It’s hard to observe certain women without getting a burst of inspiration. You want to squeeze out every drop of your potential and become the greatest version of yourself, because of them.
Look around you, there are hundreds of such women killing it daily and providing this much-needed inspiration- from influencers on social media to celebrities on TV, the corporate goddesses that you adore, and the lady next-door defying sky-high odds to make ends meet.
Certain qualities keep showing up, and some Nigerian women typify these traits as role models for young and old to emulate. What are these qualities and who are the women?
Brilliance
How do you tell the world of your brilliance? One way is to do amazing work for the whole world to see. Kemi Adetiba, nicknamed the Bruce Lee of Nigeria visuals, fits this bill.
Her brilliance has gone through different phases in Nigeria’s entertainment industry. Adetiba started out as a presenter on radio, did some television, and went on to direct award-winning music videos. Her most recent claims to brilliance are the popular movies The Wedding Party and King of Boys.
Excellence
Champions often stick to a culture of excellence even when the odds are stacked against them. Look at Dupe Olusola, excellence is written all over her professional path in bold fonts.
Olusola was recently appointed MD/CEO of Transcorp Hotels and will be leaving her role as Group Head, Marketing at the UBA Group. She is a passionate advocate of women in leadership and was also was CEO of Teragro in the agricultural sector before UBA.
Leadership
Rosalynn Carter said: “A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.”
Are you looking for a woman to inspire you in a position of leadership? Look no further than Vuakpor Muoghereh– she’s our Chief Operations Officer at GIG Mobility.
Muoghereh has proven her leadership expertise in different capacities over the years and is now operating in a space largely dominated by men. She is at the forefront of operations for Africa’s leading technology-powered mobility platform.
Mettle
As the world now comes to terms with the fact that women are as brave, resilient, and spirited as men, even more so sometimes, it is important that we continue to hold up examples of women who exhibit this quality in abundance. Cue Kiki Mordi, of the #SexforGrades fame.
Mordi produced a viral documentary for the BBC that exposed sexual harassment of students by lecherous lecturers in Nigeria and Ghana. She’s still championing women’s rights and does not look to be backing down.
Diligence
How better to describe diligence than a woman who has been hard at work for eight years, trying to solve logistics problems with healthcare in Nigeria? Despite all the hurdles that the Nigerian business climate presents.
Temie Giwa Tubosun is the founder and CEO of LifeBank, a Lagos-based blood and oxygen delivery company that connects registered blood banks to hospitals and patients in need of urgent blood supplies.
Before that, in 2012, she started a foundation called ‘One Percent Blood Donation Enlightenment Foundation’ to end the blood shortage in Nigeria by educating people on the importance of blood donation and improving the distribution network of blood in blood banks.
Tenacity
What about the superwoman who is holding down her role as a housewife, with the weight of the family on her shoulder as she keeps everyone taken care of. Or the cleaning lady who has to endure a hectic day of scrubbing and sweeping, only to return the next day to continue.
There’s your next-door neighbour who is an Experience Officer at the GIGM terminal, always wearing a smile, despite worries over her father’s fading health or her sister’s marital challenges.
The woman who has run the food shack down the road for many years now, and her daughter who is at her side, faithfully helping out.
In every corner of Nigeria, and the globe, women are inspiring us to do much more. Happy International Women’s Day 2020, as we continue to push for an equal world!
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