What does International Women’s Day mean to you?
It means inspiration where I am inspired to dare and to do
more. A day where every female gender irrespective of our profession or status
is recognized globally, a day where it is important to celebrate the success
and growth of every woman, one who has been able to conquer, who has been able
to stand for her rights and explore the full potential of herself with no
restriction to any obstacle. We need to celebrate every gender called “WOMAN”
as the world appreciates our hard work, resilience, struggles, wins and
achievements, a day the world stands for “US” and reflects on the impact we
have made in society. Officially a day
that is devoted in celebration of all women but to me, everyday is IWD because
we create magic always.
How has COVID 19 affected your role in Jumia since the
pandemic started?
2020 has been the most challenging and daring of my 8 years
in Jumia where opportunities were
explored and we had to transition to a new normal by activating work from home
in our attempt to ensure our consumers
do not lack general essential and food supply due to restriction in movement
for most parts of the country. At the beginning, it was a struggle supporting the team to suddenly change the
dynamics of how we use to work by commencing remote working and adapting to the new tools. Some of our
team members were not sure if this was going to be possible or if we could
achieve our number one goal of “winning the love of our customers” in a pandemic where few of our processes had to be
reviewed by ensuring all COVID 19
guidelines were adhered to. The pandemic has brought about CHANGE where
alternate channels of a new work-lifestyle are continuously being integrated
without compromising the JUMIA standard. With all of these, I had to ensure we
give time for the new learning curve, adequate support for onboarding and
mastering of the new normal as we are the Jumia Ambassadors.
What are the challenges you’ve encountered in your career as
a woman and how did you overcome it?
Well, most of my challenges came in my early stages of
taking up a leadership role especially with managing the largest team where
women are the largest team members, it was not easy managing the diversity of
all types of human with the mindset that my processor was male as such it was
expected that the role should be dominated by the male gender. So what I did
was, I wore the shoes of a male gender and walked the walk by keeping the
momentum and turning around the situation in taking up the mantle of
leadership. It was also difficult to balance the curve of attaining a
leadership role and being an awesome mum to my children especially when they
were toddlers who could not understand why I could not be present for story
time in their schools and feel saddened by my unavailability but I have been
able to create time at the homefront while I make it up to them in creating
that schooling atmosphere at home by playing & learning which is moulding
their values to create opportunities when life gives you lemon, you make
lemonade out of it.
How will you say Jumia is contributing to the
growth/development of female staff?
There are several ways Jumia contributes to the development
of her female staff, one of such initiatives used in promoting gender equality
is the provision of mentor programs which helps to guide us through any
challenge in the course of our career without any gender exclusion. We also
have the opportunity of the women forum where we all come together to discuss
business, obstacles, opportunities and work life balance and honestly it has
been engaging and rewarding as you see staff from all levels relate and share
learnings, I would say, it’s always a way to learn, relearn & unlearn.
What impact has gender equality made on your life and work?
Jumia is an organization that allows you to explore the
opportunities as long as you can earn it by hard work and a lot of positive
push. One of our core values “You don’t need a title to a leader” allows equal
rights amongst all which genuinely values your contribution and supports you to
grow even as a woman. Most of the C-levels in Jumia are women who in one way or
the other have contributed to the immense growth of the business. Jumia has
promoted equality as every opinion counts irrespective of your sex or level.
What female figure motivates you?
Actually, there are two particular female figures that
inspire me: one is African while the other is American. The question for me is
why these two women inspire me: they are women who have made good use of the
opportunities around them with a powerful resilience not to stop but continue
to ensure that their achievements continue to impact the lives of women especially
the young & upcoming ones. The first figure is Chimamanda Adichie who is a
Nigerian, a writer of short stories & novels, I am stuck on one of her
quotes “When there is true equality, resentment does not exist.” While my
second female figure is Hilary Clinton; a politician. Both women are an
inspiration to me because of their strong will and confident level, I admire
their courage on how they have done things differently.
What is the most important piece of advice you’d give to a
woman thinking of starting her career?
There is so much pressure from the world out there where our
young women are not sure of who they are or what they stand for, which
sometimes makes them lose priority and focus. However my message to young women
out there and generally to women “Be YOU…Be ENOUGH”: fuel your passion, making
mistakes is allowed, it does not stop you from achieving your goals but at the
end you learn from it and this makes you a better woman. Make sure you work
hard and have fun by celebrating your achievements and giving yourself a pat on
the back.