Sup,
I am inspired by many things and many people. Nigerian women sit unwaveringly at the very top level of my hierarchy of inspirations. Pardon my bias, but I will specifically note innovative, strong-willed, and successful Nigerian women – one, two, or all three.
In fact, I wish I was an innovative and strongwilled Nigerian woman… oh, wait, I am ?… E remain the “successful” part (pidgin). I am steadily becoming that.
The first Nigerian woman I officially took on as a mentor is Dr Ola Brown. I heard her speak at the Flourish Africa conference in 2018 and was wowed. What stood out most was how she is inspired by Aliko Dangote. While in school (I think), she had a picture of him posted on her wall. From all she knew about him as well as from looking at his picture, she was driven. Her resilience, hard work, and focus has made her one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Nigeria today. She is the founder of Flying Doctors.
After that conference, I applied most of what I understood from her. I developed two habits. The first is sticking important information on my walls. This includes encouraging notes to myself, reminders, and plans. The second habit is taking on “mentors from afar”. That was (and probably is) what Aliko Dangote was to Dr Ola Brown.
Dr. Brown is one of Lami’s mentor’s from afar.
One great thing happened one day while I was on Twitter; I found Dr Brown’s profile! Omo, I followed immediately to gain knowledge. It’s been about 4 years now, and I am still very inspired by her and her tweets.
I like Dr Brown for a number of reasons. At Flourish Africa, she was so confident and well-spoken! If my eyes could actually turn heart-shaped and potrude out of my sockets like it happens in cartoons, this is probably what people would have seen as I listened to Dr Brown. If I ever meet her in person or have the opportunity to interact with her in anyway, I hope I don’t sputter while introducing myself ?
After my first encounter with Dr Ola Brown, I began to understand the way I felt about innovative, strong-willed, and successful Nigerian women. My deep respect and love was not new, I promise you. In fact, I had always been impressed and inspired by females in general. My favourite cartoons while growing up were PowerPuffGirls, Atomic Betty, and Juniper Lee. I also could not get enough of Hannah Montana, iCarly, and Victorious. Yes, it was because the main characters were females. It made me feel like I could do something amazing too. I could also list some women that I absolutely adored in my child and teenage years. One honourable mention is Aunty Ore, one of my primary school teachers. All of these goes to show the importance of representation.
Currently, these are the Nigerian women that inspire me:
- Temie Giwa-Tubosun. She is the founder of LifeBank
- Apostle Folorunsho Alakija. She is the founder of Flourish Africa. Nuff said.
- Dr Ibukun Awosika. I was at Lagos State University’s 25th Convocation Ceremony when she was awarded an honorary Ph.D. I couldn’t stop smiling.
- Oluwatosin Olaseinde. She is the founder of The Money Africa.
These are 500 words (or more ?)! Talk to you tomorrow!