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Biography
Abiola Salami is the Author of the fast selling Women Empowerment Tool – Who Says It’s A Man’s World: Ageless Lessons for Becoming An Exceptional Woman foreword by Mo Abudu and the Personal Leadership Development Tool – Get MAD: You Can Make A Difference foreword by Christopher Kolade. He is the Creator of Women Making A Difference Awards. He is the Convener of the Senior Professional Ladies Colloquium. He is the Convener of the CHAMP International Women’s Conference. He was recognized by the US Government for Inspiring Leadership. His content, products and programs have engaged over 500,000 women across 30 countries. Abiola is a capacity development expert committed to the empowerment of Young Leaders, Workforce and Women across the globe.
Serving Clients
We adopted the UNDP’s working definition for Capacity Development in iamaCHAMP Group which is ‘the process through which individuals, organizations and societies obtain, strengthen and maintain the capabilities to set and achieve their own development objectives over time.’ Based on this, we run consulting, training and coaching services for organisations and their workforce while we also implement different social impact initiatives to help develop the capacity of women and young leaders to be the Champions they were created to be. That is where the Xceptional Women Network comes in.
Champ Xceptional Women Network
CHAMP Xceptional Women Network is a global network of women committed to achieving exceptional results in their Careers, Businesses, Political Leadership, Marriage and Family life.
Target audience for this initiative
Our primary target are women between the ages of 18-40years old who seek to live, learn & lead everyday like a Champion. That said, we have received amazing testimonials from women above 40 years who have received value from our programs and products over the years. For example, there is a testimony from a well-educated woman in her 70s who attended one of our programs. In her words, “I rediscover myself & renew my confidence anytime I attend your programs”.
Rewarding ‘Xceptional’ Women in Nigeria and the yardsticks of rewarding them
In 2013, we established the Women Making A Difference Awards which is an annual recognition & appreciation award for Young & Top Women who have made sterling contribution to their families, industries & communities. We reward excellence, consistency, uniqueness, competence and exceptional acts that can serve as inspiration to other Young & Top Women. Some of the top women who we have recognized over the past 3 years include Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Mo Abudu, Uchenna Erobu, Amina Oyagbola, Remi Sonaya, Her Excellency Grace Titi Laoye-Tomori and Distinguished Senator Oluremi Tinubu. Also, some of the young women we have recognized include Maureen Iyasele, Adebola Deji-Kurunmi, Rita Ezenwa- Okoro, Kemi Ajumobi, Adesewa Josh and Tolulope Otunoluwa.
The book ‘who Says It’s A Man’s World?
The book started with a discomfort with the old adage “It’s a man’ world” even though there are women everywhere reshaping their world, leading corporations, redefining professionalism, creating change in industries and continents, birthing and nurturing innovations, grooming future leaders and affecting their world in unimaginable ways.
The book is panacea to guarding against other people’s ploy to deplete your self-esteem as a woman, the book will disabuse the minds of both the male and female folks who have however accepted the “weaker vessel” label which is almost now synonymous with women.
What are platforms in place to meet with these women in terms of providing avenue for networking and how often do you do this?
We have created various platforms to empower, celebrate and elevate the status of women. In 2013, we commenced with the Senior Professional Ladies Colloquium which was a part of our annual GAME Conference. By the 2014 edition, the consistent feedback was that we needed to create a bespoke platform focusing on women. This informed the decision to hold the International Women’s Conference in 2015 where we reached out to a combination of 200,000 plus women live and online. Again, we saw the need to create platform for consistent engagement of women as the major feedback from inception. We also have our forthcoming series of Xceptional Women’s Conferences & Xceptional Women’s Masterclasses which is designed as a platform to help women live beyond misperceptions, stereotypes and misplaced emotions as they shatter the glass-ceiling in their careers and leadership pursuits.
How do you see yourself as a man championing women initiative of this magnitude?
I see it as the duty of every human being to champion the cause of empowering and engaging women everywhere. I strongly believe that any opportunity for improvement extended to any woman anywhere is an opportunity extended to every human everywhere.
KEMI AJUMOBI