VGG Supports Women Career Growth with IWD Event
The advent of the COVID-19 crisis has reaffirmed the important role of women in the world as they take the front lines as efficient remote workers, caregivers, health care workers, innovators as well as home and community organizers. Women’s contribution to the progress of humanity can therefore not be overemphasized and thus forms the basis of this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD) celebration themed #ChooseToChallenge.
In light of this, Venture Garden Group (VGG) a leading provider of technology innovations organized an interactive session titled “Choosing to Challenge in the New World” to commemorate this year’s IWD celebration on March 8, 2021, under the aegis of the Garden Women’s Network (GWN). This well attended virtual event brought together women in the tech ecosystem and other professional fields to share ideas and experiences through several activities.
Leading the first session on Emotional intelligence and the future of work, the Founder of Hacer Foundation, Funmilola Eniolorunda, established that Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize and understand emotions in ourselves and others, and the ability to use this awareness to manage our behaviour and relationships. The facilitator discussed how women in the workforce should take advantage of the four skills of emotional intelligence which are Self-awareness, Self-management, Social Awareness and Relationship management to scale through workplace challenges.
Also speaking at the event was Certified Personality Profile Analyst, Aderinsodun Ogunmola, who anchored the discussion titled, “Positive Habits for a Work-Life Balance: How to Thrive During a Pandemic”. The session established the need for women to live a balanced lifestyle as this is beneficial for increased productivity, better physical and mental health, confidence building and teamwork improvement in the organization. According to her, “Your company or organization cannot create the best work-life balance for you. As individuals, we must find and create it for ourselves.”
Chief of Staff, Venture Garden Group, Ifeanyi Monyei, in her own session, highlighted the important steps that women need to consider in achieving career growth and breaking the glass ceiling in the journey for equal opportunity, stressing that it can be achieved by finding out what works for you as an individual, developing a career principle and being confident as it is critical for growth. “Women should remember that they are not perfect and should challenge themselves daily on the next step to take in their career”, admonished Ifeanyi.
Rounding up the highly engaging event, Principal & Founder of Evaluation & Staffing Africa Limited (ESAfrica), Elisa Salaza-Chukwuma, anchored the session themed: Thriving Choices: The Ladder to Opportunities. She discussed why the corporate world is not a level playing ground and the need for women to follow the tips in climbing the corporate ladder which include: having a game plan, finding a mentor, ensuring to work hard and build relationships with people as well as investing in personal branding and being assertive.
The event was exceptionally packed with loads of diverse activities like games, social media engagement, etc and was wrapped up with a question-and-answer session.