Business Coach Boss Assures Business Clarity for SMEs
Bukola Ogunwale, the CEO of Business Coach Zone has restated her organisation’s commitment to helping individuals and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to find clarity in their careers and businesses.
Ogunwale, who described Business Coach Zone as an organisation that helps people clarify all areas of their businesses, explained that large organisations may have the capacity to employ experts for different key areas of business, but a small business owner may not have the capacity to do the same.
She said SMEs need expertise to grow their businesses adding that “a business owner may be good at sourcing for goods, but may not be so great at marketing, or keeping accounting records or managing Human Resources”.
She explained that at Business Coach Zone, business owners are helped to clarify all the areas of business growth, they interact with experts, they discover the errors they have been making, and are helped to carve out a way forward, with necessary templates and structure documents that can help them in areas for improvement.
She assured that when business owners interact with courses from Business Coach Zone, they gain the mind sets, skills and tools that help them successfully scale their organisations.
She hinted that Business Coach Zone also helps people in careers to understand and inculcate the notion of working like entrepreneurs, so they can take ownership of their job functions and grow as they help their organisations to grow.
The clarity coach said they have worked with several corporate organisations to train their staff members on the art of entrepreneurship and with banks to train entrepreneurs as well. Ogunwale who is also a co-founder in i-Fitness Gym and a founder of Coach B Fitness Zone noted that she was inspired to commence Business Coach Zone to fill the knowledge gap that entrepreneurs face in business know-how and profitability.
“My first few years in corporate law was spent sitting in board meetings where seasoned professionals deliberated on businesses, why some were grounded and why some others succeeded.
“I discovered that passion alone is not sufficient to build a company. There must be industry know how, there must be a determination to provide the solution to problems people are grappling with.
“Entrepreneurs need to keep good records so as to ensure that they are not just doing business activities but are making good profit. Your business is at its best when you are at your best” she noted.
Hence one of the biggest aspects she focuses on in the Business Coach Zone is the personal growth of the entrepreneur.
“When you look at the example of a person who has tried their hands at different businesses and keep failing or going round in circles, you will realise that the problem is not often with the different businesses but with the person.”
She noted that many do not take time out to be trained in the business aspect of their passion, and this is a major reason why their businesses struggle, adding that Business Coach Zone fills this gap by training entrepreneurs regardless of their reasons for starting a business.
“I help people to reinvent themselves by coaching them. There are always opportunities around us, if only we know where to search for them.
“Indeed the economy has felt the impact of COVID, however, the more countries lock their physical borders down, the more the online portals seem to open up wider for commerce.
“Now, a person can pick up a laptop in Lagos, Nigeria and offer excellent graphics designing work to a client in New York and be paid in foreign currency for their services.
“Perspective is everything, and with the right coaching, everyone can discover within them, particular needs of their society or of the world that they can meet and be rewarded for” she added.
Some of the courses offered at Business Coach Zone include the Business Clarity Course, The CEO Personal Growth Course, the Fitness Mindset Course, the Doer’s Course, the Staff Training Manual and so many more. Ogunwale also has an app called the Vision Journal App that helps users to be more intentional and to take charge of their lives rather than following the bandwagon.
March 8 marks International Women’s Day #ChooseToChallenge, which aptly captures the status quo-challenging progress recorded by women and girls around the globe over the past year - from Kamala Harris becoming the first female Vice President of the United States of America to Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala becoming the first woman to lead the World Trade Organisation.
Women have been subject to significantly fewer opportunities in education, employment, and political representation.
But even in the face of historic marginalisation, women have continued to make incredible progress in different parts of society, playing a key role in economic life. If it were not for essential scientific inventions by Hedy Lamarr (mobile communications), Mary Anderson (windscreen wipers on cars), Dr. Shirley Jackson (telecommunications), and Florence Parpart (modern refrigerator), everyday life would be very different.
Time and again, they have not only told but shown the world that womanhood and their tender nature do not equate to incompetence and they deserve a seat at the table in any area of life desired. Although men still dominate the executive suites in most professions, women hold high positions in public office and private sector across the world - currently, 21 women sit as the head of state or government in 193 countries, according to the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations and last year, the number of female CEOs in the Fortune 500 hit an all-time record.
At all levels of the career ladder, women are rising in ranks with a show of resilience and challenging the status quo.
On March 8, the world will turn its attention to women and girls, to mark these accomplishments. As much as it is important to celebrate them, it is equally crucial to recognise that the many successes reflect the potentialities of women, and more still needs to be done to further unlock this transformative potential.
Giving women and girls the opportunity to succeed is not only the right thing to do - it can also transform societies and economies. Research shows that if women’s employment equaled men’s, economies would be more resilient, and economic growth would be higher. Specifically, closing the gender gap in employment could increase global gross domestic product by an average of 35 per cent - of which 7-8 percentage points are productivity gains due to gender diversity.
A number of institutions - governments and private sector players - are aware of this, and are acting on it. One such is Lafarge Africa Plc, known for its exemplary culture of diversity and solidarity in challenging gender inequality - up to 36 per cent of board seats at LAP are held by women, the third-highest among the top 20 companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
“Gender equality is a journey,” Mrs. Folashade Ambrose-Medebem, Lafarge Africa’s Communications, Public Affairs & Sustainable Development Director reflecting the company’s inclusive culture and a longstanding commitment to promoting gender equality across the board.
In addition to the female leaders on Lafarge Africa’s board - Mrs. Adenike Ogunlesi, Ms. Karine UzanMercie, Mrs. Elenda Giwa-Amu, Mrs. Oyinkan Adewale, and Folashade Ambrose-Medebem Adewunmi Alode, Folake Odegbami, Jumoke Adegunleand on the executive committee, women hold several other critical senior management positions across Lafarge’s operations.
The 30-year-old Mrs. Debora Danladi is the first and only female engineer in the Gombe based Ashaka Cement plant at Funakaye and the manager for Health, Safety, and Environment in Maiganga community for Ashaka Cement, a subsidiary of Lafarge Holcim.
These women and many more reflect the gender diversification drive among the ranks of Lafarge Africa Plc. And like the great inventors, corporate bigwigs, and heads of states, they give other women the pedestal to stand tall anywhere.
As John Steinbeck, the 1962 Nobel Prize for Literature winner once said; “Kings, Gods, and Heroes only were fit subjects for literature. The writer can only write about what he admires... And since our race admires gallantry, the writer will deal with it where he finds it.” We have found it in the women around us and we celebrate them today and every day.