Women of Rubies, Author at Women of Rubies

In Inspiration February 14, 2020 By Women of Rubies

Meet The Nigerian Woman Whose Mission Is To Save Lives Through LifeBank

Getting proper blood supply for patient can be a tough one. Temie Giwa-Tubosun therefore founded LifeBank a Lagos-based blood and oxygen delivery company that connects registered blood banks to hospitals and patients in need of blood supply.

In 2019, Temie won $250,000 grant from the Jack Ma Foundation, and was listed in 2014 as one of the BBC 100 Women, third Nigerian on the list, along with veteran broadcaster Funmi Iyanda and Obiageli Ezekwesili, Nigeria’s former minister of education. She was also the youngest on the list.

So what is the company about?
LifeBank helps hospitals discover blood and other essential medical supplies and help deliver to the hospital in the right condition. They deploy mobile and web technology, smart logistics, and Artificial Intelligence to build an end to end marketplace and cold chain logistics. Temi’s mission is to save 1 million lives in 10 years. Temi’s passion begun when she noted that biggest cause of maternal mortality in the continent and the developing world is something called Post-Partum Hemorrhage. Basically, women give birth and shortly after, they start bleeding. However, if the hospital does not have blood to transfuse to these women, they go into shock and they die. In Nigeria where Temi was born, it killed over 26,000 young women every year. As a mother myself she had a difficult delivery and was lucky enough to have access to a good health system in US.

After this, she decided to move back home to Nigeria and help solve this problem.
After she went back home Temi knew that she needed to have conversations with experts in this sector. Also, it wasn’t just blood shortage but also lack of communication to know who has the blood type you need, and lack of infrastructure to move the blood to where it is needed on time and in the right condition. This led her to build LifeBank.

The obvious reason she created this digital health startup was to make a difference. People will never stop needing blood, it’s not a need it’s a matter of survival and that’s where LifeBank comes in.

In May 2017, she was selected as part of “six entrepreneurs who demonstrate the positive role women are playing in creating opportunities and preparing the region for the Fourth Industrial Revolution” by the World Economic Forum on Africa.

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In Inspiration February 14, 2020 By Women of Rubies

Cynthia Erivo’s Performance At The 2020 Oscars Was A Hit

Cynthia Erivo made a remarkable performance at the 2020 Oscars with an unforgettable rendition of “Stand Up,” which was nominated for Best Original Song.

The actress who also sings was also nominated in the Best Actress category got her performance as Harriet Tubman, took over the stage dressed in a dramatic gold number and delivered a grand performance that highlighted her powerhouse vocals.

She got praises from the media and those in attendance. She was later joined on stage by a large choir, who further elevated the emotional performance,

Erivo who has previously won a Tony, Emmy and Grammy could have become the youngest EGOT winner ever last night. She was the only nominee of color in the acting categories, which prompted folks to once again speak out against the Academy’s well-documented lack of inclusion.

Though she didn’t pick up any awards, her performance was a clear winner and arguably the best of the night.

Erivo is set to play soul icon Aretha Franklin in the upcoming scripted series “Genius Aretha,” from National Geographic.

Source: WomenAfrica

In Interviews&profile February 13, 2020 By Women of Rubies

Congratulations To Gloria Edozie On Her New Appointment

Adesua Dozie, has joined Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited an Executive Director and General Counsel. Dozie was the General Counsel Africa for the General Electric Company, where she was also co-chair for the GE Women’s Network in Africa.

The appointment which is effective from December 30, 2019 is a continuation of Dozie’s impressive career trajectory which has seen her work with some of the biggest names globally.

Dozie has also served as Secretary and legal advisor to the Coca-Cola Africa Foundation and had several senior legal roles in Africa for Coca-Cola. She has also worked for Elf Petroleum (now Total Upstream) and with the law firm of Ajumogobia & Okeke.

Dozie’s impressive CV includes being lead advisor in a number of high value infrastructure projects across the African continent, in turn facilitating regional growth, strengthening corporate governance and compliance cultures across diverse business communities, serving as a guardian of the complex dynanics between purpose, profit and risk.

She is a passionate advocate for diversity – age, thought, gender and race – and inclusion. She is married to Uzoma Dozie and are blessed with three children.

