Self-awareness, assessment and helping others are ways for women to ignite their potential and empower others to assume influential positions in Nigeria and globally, business leaders have said.
These nuggets were shared at the 2022 Global Possibilities Summit (GPS) hosted by The Inspired Women of Worth (I-WOW). The virtual event, which took place on March 25, 2022, was aimed to ignite the power within women by unlocking their personal, financial, and entrepreneurial excellence for success mind-set in a post-lockdown world.
Founded by Udo Okonjo, the chief executive officer at Fine & Country West Africa Ltd in Johannesburg, South Africa, I-WOW has grown to become a force to be reckoned with, having directly impacted the lives of more than 14,000 women over the course of 12 years.
“This year’s summit will not be any different. Just about everyone seems to be doing their best to either thrive or survive the realities we find ourselves in which are sometimes challenging. Such moments are the biggest revealer of leaders rising to the occasion to do what they were destined for,” Esiri Agbeyi, the chairperson for 2022 GPS said during her welcome address.
Speaking at the event, Tara Fela-Durotoye, the founder and chief executive officer at House of Tara International, said igniting the power from within means recognizing that super power that one has, tapping into it and then using it in service and aid of others.
“It is really about helping others to feel and take it one step at time. Give that support that is required to talk about it because the more people talk about it, the more they make it happen. And providing the spiritual enforcement also helps too,” Tara Fela-Durotoye further said.
Commenting in the same vein, Audrey Joe-Ezigbo, the deputy managing director at Falcon Corporation Limited, noted that when we talk about power, it is the refusal to be average by wanting to do more.
“I always see it from a transformation perspective. It is the ability to apply yourself towards different things and create phenomenal change. And all of us have the capacity to do it, but only a few know what it takes to ignite the power in them,” she said.
On how women can bring out the power from within or engage others, Joe-Ezigbo suggested making out time for them to share their problems, discussing the things that gives them a sense of fulfillment, helping them to think on the possibilities on what else they can do with their lives, the financial power they have, amongst others.
“When we have more fulfilled women who are living their best selves, they are literally recreating the narrative of feminism and womanhood of society by bringing women who understands what she carries so that she can go forth and transform others.”
On her part, Nkiru Olumide-Ojo, the executive head, regional marketing and communication of Standard Bank Group, South Africa charged women to help others to develop a sense of self awareness.
Read also: Aid for Productivity: Empowering women through innovation
“Self-awareness is the basis of everything, for example conscious growth. We need to help people to take the light so that they can shine more and recognize how much power they have within them,” Olumide-Ojo said.
Globally, women and girls represent half of the world’s population and, therefore, also half of its potential. And it is believed that women now play a very vital role in human progress and have a significant place in society.
However, gender equality is constrained by cultural practices which elevate patriarchy to an absurd degree. Usually, gender inequalities are concentrated on women at the bottom of the global value chain in terms of lowest paid jobs, subcontracted work, self-employment with little or no access to decent work, social protection etc.
Although, progress towards gender parity has advanced at different relative levels and spreads across different regions of the world. According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), Western Europe is the region that has the narrowest gender gap (77.6 percent so far) and has further improved in 2021.
North America (76.4 per cent) is ranked second, with an average score five points below Western Europe, followed closely by Latin America and the Caribbean (72.1 per cent), and the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region (71.2 per cent).
And East Asia and the Pacific (68.9 per cent), more than a full point ahead of sub-Saharan Africa (67.2per cent), which is followed by South Asia (62.3per cent) and the Middle East and North Africa, which is the region with the widest gap (60.9per cent).
Of the people that helped recognize her power, Lucy Quist, the managing director at Morgan Stanley, gave credit to her parents. “They always felt that I had the power to be whoever I wanted to be.”
“I feel that we have a collective responsibility and ability to work together to ignite others to be part of the solutions. We need to move outside hardship, beyond poverty and all the inequalities of the world,”
“How do we affect others by the power you have to ignite their own power and become part of the collective to drive the solutions because there are a lot of conversations on how to encourage each other. But I think we have to evolve by stopping those conversations and completely doing the opposite because we forget the power that we have within,” Quist said.
The Ghanaian business leader also added that if we were going to turn the conversation round, we have to follow through by not just touching a few people, but holding their hands to make them feel and know that they are charged with the best power within themselves.
Apart from the town hall conversation, the event also had keynote speakers who provided insights on how women can increase leadership power and influence others.
Phyllis Sarkaria, the founder of the Sarkaria Group said, “Pay attention to how many questions you are asked versus the statements you make in conversations. “It provides an opportunity to provide self-awareness and listening skills.”
She added, “So, as you ignite the power within yourself, you have insider benefits of self-awareness and listening to influence others. It hopes to challenge you to create connections to increase your power.”
On the common factors restraining women from thriving in the business world, Akintoye Akindele, the chairman at Platform Capital, listed social norms, legal discrimination, finance & assets, access to network & information, confidence & risk preferences and education & skills gap.
“Gather skills and experience, seek mentorship and sponsorship for specific needs and be more intentional in your goals and network. The importance of mentorship cannot be understated. Having someone to discuss concerns, difficulties and aspirations will make a profound difference in the trajectory of your career and life,” Akindele advised.
Apart from gender inequality, mental stress also affects women from unleashing their full potential for success. According to a 2016 study published by the Journal of Brain & Behaviour, Women are twice as likely to suffer from severe stress and anxiety as men.
Also, the American Psychological Association reports a gender gap year after year showing that women consistently report higher stress levels.
“Mental health poses unique challenges for women throughout their lives from the stress experience from when their body starts to change at the period of puberty to the stage of pregnancy,”
“During pregnancy, there is a dramatic and structural change in women’s brains and in their neurological functions over the nine months period. They lose full control of their schedule, time has to differ to the timing and schedule of the child,” Lanre Olusola of The Catalyst said.
Olusola added that apart from the activities women face as mothers, they also go through the pressure of having to discover their purpose, authentic voice, essence for which they were creating, and having to find the solution that they were born to be.
“Women are struggling with their mission, vision, authentic selves, simply because they are married or they have children, dependent as if everything falls on them. They are also pressured with menopause and struggling with gender inequality,” he said.
To address other mental health triggers in women, the recognized Emotional and Behavioural Change Coach suggested that women should begin to take responsibility for the only thing that they have control over which is their mind. “They have to develop a unique strategy for managing these pressures through mindful neediness.”
