A choice to challenge is a decision to stir up action backed conversations on issues that matter. All progress begins with a choice to confront the status-quo; and apply our collective energies and alert minds to creating a world of equal opportunities and endless possibilities for women and men.

International Women’s Day (IWD), celebrated annually, is an opportunity to reflect on the achievement of gender equality in the world, and particularly in Africa. The commemoration of IWD provides a chance to assess the changes and progress made towards the achievement of gender equality generally and the protection of the human rights of women and girls particularly.

Across the world; the last few years have seen the rightful and unprecedented rise of the woman; with global organisations like the World Trade Organisation, International Monetary Fund, UNESCO, European Central Bank among others being women-led. Ethiopia appointed its first female president. And women in Saudi Arabia were not only allowed to attend a public soccer match for the first time, they were also permitted to drive legally.

In technology, we saw the youngest woman to take a company public earlier this year and flipping through the pages of TIMES Next 100 Women, it is easy to observe the progress made in increasing visibility and driving inclusiveness for women.

We, however, remain far from a crescendo. For many women across the world; the struggle to be heard, supported and seen remains fierce. In Nigeria, in particular, male dominance in political and corporate spheres remains a strong indication that more work still needs to be done. Women, young and old, across various strata of our society, hold the promise of our collective future, as such, the choice to challenge limiting norms around gender roles is a task that we, at Softcom have remained relentlessly committed to. Nowhere is this more evident than in our company’s top leadership roles; which is split 50/50 and women as just as well represented as men.

Diversity and inclusion is an integral part of our organisation’s values, and we have ensured that the opportunities to enable it are felt and equal for all. We have designed a workplace that celebrates women; recognizing their strength in diversity and encouraging them to be the best versions of themselves.

We believe the journey to finding the right answers should begin with an inclusive approach in creating solutions and decision making. Each day, the women at Softcom are working on making this happen for people, businesses, and society.

Celebrating our women is very important for us in creating a safe and healthy environment where everyone is seen, respected, and valued.

With our unique brand promise of being ‘a proud partner of potential’ our role of birthing and nursing dreams to reality is akin to that of the woman. As a result, our connection to the notions of female inclusivity, visibility and equality transcends platitudes but rests at our core. This is why, to commemorate the 2021 International Women’s Day, Softcom would be celebrating two groups of women partners of potential. The first the 92 women at Softcom who are daily creating solutions to problems affecting millions of Africans. The next are exemplary women across various industries who because of the others in society are thriving. This includes young partners of potential below the age of 25, and the more established leading women whose gallantry has remained in the public eye long enough for them to be referred to as legends in their own rights.

Our commitment to women can be summarised in one word; ‘defiant’. As in a world still riddled with complexities about gender roles, we would continue to wrestle for the hope we are convinced, creates the best future for us all; an equal world.

Charles Odii

Senior Vice President, Softcom.

International Women’s Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality

To commemorate International Women’s day 2021, SME100Africa held its annual conference on the 4th of March 2021. The keynote address for the conference was given by Funke Bucknor-Obruthe the founder and CEO of Zapphaire Events. Other speakers at the annual conference included Oby Ugboma (C.O.O Chapelhill Denham) Mrs Basirat Akin Bashiru (Assistant Director, LIRS), Fade Ogunro (CEO Bookings Africa), Akinlolu Akinyele (Head Energy and Emerging Corperate groups) to mention a few. There were also special digital marketing and financial literacy sessions supported by Axamansard. Axa Mansard also sponsored the pitch competition that saw 30 female entrepreneurs in Nigeria pitch their business to win one million Naira (N1,000,000.00).  Mariam Lawani of Greenhill Recycling Limited won the pitch competition.

Also to commemorate the International Women’s day SME100Africa unveils the 3 Queens Campaign featuring

A Creative – Omoni Oboli. Award-winning Movie Producer, Director and Actor (Special guest SME100Africa International Women’s day 2016).

A Career Executive – Rashidat Adebisi -Chief Client Officer Axa Mansard ( Keynote speaker SME100Africa  International women’s day 2020).

An Entrepreneur– Tara Fela Durotoye – CEO House of Tara ( Keynote Speaker SME100Africa International Women’s day 2019)

They discussed their journey on how they overcame challenges in the past 20 years (2 decades) and what needs to be done in their various industries to achieve a gender-equal world.

The talk show hosted by Seyitan Atigarin touches on strength, hope, dream, innovation and the fight to achieve your dreams irrespective of what society has to say; these women have changed the narrative in their various industries and are women leaders; their hard work, resilience and drive have given them the ability to sustain their craft and their position in their industries. They go into detail about how the pandemic affected them and their industries as well as how they were able to let creativity in and shine throughout. Click to watch https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=irfb2g0k3wc&feature=youtu.be