Comfort Yakubu
People who live to solve societal problems, hardly go unnoticed.
Ajibike Saratu Oluwatimilehin, is one of such personalities that have not just proven to be a reliable solution to generational problems, but a huge source of inspiration to others.
As women leader, and a distinguished entrepreneur, she currently supritends Local Content provision in Nigeria, for a non- governmental Organisation, known as 50 Million African Women Speak Project (50MAWSP), an initiative of ECOWAS and Federal Ministry of Women Affairs(FMWA).
She is a seasoned speaker, motivator, administrator and counsellor.
Being always willing to share knowledge and relevant experiences, she is on the board of multiple non-governmental organisations.
Her wealth of experience has provided great lifeline to several Cooperative Societies, including but not limited to NANTS Cooperative, C&S Cooperative, and Amazing Women Cooperative, with a focus on women empowerment.
As a nondescript personality, her distinction had placed her on many professional platforms, like WimBoard, where she is a Fellow of the WimBiz Board Mentoring Program. She is also a
Fellow, Institute of Management Consultants, FIMC, and a Certified Management Consultant, CMC.
She is a business leader whose thrust is Gender Equality, Women Mentorship and Transformational Leadership.
This is what led to her birthing the mentorship program, amongst many other programs on the 50 Million Women African Speak Project.
She is married and blessed with children. For a woman who delights in ameliorating the plight humanity, and strongly believes in sharing opportunities that will empower women in particular, she had painstakingly elucidated the essence of the ‘ 50MAWSP Project’.
She explains that it is a digital platform that is available via the web (www.womenconnect.org), and on mobile devices as an app ( *50MAWSP* on iOS and Playstore).
According to her , it facilitates a dynamic and engaging exchange of ideas among women entrepreneurs using in-built social media functionality to connect them with one another in ways that foster peer-to-peer learning, mentoring.
She stated that the project will help women to effectively participate in sharing of information and knowledge within communities.
She further revealed that the project would also provide access to financial services and market opportunities between urban and rural areas, and beyond borders.
She said, ” The Project targets 50 million women in business and is implemented by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC), and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and it’s domiciled at the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs in Nigeria”.
As a stickler for women empowerment, she also explained why obstacles have not broken her focus from pursuing her noble goals and dreams.
She noted, ” It hasn’t been easy but it’s been worth it. The journey has been a mixture of tears and joy, pain and gain, failure and success, betrayal and support. I have lost money, failed, made bad business decisions but through it all, I’m still standing.
” But I will not trade all these experiences for anything in the world. The most difficult path to be on in Nigeria is to be an entrepreneur. My respect to everyone out there, no matter category you belong”.
She equally did not hoard any information that could inspire younger generation, while explaining what influenced her early sojourn into business.
According to her, ” I grew up as an independent child and I was exposed to business while I was in secondary school, as I usually helped my parents during holidays. So I loved it and I knew I was going to be an entrepreneur as an adult.
” This motivation grew stronger as the years went by- seeing myself add to the employment graph, being a creator of an idea, meeting a need in my community; all these motivated me to keep at the business world even when I failed severally”.
From her fountain of wisdom, she also admonished would-be entrepreneurs, especially young women to be very focused and tenacious.
She noted that challenges will definitely come, but determination will overcome it all.
She added, ”
Women face a lot of challenges in business ranging from inadequate skills set, to shortage of information, lack of business skills, no financial literacy, improper documentation, and majorly lack of funding opportunities and generally, gender inequality.
” All these challenges above can be addressed – if the national assembly can promulgate a law that 35% of funds in financial institutions and seats in government are allocated to women, lots of financial literacy training and materials ensuring them ready for proper documentation of their businesses”.