“In my current role as General Counsel of GE Africa, I have had the opportunity to advise, structure and lead transactions across the African continent, in turn facilitating regional growth, strengthening corporate governance and compliance cultures across diverse business communities, and serving as a guardian of the complex dynamics between purpose, profit and risk,” she said.

In Career Gems February 13, 2020 By Women of Rubies

Transcorp Plc Appoints 4 Extra Ordinary Women At The Helm Of Affairs

These four women where appointed by Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp). Transcorp is Nigeria’s leading listed industrial holding company.

The women include, Owen Omogiafo Dupe Olusola, Helen Iwuchukwu, and Okaima Ohizua

Owen Omogiafo was appointed as President/GCEO of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc, with effect from March 25, 2020. She succeeds Valentine Ozigbo, who is retiring to pursue a career in public service, having served Transcorp for close to a decade.

“What I found is everything you do in life prepares you for the next step.”–Olusola Modupe. Dupe was also appointed as the MD/CEO of Transcorp Hotels Plc, effective from March 25, 2020. She is currently the Group Head, Marketing at United Bank for Africa Plc. She has over 21 years of corporate experience including MD/CEO of Teragro Juice Concentrate Plant. She holds a BA in Economics from the University of Leicester and a Masters in Development Economics from the University of Kent.

The Board of Transcorp Hotels Plc approved the appointment of Helen Iwuchukwu as an Executive Director/Chief Operating Officer of the company. She is currently the Group Company Secretary of Transcorp Plc. She holds an LL. B. (Hons) degree in Law and was enrolled as a Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 1993 (BL Hons) and holds a Master of Laws degree (LL. M.) from Middlesex University Business School, London.

The Board of Transcorp Power Ltd also approved the appointment of Okaima Ohizua as Executive Director/Chief Operating Officer of Transcorp Power Ltd. She is currently Executive Director, Customer Services at Transcorp Hotels Plc. She has over 25 years of working experience and has been key to the continued service transformation at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, since joining the Board and Management in 2013.

In Inspiration February 13, 2020 By Women of Rubies

Meet The Woman Fighting Climate Injustice

“I wanted to screen my retirement plans for environmental and social issues, but the only option was the Vanguard FTSE Social Index Fund,” says Marilyn Waite.

Marilyn Waite is a Program Officer in Environment at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

She has worked across four continents in venture investment and low-carbon energy, so addressing climate change through investments is her forte.

Marilyn manages the foundation’s grantmaking on climate and clean energy finance with the ambitious goal of addressing climate change by accelerating the transition to a climate-friendly economy. Her grantmaking mobilizes private capital investments in low-carbon and climate-friendly energy infrastructure and systems, seeking to redirect finance from high- to low-carbon activities and encourage wiser energy investments.

She oversees Hewlett Foundation’s climate finance program where she invests in sustainable banking strategies that can lower global emissions at the gigaton scale. Marilyn is also a thought leader in the green jobs space, having authored Sustainability at Work, Careers that Make a Difference, a book that looks at sustainability professions across various sectors, such as agriculture, health care, and even entertainment and media. Waite is a Princeton and Cambridge-trained environmental engineer with a background that ranges from sustainable development in Madagascar to nuclear energy in France. She is an editor-at-large for GreenBiz and an E2 1 Hotels Fellow.

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In Entertainment February 12, 2020 By Women of Rubies

US Rep. Ayanna Pressley Finally, Confidently Reveals Her New Hair Cut

Few weeks back US Rep. Ayanna Pressley revealed her bald head and battle with alopecia in a moving interview she had with The Root. She has finally debuted her crown on Capitol Hill.

“After Rep. Ayanna Pressley unveiled her hair loss last month, many supported the congresswoman. But Pressley’s reveal of her alopecia — an autoimmune disease that causes hair loss — and her consequent bald head also made her the subject of online bullying, with some people,” according to CNN.

On Jan. 29 the freshman Congresswoman from Massachusetts took to the House floor, wigless and made her address confidently.

“I am proud to rise in support of my comprehensive Crediting Reporting Enhancement, Disclosure, and Transparency or the Comprehensive Credit Act, a critical package of reforms that will improve our fundamentally flawed credit reporting system.”

