Women in Successful Careers (WISCAR), a non-profit organization recently held its seventh End of Year graduation/induction Ceremony and presented the 4th Distinguished WISCAR Award at the Agip Recital hall, Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos.
The event themed: “Women Leading Change” had in attendance Prof. Remi Sonaiya, Mrs Ibironke Kazeem representing the wife of the Governor of Lagos State, Mrs. Barbara WEY representing the Permanent Secretary Lagos State Ministry of Tourism Arts and Culture. Also in attendance were members of the WISCAR Advisory Board; Maryam Uwais, Muni Shonibare, Boma Ozobia, Suzanne Iroche, Habiba Balogun amongst others. Mrs. Ifueko Omoigui Okauru, former FIRS Executive Chairperson and recipient of the 4th Distinguished WISCAR Award delivered a keynote Speech titled “Our Paradigm and our Lens”.
During her keynote speech, she pointed out that “to lead change and achieve the results we seek, we should first champion a change in mindset, from the mindset of Myths and cultural scripts passed on from generation to generation to a mindset of continuous research, innovation, enquiry, progress, learning, Improving, capturing, for ourselves and for those around us so we effect the change we seek”.
“The change we seek should be a mind that does not just accept what is said but questions, analyses, researches, learns from others, diversify our thinking by being with people who do not think like us, learning from them to achieve the results we seek”. She added
The discussants of the day; Prof. Remi Sonaiya, first female presidential candidate, Lynda Saint-Nwafor, Chief Technical Officer, MTN Nigeria and Yewande Sadiku, Executive Director, Stanbic IBTC Bank shared their experiences and adviced on how to succeed as a career woman without it having adverse effect on the home.
WISCAR graduated its sixth stream of mentees and inducted the seventh set who will go through the intensive and unique twelve months structured WIN with WISCAR mentoring program. As a contribution to the WISCAR legacy, the graduating mentees presented a cheque of N350, 000. Mentees from other streams shared inspiring stories.
The founder of WISCAR, Mrs. Amina Oyagbola, stated that “In my several years as a professional I have come to the full realization of the hard work, diligence and creativity of the Nigerian Woman. Nigerian women are achievers. This has been further brought home to me recently by the great strides WISCAR made when we set up sub-committees of the WISCAR advisory board. The successful women who have served on these subcommittees have given of themselves unstintingly and I thank them. WISCAR will continue to deploy programmes and provide frameworks to enable young female professionals achieve their potential and their aspirations.”
WISCAR has earned a reputation for building a formidable network of focused women who will facilitate a new chapter of experience in the workplace and in organizations. Since its inception in 2008, WISCAR has through the intensive and unique 12 month structured WIN with WISCAR mentoring program equipped several professional women with relevant skills and competencies to effectively manage their careers, assume leadership positions and contribute to nation building. Ultimately, the Win with WISCAR mentoring program and School of Excellence provides structures and frameworks to help women succeed professionally and personally to contribute to the development of the nation.
