I spoke to my mother Dr. Olatokunbo Somolu. She graduated top of her class from the University of Lagos (UNILAG) in 1973 with a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering. Before then, she had her primary education at Anglican Girls’ School, Lagos and secondary education at Queens College Yaba, Lagos where she finished with distinctions.  She also completed her A’ Levels in Queens College and was the HeadGirl.

Dr. (Mrs.) Somolu obtained a Ph.D in 1978, thus the first Nigerian woman to hold a Ph.D in any field of Engineering.

She was a lecturer in Theory of Structures & Strength of materials at the Yaba College of Technology and also Head of Department of Civil Engineering.

She joined the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in 1982 and rose to become, in 2003 General Manager, Projects and in 2005, became the first woman to head the Engineering and Technology Division (ETD) of the NNPC as the Group General Manager.

A remarkable display of her project management skills was supervision of the construction of the magnificent and world class NNPC Towers complex, Abuja (from foundation to completion).

She was the Engineer and Project Manager for the Kofo Abayomi (DPR) office, the New Atlas Cove Jetty as well as the Zonal headquarters in Warri and Port-Harcourt.  The NNPC Land Mega Stations and Floating filling Stations most recent of her achievements.  The floating Stations are the first ever of such to be built in concrete anywhere in the world - an engineering feat by any standards.

She voluntarily retired from the services of the NNPC on 31st May 2009 after 27 years of active and dedicated service.

A widely travelled woman, Engr. Dr. Somolu is a member and Fellow of many organisations and professional bodies, including the Nigerian Society of Engineers, National Academy of Engineering and the Nigerian Institute of Management, NIM.

She has also undertaken several national assignments and served on the Boards of Federal Roads Maintenance Agency, FERMA and the Nigerian Inland Waterways Authority, NIWA.

In November 2007, she was inducted into the Nigerian Women Hall of Fame as the first Nigerian Female to hold a Ph.D in Engineering. In commemoration of Nigeria’s 50 years of independence in 2010, she was among the 50 Nigerian Women of Distinction honoured by the First Lady, Her Excellency, Dame Patience Jonathan

Links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olatokunbo_Somolu

http://laureatescollege.com/

http://dawncommission.org/olatokunbo-arinola-somolu-engr-dr/

https://www.nae.org.ng/fellows_profiles.asp?fid=92

Work Focus: Law, Intellectual Property, Technology, Data Protection

I spoke to Sandra Oyewole, who is a Partner at Olajide Oyewole LLP and has been in practice for over 26 years. She leads the Intellectual Property & Technology practice and co-leads the Employment & Global Mobility practice of the firm.

Mrs. Oyewole provides legal services on a multitude of issues in various sectors and industries. She has guided the growth of the Firm’s practices in advertising, brand protection, employment and global mobility, entertainment, estate planning, hospitality, information technology, intellectual property, media and broadcasting, sports and technology.

With her intellectual property background, Mrs. Oyewole helped to establish the firm’s technology practice, from which sub practice groups in financial technology and data protection are now fully developed. She has in-depth knowledge and experience in Nigeria’s creative and innovative industries, regularly structuring deals and providing legal, business and regulatory advice.

Mrs. Oyewole started her career in 1993 with the Chambers of the Late Chief Rotimi Williams SAN where she made regular appearances at all levels of the judicial system. She handled a myriad of disputes, made a number of court appearances and drafted a multitude of court processes and commercial contracts.

She is often invited to speak at seminars and workshops in and outside Nigeria on matters pertaining to chain of title, intellectual property, Nigeria’s creative industry and digital technology.

In contributing to the growth of Nigeria’s technology industry, Mrs. Oyewole regularly participates in master classes, workshops and mentorship programmes covering a range of intellectual property, tech and regulatory issues for startups and entrepreneurs. She is committed to the creation of structure within the creative and innovative industries and this includes the strengthening of Nigeria’s anti-piracy and intellectual property laws and policies.

Mrs. Oyewole received a Bachelors of Law degree from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, after which she attended the Nigerian Law School and was called to the Bar.

