I believe entrepreneurs are born, some innate characteristics in me drove me in the serial entrepreneurship direction. My ability to thrive under pressure, multitask and dream are the foundations but I have taken the time to seek formal and informal knowledge and this has improved and enhanced my entrepreneurship journey. Mastering entrepreneurship can be attributed to taking on every challenge that comes your way and using them at every opportunity to experiment with both new things and innovation of the way old things are done for improvement. Entrepreneurship is closely linked to finding solutions for problems.
I hesitate to consider myself successful, I am definitely more successful than some and less successful than so many others, I’m in-between there somewhere trying to improve my success rate and bottom line. The first thing I would like to correct is the false understanding that the opposite of success is failure. The opposite of success is never having tried! Failure is success in the making if you don’t give up, Failure is also inevitable. I have allowed myself to embrace failure and learn from it, success is the residue left when the failures have been mostly eliminated and exhausted.
This is us. @Wimbiz @aishahmad @nneninja @ChizorMalize @BukkyGeorge @NimiAkinkugb @OSAYIAO @ToyinO1 @tounokewale pic.twitter.com/asC4b2gWVJ
— ronke onadeko (@ronke_onadeko) June 13, 2016
Time and chance happens to all women in equal measure but our preparedness for the opportunities that come our way varies, the skills we arm ourselves with are the reasons why some are heads above others in success and it is here that the wheat is separated from the chaff. A successful person has to acquire soft skills to understand others first and then to be understood, it is important to have charisma to endear people to you and the ability to connect with others and affirm people are added benefits to ones business skills, it causes some to excel more than others and is linked to advancement of one’s career or business path.
The perceived advantage men have over women in the workplace are represented by titles, power, pay check sizes and packages, visibility and promotions. As an entrepreneur I have taken charge of all these elements so it’s been a different journey for me compared to most women. I consider myself a “BossLady” for this reason, I take the gains and losses of this territory in my stride , moreover, womanhood has never put me at a disadvantage. My feminism brings the benefits of intuitiveness, empathy and thoughtfulness though I wouldn’t consider myself void of assertiveness, competitiveness or other perceived male traits it’s just that as a woman I lace them with receptivity and a nurturing nature. If we women play it right we get the best of both worlds
When you have the right perspective, you’ll put in as much effort on a #Friday as you would on a #Monday. #Motivation #qotd #tgif pic.twitter.com/noNfTKCcMt
— WIMBIZ (@Wimbiz) February 10, 2017
Dominance of conversations if constructive draw positive attention to a participant and this enhances the perception of leadership qualities in men who have perfected it, women need to bring themselves out of their comfort zones and get into the conversation, quoting Sheryl Sandberg. I will say “lean in” . To avoid being on the edge of conversations challenge the rules of the game in the room, come prepared p, bring on your best game always and differentiate your arguments, draw attention to yourself with pictorial, numerical or other audiovisual illustrations. We all have to study the group’s we operate within and determine which way would be advantageous to us, we should not forget that verbal arguments are just one way to be heard.
WIMBIZ being a not for profit organization relies on resource support – we call on men now and again as speakers, facilitators, moderators etc, the men and organizations they run assist and support us financially and collaborate with the organization to achieve our goals to empower women, more so one of the founders of WIMBIZ is a man and over the years he has been a part of shaping the strategic direction of the organisation. These men of influence have partnered with us and enabled us roll out empowering activity year after year and we are endeared to them and grateful for their support and contributions.
Currently in Ibadan to train 210 girls as part of our Big Sister program. #WIMBIZBSP pic.twitter.com/5RPDIYJdkh
— WIMBIZ (@Wimbiz) March 22, 2017
The women that inspire me are everyday women, mothers that keep the balls in the air most of the time juggling their life’s, skills and time between home, work and family, women that have found their passion and are true to their calling and are living their true life’s inspire me, pioneer women in business sectors that are making young girls think being a minister, or television or radio station owner or technology magnate or even bank chairman are normal occurrences and attainable and accessible inspire me, most inspiring for me are Nigerian women who haven’t given up in despair in-spite of the gloomy political, economic and social horizon we face in Nigeria and still get up daily with hope in their hearts to make sure there is a safe and nurturing environment for their families.
I commend all the women of our time that have ventured into the political space and have put themselves out their for the greater good of Nigeria, served their terms honorably and ended with their credibility and dignity intact. This is the hope for the future of democracy in Nigeria. Dilution of the political landscape with gender equality has great value for the nation as a whole and I wish to see more women take on this challenge. There is no void in politics so women have to work their way into these opportunities systematically. WIMBIZ has had a couple of town hall meetings to open up and encourage women’s interest in politics and governance.
My gender equality quote: God is purposeful, all His creation are with purpose and were designed for accomplishments, this makes me conclude that if women didn’t have a grand purpose the world would be all male. The bible says He made them male and female. Women have to find and fulfill these plan and purpose of God.
This article has been published previously in Genevieve Magazine