BusinessDay 13 April 2018

EDITOR’S NOTE
Leading Woman
7 BUSINESS DAY
Friday 13 April 2018
WOMEN’S HUB
Welcome to another edition of
Women’s Hub.
This week, our cover personality
and LEADING WOMAN is Foluso
Gbadamosi and she is passionate
about technology, humanity, succession
and more. Her story is indeed
mind stirring.
FOLUSO GBADAMOSI, the technology advocate
FOLUSO GBADAMOSI is the Director, Business Process
& Technology, Prime Atlantic Group and Co-Founder
at 8191 Solutions which provides technology solutions
to SMEs. Her career spans over 13 years in the
Telecommunications, IT and FMCG industries. She
shares with KEMI AJUMOBI on her passion for technology,
improving the welfare of humanity, succession
in African businesses and more. Excerpts.
Vanessa Cole was among the production
team at the recently concluded
Arise Fashion Week. She
shares her experience in our FROM
HER POINT OF VIEW SECTION.
Tosin Ogundeji came second in Nigeria
under her age category after
participating in the Toyota Dream
Car Art Contest, a Corporate Social
Responsibility initiative of Toyota
Motor Corporation. She writes a letter
to express her gratitude.
In our AGIANST ALL ODDS section,
Catherine Kahr survives depression.
Read her story and be inspired on
being positive about life.
These and more we have for you this
week.
Enjoy!
KEMI AJUMOBI
kemi@businessdayonline.com
Growing up
I
am the first of four children. I grew up in a home with
open doors to everyone and parents who expected the
best. My parents instilled humility and love for people
in ways I find hard to describe. I learnt a lot about being
responsible, loving people, the importance of family and
so much more from my parents. The truth is, children learn
from our actions more than our words, most of the values
I have today are from seeing my parents in action. Gender
was never a limiting factor in our home and I was raised to
know that nothing is impossible.
Why the passion for technology?
I am passionate about technology because it’s a huge catalyst
for social development. Ironically, my late father always
bought me ‘tech’ toys as a child. I loved fixing electronic
items around the house as well. So if the VCR broke, I would
take it apart and attempt to fix it. I also love the fact that
technology is a tool for solving almost every problem we
experience in the world today. Most of the organisations I am
affiliated with use technology as a tool for transformation.
Why the decision to move back to Nigeria? Any regrets?
I always intended to move to back to Nigeria. I never intended
to live abroad and thankfully, everything fell into
place when I was ready to move back. I believe in Nigeria
so much! I don’t believe anyone is the citizen of the country
they are from by accident, there is a reason God made me a
Nigerian and I intend to do my best to solve as many problems
as I can. I have no regrets.
The need for succession in businesses
In every organisation I find myself, I’m constantly thinking
about whether enough has been done to ensure that the
business stands the test of time. Many African businesses are
not structured for succession, there is no sustainability and
this has contributed to most business and poverty problems
that plague the African continent. Many pioneer Africans
who started great movements, dreams and organisations
died with all their breakthrough ideas and everything lies
6 feet beneath the ground. Instead of continuing where
someone left off, we find that people have to start afresh,
struggle afresh and rebuild.
Being Director of Operations, Monarch Communications
Ltd and restructuring the organisation, preparing
it for the sale of its 3.5GHz spectrum to Swift
Networks Ltd.
For Monacom, it made business sense to sell the license to
Swift because the Industry was so fragmented. The Telecoms
industry is heavily capital intensive, you can’t break even
without scale. At that time, most of the companies with our
type of license did not have enough to scale up, so selling
our license to Swift helped them become larger as opposed
to all of us operating in little silos – a setting that was in no
way sustainable.
Serving With Love
I am very passionate about being the change I want to see!
There are lots of problems around us, many of which only
need simple solutions. Serving With Love (SWL) was setup
to solve a very basic problem - provision of essential needs
to indigent families. Over time, we have evolved
and now handle more than just those needs.
We have an education fund, health fund and
general fund which takes care of the basic needs.
We have plans to build a Technology Centre for
underprivileged children where they can learn
how to code and so much more. SWL also intends
to build a Cancer Centre for children as we
have been working with Dorcas Foundation – a
foundation that provides healthcare for children
with cancer.
You wear different caps, how are you able
to juggle all without neglecting one or giving
one more attention than the other?
By creating efficient structures and recently, by
being very militant with my time. Honestly, this
is still evolving; I have learnt that purpose needs
to be the anchor behind everything I do. It is
what determines how I manage my time and
run my life. I say no to whatever is not in line
with my purpose and assignment to make time
for things that are.
Can women truly have it all?
Having it all means different things to different
people. Based on the definition of ‘have it all’, I
believe that through the management of life’s different
seasons, we can have ‘all’ for that season. For example,
if you are in a season where you are physically pregnant
– having it all could be a healthy pregnancy and doing
the things God created you to do within the limitations
of being pregnant. You would be in serious self-denial if
you think you can speed up the pregnancy period or do
all the same things you could physically do when you
were not pregnant. I think having it all would be less
of a sore topic for many if we would just embrace life’s
seasons! There is also the instant mindset nowadays
because of how much quicker we are getting things
done – many refer to this generation as a Microwave
Generation. Truth is, there are still many things you
cannot get done instantly and it is something we must
accept and handle with wisdom and maturity. Being
teachable and open to learning during these seasons
is also very important.
What is your view on the need for women to support
each other?
I am all for women supporting each other. This is one
of the reasons I love Women in Management Business
& Public Service (WIMBIZ) so much because it is a
powerful platform that supports women in different
seasons and stages of life. Men have been supporting
each other for years and we all see the fruits of that. The
women I see supporting each other break
barriers and achieve more sooner than
those who do not.
What is currently in your front burner?
What are you looking forward to?
I look forward to providing more solutions
and structures to solve social and business
problems in Nigeria. I also look forward
to Serving With Love , developing the IT
Training School for underprivileged kids
and also the Cancer Centre for kids. When
I see what liberation and freedom is gotten
from being able to do something as ‘simple’
as coding these days, it truly excites
me. I recently met a lady who taught herself
to code, graduated OAU recently and
has a job with a company abroad while
living in Nigeria because she can code!
With technology, there are no limitations
of career options and possibilities. In fact,
there are careers that do not exist now that
will be created because of technology.
Careers like Blogging and Social Media
Management did not exist a few years ago.
I look forward to a future where succession
planning is actually happening and is integral
to Nigerian and African businesses.
I can just imagine how much quicker we
will get things done if we can sustain businesses,
create wealth, transfer and share
knowledge from generation to generation.
Final words
Your purpose is bigger than you – it is not
a career, a business, marital status, having
kids and all that. Those are all assignments
from God and while they are important,
your purpose is bigger than you, way bigger
than your wildest imagination. You
were created for dominion and to create
solutions. Whatever you were created to
do, you are specially graced for and it is so
important to accept that and not try to operate
in anyone else’s calling! Stay in your lane
because that is where you will create value,
find fulfilment, make a difference in the
world and be successful. One of my most
recent favourite quotes is from TD Jakes –
“God doesn’t make chairs, He makes trees!”
God gives us natural resources; a major part
of our purpose is to create solutions that
improve the world we live in.