Links:

https://www.dlapiperafrica.com/nigeria/

Work Focus: Medicine, Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities, Special Needs

I spoke to Dr. Olayinka Akindayomi, who is the Founder and Service Director of the Children’s Developmental Center (CDC) in Lagos, Nigeria.  CDC is a not-for-profit organisation, established by her over 20 years ago, which provides a broad range of educational and support services for children and young people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and their families within the community. 

She started early intervention programmes for children with IDD at the Massey Street Children’s Hospital in Lagos 10 years ago and has started similar programmes in six other states in Nigeria, which has trained thousands of mothers to date. 

She has trained health and educational professionals from the 6 geopolitical zones in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation (WHO). She has also collaborated in setting up 3 voluntary community projects providing assessment and therapy to hundreds of children with disabilities. 

From 2003, Dr. Akindayomi has been an Associate Lecturer of the Institute of Child Health and Primary Care - College of Medicine at the University of Lagos and Lagos State University Teaching Hospital. 

She is the recipient of the Rare Gem Award recognized by UNICEF, UNIFEM, UNFPA, UNIC and UNDP as well as the Service to Humanity Award from the Lagos State Government. 

Dr. Akindayomi is an accredited trainer and has trained over 2,000 teachers through the train-the-trainers programmes for the National Teachers Association. She has been involved with the national strategy for children with disabilities as well as the Lagos State Government Special Peoples Law. 

She was recently recognized as a Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants (FIMC) and a Certified Management Consultant (CMC). 

Links:

Children’s Developmental Center (CDC) - https://www.linkedin.com/company/children%27s-development-centre

About Autism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism

#TheOtherRoom #RedefiningWomenAndWork #Career #Work #Women #Podcast

I spoke to Maryam Aliko-Mohammed, who is who is the principal consultant and executive director at Modalali, a personal and professional development consultancy.

She is also School Lead for Kaduna International School leading a team of over 30 educators. An accomplished professional with over 24 years in management and leadership positions. Her wealth of experience in both private and public sector, including manufacturing, education, finance, services, oil and gas makes for empathetic understanding of the challenges of leading diverse groups.

She is a trained Executive Coach with special emphasis on the psychological dimensions of coaching, she is passionate about people and their life long learning. She mentors on the Tony Elumelu Mentorship Program and the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) Mentorship Program. She has also consulted for the Africa Union Commission in the validation exercise for adopting the Africa Youth Charter.

Maryam is Founder of Mariacutty Empowerment Foundation, an organisation that serves to develop young people as a whole, but specifically those in domestic service on employability skills, enterprise and entrepreneurship development in a bid to improve literacy levels improve livelihoods and counter extremism and poverty.

She a graduate of Pharmacology from the University of Wales and holds an MBA with specialisation in Marketing Management and Human Resource Management from the Cardiff Business School. She has a diploma in Coaching from the ICS and a certificate in Coaching from the University of Cambridge, UK in Coaching. A member of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) and the Chartered Institute of Coaching and Mentoring in Nigeria (CICMN). She is a visiting lecturer of Leadership and Ethics at the Kaduna Business School. Maryam is a published writer and poet and she sits on a few boards including the advisory board of Global rights.

Link in bio. https://anchor.fm/otherroom

Links:

https://modalali.com/

http://mariacutty.org/

http://www.kis.ng/

https://www.tonyelumelufoundation.org/mentors

https://lsetf.ng/

Work Focus: Hair Care, Hair Styling, Natural Hair, Financial Services

I spoke to Omozo Ogunronbi, who is the CEO and Co-Founder of O’Naturals Beauty Nigeria Limited (O’Naturals). Omozo has been a professional hairdresser since 1997. She is a L’Óreal trained and certified professional hairdresser. She also has over 18 years’ experience in the financial services industry in Canada, UK and Nigeria combined. Omozo co-founded O’Naturals with her sisters in 2009 after 12 years of working as a hair professional.

