‘More gender based laws should be enacted to protect women’

Clara Okoro is the Chief Executive Officer, Brand World Media, a media and entertainment company, which solely uses branding as templates for its operations. She has expanded her business into publishing with the first youths and brands connect magazine known as ICE, which tracks young people and their brand consumption habits, with a focus on the emotional attachment young people have with brands that connect with them. In this interview with GERALDINE AKUTU, she stresses on the need for women to be empowered to contribute to national development, problems facing the growth of women in businesses and other issues.

What is your stake on women empowerment and what is your organisation doing in this regard?
I believe the word ‘’empowerment’’ really does clarify this question. It is the process of empowering a woman to actualise her God given potential as a human being and contribute meaningfully to the growth and success of society. My organisation has always believed in the principles of empowerment across both sexes and it’s a major backbone for us.

As a successful entrepreneur, is the number of women running businesses in Nigeria encouraging?
I truly believe Nigeria is a haven for upliftment of women. I have travelled a bit and got to understand that Nigerian women are truly open to opportunities that some other countries don’t grant their women coupled with the fact that a lot of our women are also well educated. Education is a catalyst for this growth and yes I am impressed by the number of women running businesses in Nigeria.

What do you think is affecting the growth of women in business?
There is always still room for improvement. I believe it is the issues of law and politics, if more gender based laws are enacted to protect women and enhance their competiveness in business, if they are given more role in governance based on capability, we would record more growth.

In your own opinion, what should a woman do when she is confronted with obstacles in life?
We are basically just two species of human, male and female, and the brains have the same functionality in the two species. When activated properly it can go a long way in solving humanity’s problem. So, when women are confronted by obstacles in life, they should please try and think logically and move away from the victim mentality, a clear understanding of how to solve problems without attaching too much emotions to them would achieve a great deal of results.

How optimistic are you about the future of the girl child?
The girl child has been the focus of the world for some time now because as it seems men are waking up to the fact that they do need some help in balancing out the numerous problems arising from too much testosterone induced decisions. I just got back from a gender based conference, Women Advancement Forum in Dubai and we are strategically collating our communique to advance it to the next level of presentations where we can begin to develop blueprints to governments and relevant bodies that may eventually develop them into working executable documents.

Two young girls representing the girl child were sponsored there by Chief Mrs Alaba Lawson ‘’Iyalode,’’ Permanent Secretary at Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) and her intention was for them to be groomed early so that they could become voices for women of their generation.