Now is the time to take our rightful place at the helm of the company's affairs — Akangbe

Mary Akangbe, a specialist practitioner of minimally invasive surgery and robotics in the UK, is the President and Founder of Zenith Global Health, a platform for healthcare professionals for shared learning, collaboration and reinforcement. She is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Glowing Future, an organization that helps women perform at their best, regardless of their life course, through training, skills transfer and counselling. . She shares her insights on women in politics, preparing women for leadership and other issues with YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE.

What influenced the establishment of women's empowerment?

Both organizations are founded on the basis of my personal experience. Glowing Future is about my biography and Zenith Global Health is about my experience in the NHS with global contribution and also teaching in Africa and Europe. In health, we have realized that few women have the opportunity to reach their full potential, so our goal is to bring everyone together in the world for equity and also for identified opportunities for personal development and professional and also for shared learning. My work crosses Africa, particularly in Nigeria

How would you rate Nigeria on the 35% Affirmative Action?

We have made progress but I don't think we are there yet and I will say that in any case, we must, at the beginning, identify our target audience. For example, when we talk about affirmative action, are we targeting the one percent of the one percent or are we targeting the general population, regardless of where they are and their social status, just to support them , encourage them and give them the means to progress in different fields. aspect of life. That's why I can't say we are compliant but we have made progress and we can only improve; we also have our work cut out for us. As women, we need to be more supportive of others and get the most out of men who actually support the advancement of women.

What is your advice to women aspiring to political office?

One of the main challenges for women aspiring to political office is that politics has been dominated by men for a long time, but this landscape is changing. It takes a lot of courage to be able to run for political office; they look at you and ask what she has to offer, what does she bring to the table? It comes down to personal and professional development. If you are ready and preparing for the position you want to occupy, you can stand shoulder to shoulder with the men, but some will want to undermine you; she's married, she's not married, "she has kids, she doesn't have kids," they may not be able to focus, but I think we've largely overcome that hurdle. Because there are not as many women as men in politics, we have to look out for each other and support each other. Sometimes one of the challenges is finding women who will care for and support other women through their own experiences. So my advice is, do your homework, like everything in life, sharpen the ax before you go out to cut down the tree, spend more time sharpening the axe, study the landscape, know what it entails and what you will have to, prepare yourself psychologically, physically and emotionally because it is a very long throw and also do not be distracted by the noise around you. Most importantly, put people at the center of the mission like in any other business and do it with all your heart, don't give up, when you face disappointment, pick yourself up and go for the gold because if not us, then who? If not now, then when. Now is the time to take our rightful place at the helm of the company's affairs.

Are women ready for leadership positions?

Of course, women are ready to take on leadership positions. When you look at it, women are known to be multitaskers. So you see women who have their families first and then go back to school or start a business. We see a lot of female entrepreneurs. We are beginning to integrate risk as part of growth. We start to focus on personal and professional development, we start to invest in ourselves and that can only mean that we are ready, I will say that one thing that no one can take away from you is what you invest in yourself, your personal and professional development because once you have done this, you will be able to reassess, assess where you are, where you want to go and how to get there and above all, identify mentors and sponsors. Many of us are familiar with mentoring, but not sponsorship. And in the corporate world that's an area where men tend to excel more than women, they have sponsorships and we're not talking about money, we're talking about someone up there who you sees and can support your personal and professional development, hold your hand and report to you. As women, we need to show off to look...