In 2015 she resigned from banking and has worked as a full time business owner manager of O’Naturals.   Omozo is the founding president of Natural Hair Professionals and Locticians (NAHPAL) – an Association in Nigeria set up to encourage professionals in the natural hair industry and Locticians to strive for and maintain a high standard of professionalism in the hair industry.

Omozo has a Bachelors of Arts degree in Economics from University of Lethbridge, Alberta Canada before proceeding for a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Bath in England. She received a Cherie Blair Foundation Scholarship to attend the Road to Growth Programme at the Enterprise Development Centre, Lagos Business School, which she successfully completed.

Omozo worked at HSBC Bank Canada for 6 years before returning to Nigeria where she worked in First Bank Private Banking for 3 years. She also worked with Royal Bank of Scotland in England, where she conducted a research project on how to transform the executive leadership programme into a more financially efficient exercise.

Omozo has contributed to the visibility, growth and development of the natural hair industry in Nigeria. She is a collaborator with Dark & Lovely and Mizani in Nigeria. She is also a collaborator with Nigerian brands like African Naturalistas and Mara Cruiz Organics. Omozo’s commitment to the growth of the natural hair industry in Nigeria is clear and intentional. She trains and mentors professional natural hair stylists regularly and works with them to ensure their businesses are profitable.

Links:

https://www.instagram.com/onaturalsbeauty/?hl=en

Work Focus: Business Development, Sales & Marketing, Real Estate, Technology

I spoke to Abiodun “Abbey” Soyemi, who is the Head of Business Development & Marketing of Pazino Homes & Gardens  and Pazino Engineering and Construction Company. She is also the Founder of the Women’s Investment Network in Entrepreneurship & Real Estate (WINERE).

She has over 20 years’ experience in sales, marketing and business development across various business sectors, such as Real Estate, Renewable Energy, IT, Telecoms, Oil & Gas to Financial Services, Payments.

Abbey has worked with both local and international organizations. She was the Business Development Manager for SSEMA (formerly Schlumberger Seema), an international firm and systems integrator which provided VAS platforms and Software solutions to Telecommunication giants like MTN, V Mobile (now Airtel), Globacom etc.

She later joined VeriFone UK Ltd, an electronic payment and financial services provider as Sales Manager for West Africa and then FINTRAX UK as Sales Manager, Sub – Saharan Africa.

Abbey is also is the founder of Salt Society a volunteer organization that provides volunteer services in education, mentoring and financial support for NGOs. NGOs supported by Salt Society include Fair Life Africa Foundation and Street Child Africa.

She is a graduate of Theoretical and Applied Physics from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

She is an avid reader with a love for the arts, theater, film, classical music, food and travel.

Links:

https://pazinoecc.com/

Work Focus: Educational Technology, Online Education, Teacher Training & Support

I spoke to Dr. Oluwakemi Olurinola, who is an Educational Technology researcher and consultant, with an interest in the application of modern science and technology in the field of Education. She is also a university lecturer.

She is a Microsoft Innovative Educator Fellow and Master Trainer, providing training support and consultancy on Microsoft tools for Education.

Dr. Olurinola founded Exquitec Education Technology, an educational technology consultancy. Some of Exquitec’s programmes include a Microsoft Global Training Partners. Girls in Science and Technology (GIST) and the Exquitec STEaM Kids Hub.

She is an associate member and Africa Lead of the Digital Citizenship Institute, Boston; a member of the International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE) and a TeachSDGs Ambassador.

She has a Bachelors degree in Industrial Design, Masters in Visual Arts, Association Diploma in Interior Design, a Post Grad Diploma in Education and an MPhil/PhD in Educational Technology.

Dr. Olurinola is married with 4 children.

Links:

https://exquitec.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/olurinola-oluwakemi-ph-d-b4040b72/

Work Focus: Medicine, Cancer Care, Technology, Social Entrepreneurship

I spoke to Dr. Omolola Salako, who is an Oncologist, specialising in the treatment of breast, head and neck cancer, brachytherapy, economics of cancer and other solid adult tumours. Omolola is the youngest of the 70 Consultant, Clinical, and Radiation Oncologists in Nigeria and she practices in the Department of Radiation Oncology, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).

