Flour Mills Nigeria Moves to Promote Gender Inclusiveness

Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc (FMN) has introduced “Women’s Empowerment Initiative” in an effort aimed at creating an unbiased and balanced work environment and promote gender inclusiveness in the workforce.

The Chairman, FMN, Mr. John Coumantaros, disclosed this at the company’s International Women Day programme, held recently in Lagos.

“While we continue to record successes in our effort to create an unbiased and balanced work environment where our women can excel with as much opportunity as the men folk, I would be the first to admit that we are not quite where we want to be. It is important to mention at this point that at FMN, we have always been promoters of equal opportunity employment. We believe in creating not just an enabling environment but also investing in the development and empowerment of our employees,” Coumantaros said. On his part Group Managing Director of FMN Mr. Paul Gbededo, re-emphasised the commitment of the company, saying women have come a long way in finding their rightful place in FMN to ensure a free, just and egalitarian, equalopportunity work environment.

“We had a female Human Resource Director (HRD), who joined as a management trainee and rose through the ranks and a female miller who has excelled both locally and internationally. In many areas that were thought to be the exclusive preserve for men, we now have womenfolk competing for excellence. Yet there is still more to be achieved,” Gbededo said. According to him, FMN entered a new phase in its effort to forge a gender-balanced work force when in March 2017 a female board director was appointed in the person of Mrs. Salamatu Husein-Suleiman.

“The board took advantage of this development by appointing her to mentor the womenfolk in FMN with a view to help develop their potentials and help retain these talents,” he said.

FMN recently reported a revenue of N400 billion and a profit after tax of N7.895 billion for the nine months ended December 31, 2018.