you think is responsible for this and how can this change?

Yes, it often does require women to put in extra effort to get a desired goal and I think it’s because women shoulder quite a lot of the domestic burden, and there is always a thing for women that we have to do more, a lot to prove. I think more is always expected of us, unfairly sometimes. And that also puts tremendous pressure and strain. We see it replicated as well even when women attain leadership positions. There are some things that a man would do and be overlooked but when a woman does it, she becomes a pariah and then attacked and vilified. WIMBIZ put a statement to this effect about some weeks ago because we see it happen a lot in public service. If we really want to see a change, I believe it is about educating people about what is right and wrong and penalise people who cross the boundaries and elevate women to rightful position standing alongside men to drive the country forward.

How important is it for women to live prepared so that when opportunities come, they will be ready?

All over the world, both men and women have to be prepared. So, my message is that both men and women. I am careful when I say this because WIMBIZ is very clear that it is not a gender war. It is about both men and women pulling together. As I have said repeatedly, if we need to see progress, we need to harness the fullness of Nigeria’s human capacity and that is both men and women. So, when I reflect on the question of being around when opportunities come, my answer to both men and women is, if you are unprepared, unsure and don’t put your hands up, often, those opportunities would pass you by. So, it is vital that you are thinking of the next thing you can do, staying willing and open to possibilities so that when the opportunities come, you can grab them.

Final words

It has been a pleasure sharing my thoughts with you, Kemi. I have been a big fan of yours for many years. I see and watch you. I am excited and elated. The sky obviously is the starting point for you. For us at WIMBIZ, we are very grateful for the opportunity for us to speak about the work that we are doing. We are very encouraged to see strong women like you achieving and pushing pass the challenges that you must have had to go through. And this is to tell you that I see you, appreciate you and as WIMBIZ, we are definitely rooting for you as well as every Nigerian woman. We want to see you all live to your fullest potential, seeing all women driving and pushing. We want to see inclusive prosperity.