Experts charge women on excellence at The Evolving Woman Conference

Nigerian women have been urged to move beyond their comfort zone and strive to gain valuable information that will ensure they stand out in the society.

This was revealed at the third edition of The Evolving Woman Conference, where experts in different fields charged women present to shun negligence and focus on making positive impacts.

Business/ brand strategist and convener of the conference, Oladoyin Taiwo, said the conference was birthed due to her experiences with women who needed real life mentorship and business transitioning removed from the usual rhetoric. “My mission is to help people transition from mere potential to actualisation. In achieving this, I can’t do it all by myself hence I engaged the hands of other experienced life and business coaches to help drive this mission to fruition.”

Media personality, cancer survivor and amputee, Adenike Oyetunde, who shared her touching story on overcoming personal and societal struggles, said there is more to a woman’s image and value than what people see, adding that a woman should not feel threatened and jealous when other women share their success stories as life happens to everyone differently and we can all gain from one another.

On finding purpose, Oyetunde said the avenue for self-awareness is self-ownership and that women are in the best position to discover what they truly want for themselves; encouraging women to embrace their trial periods. “Do not be weary when you go through difficult situations, those are processes and avenues that stretch your capacity to gain more values. Don’t act strong when you need to be vulnerable and share your emotions with the right people that might help you.”

A seasoned entrepreneur, enterprise advocate, CEO, IASPIRERADIO and one of the guest speakers at the conference, Mercy Makinde, emphasized the need for women to step up their games in making the right impact on people. “Women need to own their values and learn how to express them to others, not restricting their values to monetary and ephemeral things. This is because money is sometimes not needed to add value.”

Makinde further added that women should desist from following the trends, be able to recognize their strengths, weaknesses and find opportunities to add value to other people’s lives. She said women should build their personal brands and make the best out of it. On building competence, she said women must realise that social media is fast becoming everyone’s mirror and must embrace it positively in sharing their values and competences. “You must learn to develop interest for humanity and help solve real life problems. However, while solving problems, originality and uniqueness will make your services worth paying for.”

Recruitment Consultant and Human Resource Manager, Ivie Martins, who spoke on how women can own their career journeys, charged the attendees to decide on their own the career path that best suits their passion and be clear on their career goals from the start.

“Women must deliberately build experience, extra value and capacities that can aid in moulding the future of their careers and businesses. Women should not be redundant but must be occupied, even volunteering at jobs so as to build career relationships that can last a lifetime. Have calculated intentions, plan and develop a network of people that will help make it work.”

Speaker and Author, Niyi Adesanya, said women should make efforts in knowing basic, professional and business figures and facts around them. “Women should strive to bridge the gap of expectation that is fast rising. Times are gone when women used to be ‘incarcerated’ at home. Now they are needed on boards and in business meetings.”

He went on to add that women should take control of their emotions and turn away from social comparison. “Women should not be bothered about keeping up with the Joneses and do not live your life based on what you see on magazine’s front pages, this is a major reason why people don’t get the best for themselves.”

Highlighting the importance of the process of mentorship for any career and business, he said, “Look out for a business mentor, it gives you opportunities to overcome mistakes and covers the gap for you.” He also encouraged people to always be at the right environment in order to seize golden opportunities that life will throw at them.

Motivational Speaker, Gloria Edozien, implored women to own their imperfection and let go of insecurities. She said they should not be afraid to commit to people and things they are passionate about, urging them to build strong relationships. “You must learn how to connect people to instrumental relationships, as such, you build a great network of people, not just for business or career alone but for all areas of your life.”