Two mentorship candidates have been given instant scholarship for entrepreneurial training in China, while several others got scholarship opportunities to begin career and be trained abroad in the aviation industry at the just concluded maiden two- days Women In Leadership and Career Empowerment Programme (WILCEP) Africa mentorship workshop which took place in Lagos, last week.
WILCEP Africa, an initiative of the MMS Plus Woman of Fortune Hall of Fame (WoFHoF) Initiative, a non-profit organization, the workshop assembled resource persons who are professionals in different sectors of the economy to impact a select younger women who are students, graduates and career makers from different companies.
Different speakers who delivered papers at the opening of the WILCEP maiden two-day mentorship programme which held at the Conference Hall of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council Headquarters, Apapa, Lagos, advised on making choices as the key to making a successful career and good home.
MMS Plus Woman of Fortune Hall of Fame (WoFHoF) Initiative is focused on role modeling, capacity building and leadership creation in young women. It has discovered and inducted 48 women of substance from across Africa into the hall of fame. These women are the mentors being paired with the mentees.
Speaking on her presentation titled: Career Management and Work/Life Integration, the Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of Le Look Nigeria Limited, Mrs. Chinwe Ezenwa advised young women on the need for the ‘right choices’ in life, as it guides mentees through the various careers.
Mrs. Ezenwa, who is also the Chief Executive of Ocean Serve and Logistics Limited, shared her experience as a young lady who was able to succeed by remaining focused and staying with the right choices.
Ezenwa also talked on the importance of having a ‘personal drive’ for success.
She highlighted the fact that young people must understand the need to take on responsibility before their effort would attract assistance.
She said, “Don’t indulge in self-pity. You must work for everything you want.”
Ezenwa, who at some point worked at the Federal Ministry of Transport and served as the Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) frowned at time wastage and love for everything imported.
Citing the China example where they engage in massive production of goods for export, Ezenwa encouraged young people to imbibe the culture of creativity and knowledge-sharing.
Speaking also, Chief Eugene Nweke, a former president of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) delivered his paper on “Making a Career in the Maritime Industry: Opportunities and Challenges.”
Nweke exposed the mentees to the various sub-sectors of the maritime industry and encouraged them on the opportunities that abound for women in the industry.
He also stressed on the need for a personal drive to make headway and succeed in the industry, irrespective of the challenges people may face.
A third speaker, Chief Mrs. Shola Benson, former Woman Leader, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Lagos State, talked on the prospects and challenges women have in making a career in politics.
Benson encouraged young ladies to avail themselves the opportunities in politics, to serve and make remarkable impact in society, particularly to better the lot of women.
She said that contrary to a popular mindset that politics is a dirty game, the educated and young people going into politics could achieve the desired change by making the difference.
Earlier in his keynote address, co-founder of the programme, Mr. Kingsley Anaroke, said that at the end of the sessions of paper delivery “Candidates will be paired with the Hall of Famers in their choices of career.
“Therefore, the speakers and lecturers assembled here from far and near are to provide windows and doors for the candidates with which they can access their career dreams.”
The second day of the programme started with a presentation on “Insurance as a Gainful Career” delivered by Mrs. Dorothy Onwuzuruoha, an insurance expert, who demystified insurance as a grudge purchase, calling on women to take up career in the profession with abundant opportunities for full and part time wealth creation.
Observing that insurance as a profession was better appreciated in Western world, she called on the Federal Government to encourage Nigerians to take up policies against difficult times by making certain legislations such as legislating that every building should be insured in Nigeria and every parent should have education policy for their children.
Advocating for an insurance corporate savings policy of two to three years for girls, Onwuzuruoha added, “If you buy insurance policy it gives you discipline and strong financial base”.
Mr. Paul Olusola, who spoke on career prospects in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) advised the younger generation of Nigerians to turn their social media to cash-cows instead of wasting their future and time celebrating mundane images and issues.
He emphasized that one does not need to study ICT as discipline to be an expert in it, as it calls for “interest and choice”.
He provided a lot of career paths in ICT while showing how technology can be used to advance various professions and create wealth.
The President of Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association (WISTA-Nigeria), Mrs. Mary Hamman spoke on the career opportunities in the maritime industry, advising women to take up career challenges as they were fulfilling and satisfactory.
Speaking on, “The A BC of Aviation Industry and Career Prospects”, the President of Women in Aviation, Mrs. Rejoice Ndidunachi, x-rayed the career and scholarship opportunities that abound for women in the aviation, while calling on women to take advantage of them to change the face of the industry and the nation.
She provided the scholarship opportunities which entail foreign training opportunities in the United States with some international aviation organizations.
Banking on the WILCEP Africa match-making mentorship programme where mentees will be paired with a mentor who is an MMS Hall of Famer or a Volunteer, Ezenwa instantly granted two mentees scholarship opportunities under her company, Le Look Nigeria Limited.
Under this scheme, she said if it entails giving the mentees accommodation to ensure that they make the best of the opportunity she would not mind.
Le Look is a brand with rich African heritage. They produce multiple product categories which include ready-to-wear clothing, hand bags, Apple-support products and other carry-on accessories.
A total of 34 candidates made up of students, graduates and working career women from different corporate organizations registered online and participated in the two days programme.
Schools that participated as corporate institutions include: Ecotes International University, Cotonou, Benin Republic, University of Port Harcourt, River State; University of Lagos; Lagos State University; Redeemer’s University; Yaba College of Technology; Babcock University; Nigerian Institute of Shipping and Port and Terminal Management Academy
The event was sponsored by Seaview Properties Limited, Nigerian Shippers’ Council and Ecomarine Terminals Limited.
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