IFEYINWA MAUREEN OKAFOR, strategically treading the path to global leadership

I feyinwam au re enoka for is the ceo, international packaging industry, a former adviser, i mo state government and ana mu jae leader (2021). She is among 15 african women of which 3 are nigerian to be mentored and coached by president sand world leaders so they can unleash their potential as emerging global leaders.

The a mu jae initiative is a program of the ellen johnson sir leaf presidential center for women and development (ejs center) that identifies and challenges african women to be catalysts for political and social change across africa.

Ejswasfou nd edin 2018 by former liberia n president ellen johnson Sir leaf, nobel peace prize winner and the first elected woman head of state in africa. on the board of theejs are drng oz iokonj o-i we ala a swell as other global change makers.

Oka for, a multiple local and international award winner attended the University of bradford in the united kingdom, where she graduated with a first-class degree in law. she is also an alumnus of the johnson institute of responsible leadership, university of pit ts burg, pennsylvania.

A chartered accountant and governance professional, she spent the first 15 years of her career in banking and financial services.

Expanding her private sector portfolio, in 2008, she joined international packaging industries of nigeria pl ca sm an aging director.

In 2019, i fe yinwa was invited to joint hei mo state government as a Member of the financial advisory committee, where her prudent management enabled significant reform within the treasury and stream lined government finances.

Her team was responsible for introducing the treasury single account (Tsa)tothestate.

Oka for has served in several professional associations including as Treasurer and member, governing council, institute of chartered secretaries and administrators of ni ger ia(ic san ), to mention a few.

She was a commissioner ont hei mo state judicial commission of inquiry into contracts from 2011-2019, tasked with re forming the contract award process and recovery of funds paid for contracts not executed.

She is an avid reader, tennis player, competitive swim mer, and mother ofthreechildren.

IGrowing up

was the first child and most first borns have this sense of responsibility in that, our parents always told us “Your younger ones are looking up to you” in other words, you were set up to excel, you didn’t have the liberty of misconduct. My parents were university lecturers and we moved around a lot. I had a cosmopolitan upbringing. I grew up in the north, my parents were in Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, they were also in Imo State. To further their education, they went to the United States and they both achieved their PH.D. It formed me as a young person because I realised that in the country at that time, I could see the level of development which was different from where we were coming from.

When we came back to Nigeria, I had a culture shock in the sense that the standard of living of my parents was not higher than when we came back, and they were fully employed as university lecturers. So, as a young child, I would ask, “Why didn’t you stay in United States? Were our lives not better there?” But my father would say that this is our country, we need to come back and make sure that we contribute to its development. So, I think that stuck with me that this is my country and as much I can travel and see development, I have a sense of duty to be part of resolving the issues that we face, being part of the solution and also contributing to our national

development. That’s how growing up was for me.

15 years working in the corporate world

I always tried to be a role model for others to follow. I always tried to be a person of excellence. So, I put my best in my work and I constantly got awards in my industry and my promotion was rapid. I think for the financial industry, I enjoyed my work at that time, but I had a deep sense that there was more out there and there was a lot more I could do. However, within the confines of my work, I was a bit constrained, I couldn’t criticize the government. My employers couldn’t take that. I couldn’t run for elections, I couldn’t participate in any governance process because my employers wouldn’t want that.

So, as much as I was doing very well in my employment, I had to be where I could express the fullness of who I was and I could aspire to be part of a solution for the greater problem that my country was in. As a banker, I was relatively comfortable, I could take care of my needs but I could also see that there were a lot of people who couldn’t take care of their needs.

I could see that there were lots of people who were not meeting the daily basic requirements of food and shelter and I think that began to prick my soul and I realised that it was just a matter of time before I could ‘escape’ and seek where I could do something to make the lives of people better.

Transition from the corporate world to politics

As a corporate person, I was responsible for myself and a few customers I had. But in government, I would have been responsible for three million people if had been elected, I would have been responsible for transformation of a lot more people’s lives. My aspiration was to impact people in positive ways and the platform that politics gives is that you can do it for many people by creating policies, creating change that is adopted and can affect many more lives.

The time I left the corporate world to aspire, it was very difficult because I had never been in politics. The people in the political arena will not welcome you because they feel you have a life in the corporate sector, why are you coming into politics? They look at politics as a place where it is an exclusive reserve for them, so, you coming in from outside, you’re not welcome. They would discourage you in every way they could. As much as I knew that people like me were needed, we were not welcomed.

Decision to contest for the position of Governor of Imo state

Running for governorship was a very challenging time because I was aspiring for the first time and for the highest level of leadership. You get asked, ‘Why not start from the local government or the House of Assembly? That would be more achievable in terms of the coverage of your constituency and your financial capacity’ but I knew what I had to offer was beyond my local government. I believed in my capability to turn things around for the state. I was looking at where I could influence a greater number of people and I believed that at the highest level of state governance, I could influence a greater number of people through policies and executive governance. So, that’s why I aspired for the office of the Governor of Imo State. Despite not winning, I have advised two governors now.

The effect of COVID-19 on your organisation

COVID-19 was a leveler, everyone was affected. If I look at my books right now, it didn’t really impact my business in the sense that, because we had already set out who we were, when COVID-19 came, we were able to continue to work, some offline, but the factory workers were more or less quarantined within the factory environment.

So, we were able to maintain our businesses, and at that time, because some others were not able to maintain their businesses, a lot of businesses moved to my company. We were able to maintain our integrity in terms of delivering when we say we will deliver.

Integrity worked for us because a lot of companies didn’t maintain their integrity. Due to the supply chain challenges, when they say that they would supply a particular quality of paper, they would compromise. However, we stayed with our delivery promise and the customers appreciated that and moved their businesses to us. So, COVID-19 went for me in a way I couldn’t imagine. Right now, we’re bigger, better and servicing bigger orders and we’re grateful to God.

Being a 2021 Amujae leader

Amujae is a word in the Liberian language that means ‘we’re moving up’, and it was coined by former president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. She brought together a group of important women to join her in this legacy project, which is developing the next set of women leaders for the continent.

She looked at it that since she became president, women haven’t arrived at that presidential level in Africa, she then felt she should do something to encourage women who are already in the process, or who are aspiring for different levels of public leadership. It’s a hand-holding mentorship programme, so that you have access to these women and they can share their stories and experiences, and we can also be inspired to keep striving for our own dreams and goals.

It’s an amazing network of wonderful women. In Nigeria, we were about 214 that applied and I am privileged to be one of three that were chosen. We have a huge responsibility to represent the nation in this so that, with a high sense of responsibility and duty, we can also learn and then come back to impact our communities with what we have learnt, improve our space and also aspire to a higher level of leadership.

Selection process

The selection process was basically done through a number of submissions. We were asked to write certain essays about what we had done in the past and what we’re aspiring to do next. So, theirs is an online form that I had to fill and go through some Zoom interviews. Our mentors interviewed us and they were able to make a choice from the conduct of the interview and the submissions we made.

I was quite excited when I was called and told I was part of the elite group of women that were chosen for the 2021 cohort. It means that every year, there will be 15 women that will be nominated. One of our mandates is also to look for people we can mentor. It’s an amazing network and I’m so privileged to be part of it.