…Graduates over 231 mentees
Women in Management Business and Public Service, (WimBiz) has urged women to aspire to join boardrooms as it leads to improved strategic decision-making, more effective crisis management and better overall business outcomes.
Executive Director Women in Management Business and Public Service, Omowunmi Akingbohungbe made the appeal while speaking at the 6th edition of Women on Boards (WimBoard) mentoring graduation held in Lagos.
According to Akingbohungbe, having women on boardrooms would not only benefit the company’s bottom line but also create more ethical management and a better response to market changes.
On this year’s WimBoard mentoring graduation which was the first physical one, she said it witnessed graduation of over 231 mentees adding, that the platform since its creation has been used to train over 700 women into the senior executive boardrooms of different organisations within and outside Nigeria.
“WimBoard is one of the WIMBiz’s programmes that prepare senior executive women to board. We always push for gender balance and good management among all organisations. A different perspective helps with different outcomes and better decision making.
“It is a thing to have policies in place which allow certain quotas of the board to be for women. We push for gender balance and executive management on board and organisation.’’
One of the WimBoard mentors who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and a Principal Partner at Folashade Alli and Associates, Folashade Alli advised the mentees to build on what they have learned and added that they should be Board-ready and continue to improve on themselves until they get to the position.
Alli who is also a Fellow, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, United Kingdom also advised them not to give up .
While commending WimBiz on their continuous efforts in training young ones and anyone aspiring to be onboard, she affirmed that the mentees have learned what it takes and what is required to be effective and impactful board members.
The founder of Eximia Realty & Home4me, Hakeem Ogunniran, who also spoke at the event, stressed the need for the mentees to be skillfully engaged adding, “this is critical for all potential leaders’’.
In her contribution, Partner at McKinsey & Company, Ricky Asemota, urged the mentees to understand the challenges that are being experienced by women in the organisation adding, that they should aspire to achieve, implement and put some policies and measures in place to tackle those challenges whether it is politics, practices or procedures.
One of the mentees who represented the WimBoard 2025 graduating mentees, Chinwe Bode-Akinwande, in her appreciation speech, said that the 3-month period of learning and unlearning, coaching, mentoring, and guidance by the mentors was amazing.
To her: “It was indeed a worthwhile experience from the induction to the sessions, thought-provoking presentations, board simulations, and mentor-mentee time out.
“Now is the time to display intellectual curiosity, willingness to commit to time, exhibit the ability to oversee long-term strategy and raise our profile in the industry.’’
She, however, promised that the mentees would make use of all opportunities to serve, make impact and build legacy.