She is the Founder and Executive Director of Sebeccly Cancer Care, an innovative cancer charity with a vision to empower and treat cancer patients.

From Sebeccly, she founded  Oncopadi.com, a friendly cancer app. Oncopadi is Africa’s first digital oncology clinic that will offer information, navigation and online medical consultations to cancer patients.

Omolola obtained her MBBS degree from the College of Medicine, University of Lagos. She completed her oncology residency in Lagos University Teaching Hospital and obtained her Fellowship from the Faculty of Radiology, West Africa College of Surgeons.

An active cancer researcher; she has authored and co-authored several publications in high impact journals locally and abroad.

Omolola is an alumna of Lagos Business School and Enterprise Development Centre (EDC). She is also a multiple award-winning scientist and social entrepreneur who has attracted grants from the National Institute of Health/National Cancer Institute, Union International Cancer Control, Memorial Sloan Kettering Comprehensive Cancer Centre, ACT Foundation and the American Cancer Society.

Links:

https://sebecclycancercare.org/

https://oncopadi.com/

https://www.lbs.edu.ng/

https://www.edc.edu.ng/

Work Focus: Electronics Engineering, Telecommunications, Sales

I spoke to Jane Egerton-Idehen, who is a telecommunication executive with over 17 years of experience in the Nigerian, Liberian and Ghanaian telecommunications markets. She holds an Electronics Engineering degree from the University of Nigeria and an MBA from Warwick Business School, UK. She has also received executive education from Harvard Business School and Yale School of Management. 

She worked as part of the Ericsson Ghana and Liberia executive leadership team. She is currently the Country Manager in Nigeria and Regional Sales Manager West Africa for a Satellite company: Avanti Communications Ltd. In 2019 she received the 50 Leading Ladies in Corporate Nigeria Leadership award.

Her passion is seeing women like herself fulfilling their purpose, growing their careers. She has a history of promoting girls in STEM (Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics), which can be traced to her undergraduate days when, as a member of the International institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers (IEEE), she co-founded IEEE Women In Engineering Nigeria.

A quintessential extrovert, Jane enjoys golf, cycling, and salsa. She is married to Egerton Idehen and they have a son, Asher and a daughter, Sarah, who inspires Jane to continue to push for diversity in male-dominated fields. Although she travels extensively, Jane makes her home in Lagos, Nigeria.

Links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Egerton-Idehen

https://www.bellanaija.com/2020/03/egerton-idehen-be-fearlesss/

Work Focus: Social Entrepreneurship, Banking, Science

This episode features Akofa Bentsi-Enchill, who is a Social Entrepreneur. Akofa is passionate about effecting transformational change in the lives of underprivileged Ghanaian girls. She believes that the education and mentoring of the ‘girl child’ can truly transform a community and has spent the last 12 years doing just.

Akofa is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Akua Kuenyehia Foundation (AKF) for underprivileged girls.

AKF’s programmes include:

- AKF Educational Scholarship Scheme, which has awarded over 60 educational scholarships to date

- AKF Annual Mentoring Summer Camp, which has provided career, community, entrepreneurship and practical skills training for over 200 underprivileged girls

- AKF Monthly Speaker Series, which provides practical and hands on mentoring and life skills not only to the Akua Kuenyehia Foundation beneficiaries but to other underprivileged girls as well.

She has also secured some ground-breaking partnerships with organisations like MasterCard Foundation (through the African Leadership Academy) to provide tertiary educational scholarships for AKF beneficiaries. To date the Foundation has secured the following external scholarships through partnership agreements:

Akofa holds a First Class Honours Degree in Biochemistry from the University of Kent at Canterbury and a Masters in Management from the London School of Economics. Prior to her role in the Akua Kuenyehia Foundation, Akofa worked at Barclays Bank UK for 10 years. Whilst working in Barclays Bank, she won the National Mentoring Consortium Ethnic Minority Mentor of the year for her work with undergraduate students in the University of East London.

Links:

https://akuakuenyehiafoundation.org/