On a typically fast-paced morning in Lagos’ financial district, a striking scene forced commuters and corporate workers to pause: a group of cyclists rode slowly through the streets, towing audio-visual installations projecting stories of women navigating workplace inequality.
The mobile exhibition marked the launch of Fair Start, a bold new campaign spotlighting Nigeria’s persistent gender gaps, from entry-level hiring to executive exits. Unveiled on Africa’s Women’s Day, the campaign urges Nigerian employers to take measurable steps to dismantle workplace exclusion and level the playing field.
Despite years of corporate pledges, gender equity in Nigeria’s private sector remains elusive. Data from McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace 2025 report shows that only one in three entry-level jobs in the formal sector is held by a woman. Women who rise to senior roles are 30% more likely to leave within a year.
Gatefield, the public strategy firm behind the campaign, proposes a five-point roadmap for companies — from hiring more women to linking gender equity to executive KPIs.
“This is about designing equity into the system — not adding it as an afterthought,” says Christinah Akintoye, narrative practice lead at Gatefield.
The campaign, amplified by the hashtag #LevelTheField, includes social media activations, validator videos, and public pledges. Notable voices backing the campaign include:
Mayowa Kuyoro, partner at McKinsey, said, “We need systems that help retain women.”
Similarly, Amina Oyagbola, board chair, Afrobarometer, insists, “We know what works. Now we need leadership.”
Vivianne Ihekweazu, managing director, Nigeria Health Watch, added, “Policies alone don’t level the field. Systems do.”
Furthermore, Fola Olatunji-David, partner, KickOff Africa, emphasised “Women aren’t just missing at the top — they’re being filtered out early.”
As Nigeria confronts economic uncertainty and youth unemployment, Fair Start argues that gender equity is more than a social goal — it’s a business imperative.
She Didn’t Blink – And That’s When the Deal Shifted
The boardroom was tense.
Not the hostile kind of tense, the calculating kind.
Two hours into negotiations, the numbers were finally on the table.
They were good numbers.
But not good enough.
Adaeze, CEO of a pan-African logistics company, leaned back slightly. She didn’t speak. She didn’t even glance at the spreadsheets projected on the wall.
Her silence wasn’t accidental.
It was a move.
Her eyes, steady, unhurried, locked on the lead negotiator across from her.
He looked back, then away.
That look away was the first crack.
The thing most people miss in negotiation isn’t the grand gestures or clever arguments. It’s the micro-expressions, the half-second flash of uncertainty in a tightened lip, the unconscious throat swallow when stakes feel too high, the darting eyes searching for an escape clause.
Adaeze saw it all.
She had trained herself to notice it.
In that moment, she knew she had leverage.
Not because she said anything, but because her stillness made the other side feel the weight of the silence.
When she finally spoke, her voice was calm, almost warm.
“If we’re going to build something that lasts, we need terms that match the ambition.”
By the end of the meeting, the contract was rewritten in her favour.
Power in the C-suite isn’t just about strategy or capital.
It’s about reading the human currents beneath the conversation… and knowing when to let silence do the talking.
If you want to win in high-stakes spaces, learn to see what others miss – the raised brow, the fleeting smirk, the quick inhale. That’s where the real truth hides.
Because in power plays, the deal doesn’t always shift when someone speaks.
Sometimes, it shifts when someone doesn’t.
In the world of billion-naira and billion-dollar decisions, the most dangerous lies are not the ones we hear; they’re the ones we see but ignore.
Every C-suite leader knows this: The mouth negotiates the deal, but the face tells the truth.
So the question is –
💭 When was the last time you caught the truth in someone’s face… and what did you do with it?
