International Women’s Society 2007
BEING SPEECH BY AMINA OYAGBOLA, CORPORATE SERVICES EXECUTIVE, MTN NIGERIA AT GOLDEN JUBILEE ANNUAL NOVEMBER LUNCHEON OF THE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S SOCIETY ON TUESDAY 13 NOVEMBER 2007.
I am honoured to be present at this distinguished gathering today, not least because this is the jubilee year of a visionary group of women – the International Women’s Society (IWS). I thank you for inviting me to commemorate your Golden Jubilee with you through today’s event. I salute the current president, Mrs. Shasore for being a part of history by being the flag bearer at this momentous time in the society’s life. I also applaud all past presidents for building carefully on the foundation laid by the founders of this great organisation
My intention today is to encourage us to lean towards more innovative and less normative approaches as we seek to build upon the achievements of the past 50 years.
The IWS is a non-governmental organisation which by its structure, aims and objectives is similar to other NGOs committed to socio-economic development in Nigeria, through volunteerism, advocacy and significant investment of effort, time and resources to their cause. But that’s where the similarity ends. The IWS differs distinctly from many other groups because it is comprised solely of the most wonderful of God’s creatures with the capacity for the most Herculean tasks – women. And herein lies the power of the IWS to further initiate changes in our society, on a scale higher than that attained by other organisations so far. No doubt your 50th year of existence is a time for looking back and looking forward. Indeed, there is no better time than now for women to take relevant strides to shape the social, economic and political future of our communities and nations. I say relevant, because the world has changed and is still changing. Individual skills, technological tools and social networks have become more sophisticated and yet more accessible and attainable than ever before. We need to stretch ourselves to wield these skillfully and become innovative catalysts of growth and progress in our continent. The famous American philosopher, Thoreau was known to have said “For every thousand hacking at the leaves of evil, there is one striking at the roots”. Again, these words challenge us to discover innovative and more effective means of achieving the goals we have set for ourselves. Because we can indeed address the evils and problems in society in ways that are effective, sustainable and of lasting impact. Some of the ways we can do this are through forming public/private partnerships- building sustainable organisations- encouraging female entrepreneurship and providing strategic mentoring services.
Permit me to give brief examples from my professional and personal experience which will buttress the avenues I have listed above.
As the Corporate Services Executive of MTN Nigeria and the Executive Director of the MTN Foundation, one of my major responsibilities which relates to the point I am making, is to drive the implementation of the CSR charter of MTN Nigeria. Through strategic consultations with a diverse stakeholder base, we identified 3 key intervention areas: education, health and economic empowerment. We also identified that partnerships with private, public and civil service organisations with an emphasis on building the capacity of these organisations, were key to ensuring the sustainability of our projects. Today we are successfully running the MTN Schools Connect project in 12 states, in partnership with SchoolNet Nigeria – an NGO that focuses on ICT education. The number of women benefiting from our rural telephone project has also swelled from five women in one state, to over 300 women in nine states. The rural telephone project is also being carried out successfully in partnership with Growing Businesses Foundation. These are just some of the projects of the MTN Foundation, which have benefited from our unique approach of partnering to achieve maximum impact.
I am pleased to know that the IWS and the MTN Foundation have parallel interests. Amongst the several projects of the IWS, the Widows’ Trust Fund, the LUTH Library Trolley and the Skills Acquisition centre, are similar to these high-impact initiatives that I have just mentioned. I encourage the IWS to similarly identify partnerships that will widen and deepen the impact of these laudable projects.
On a personal level, I have identified that there is a dearth of women in leadership who will be stellar role models to hundreds of up and coming young women. Not only that, an increase in the number of women leaders will contribute significantly to socio-political and economic growth. Consequently, I set up a platform for mentoring young and mid-career women professionals to overcome the particularly harsh and difficult Nigerian business/career terrain. I chose to name this platform Women In Successful Careers (WISCAR). Its establishment is based on my conviction: that those of us who have the opportunity of serving as business leaders also have an obligation to help other women become not only self leaders but business leaders too. And the WISCAR motto – “Up, Up, the ladder” attests clearly to this conviction. The first WISCAR workshop which held last month, had over 70 women professionals from diverse backgrounds in attendance, and is well on its way to reaching out to triple this number through its next phase of activities.
In sum, the lesson I hope to impart through sharing examples from my personal and professional experiences is that the IWS has more undiscovered and untapped opportunities, partnerships and tools that can be harnessed to leave a legacy greater than those of the last 50 years. Doing this will involve sensing major opportunities as they arise and setting new trends in socio-economic development efforts. And because you are women – you can and you will.
I wish the IWS ‘full steam ahead’ as you go on to even greater achievements in service to humanity. May the next 50 years be every bit as successful as the ones that we are marking today.
Well done and best wishes.