“I hid in a bathroom stall. I felt naked, exposed, vulnerable. I felt embarrassed. I felt ashamed. I felt betrayed,” she told The Root.

Luckily, her journey has gotten better, she says, stressing that ”I’m making progress every day. And that’s why I’m doing this today.”

“It’s about self-agency. It’s about power. It’s about acceptance. It’s so interesting to me that right now on this journey, what I feel the most unlike myself is when I am wearing a wig. So I think that means I’m on my way.”

She jokingly spoke given her wigs names after Michelle Obama and even OG.

It is definitely incredible to see Pressley open up and be so brave about what she is going through.

In Interviews&profile February 12, 2020 By Women of Rubies

WCW | Beverly Naya is Our Woman Crush Today

Beverly Naya is a dark and lovely Nigerian actress, who was born in Nigeria, but raised in London. At 17, she began acting while studying philosophy, psychology and sociology at Brunel University. She also studied script writing in Roehampton University.

‘The wedding party’ actress was named the “fastest rising actress” in the City People Entertainment Awards in Nigeria, when asked why she returned to Nigeria by Encomium Magazine she said and I quote

“After I graduated from university, I just knew that I wanted to act, I knew I wanted to act, and in London I could shoot a film probably once in a year and that’s it. Whereas coming to this industry, I can build a brand as well as shoot films more often and be given a more diverse amount of scripts. So, I decided to come back for that reason.”

ACHIEVEMENTS

In 2014, Beverly Naya launched a campaign titled ‘Fifty Shades of Black’, aimed at inspiring young girls to feel confident about themselves.

Recently, she also started a documentary termed ‘Skin the documentary’. This is intended to tackle skin bleaching, and exploring the meaning of beauty in different shades of black.

AWARDS & ENDORSEMENTS

She also won the award for Fast Rising Actress at the 2011 City People Awards.

She won the Most Promising Talent category at the 2010 Best Of Nollywood Awards.

She also won the award for Fast Rising Actress at the 2011 City People Entertainment Awards.

We love you Beverly.

In Health February 12, 2020 By Women of Rubies

The Difference Between Gender, Sex & Sexuality? Watch this Episode of Untold Facts

In Inspiration February 12, 2020 By Women of Rubies

Why Environmental Activist Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim is so Particular about Climate Change

According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), Chad is among the poorest nations in the world, and it is “already struggling with poverty and frequent conflict”. Making a reference to the Multidimensional Poverty Index, most of the population in Chad rely on subsistence farming.

Speaking with WEF, Hindou Ibrahim pointed out the size of the Lake Chad had depleted, compared to the size it was when she was a child which spanned about 10,000 km square. This is as a result of climate change, the rising population, and the most prominent occupation in Chad, agriculture.

Hindou Ibrahim, who is from the Mbororo pastoralist community, and an expert in how indigenous peoples and particularly women adapt to climate change, wants to highlight the impact a warming planet is having on communities across Africa.

During the WEF Sustainable Development Impact Summit in 2019, she shared that, “Climate change is real, and it’s not about our future. It’s about our present. It’s the issue of survival. It’s not the issue of economy or power, it’s the issue of life of hundreds of millions of people that depend on it. We need solutions, we don’t have time. It’s now time for action and immediate action for those peoples who are getting impacted who didn’t create this climate change.”

Watch the video below.

In Inspiration February 12, 2020 By Women of Rubies

Tomie Balogun On Making Your Money Work For You

Tomie Balogun is an investment expert and author. A recognized speaker who has been invited to speak in multiple organisations and universities in Africa

She is on a mission is to help millennials learn how to invest correctly, and is a big advocate of investing in small businesses to help them grow. “One of the key things I see is that people take a lot of money out of the country to spend; the money is in the hands of a few.

The best way to do it was by investing with others. She joined an investment club as the best way to invest in others.

An investment club is a group of people who come together to pool their resources and then invest it in assets or business projects.

Tomie Balogun teaching an investment workshop

“When there’s talk about investing, many people think you have to be rich to do it,so they’ll start to do so once they have money,” she said. She believes that investing is not only for the rich, and it is a long-term strategy to creating wealth.

“People want to get rich in 2 or 5 years but if you look at stories of truly successful people, they built over decades,” she says. “I often ask, how much do you need to live a good life? People say billions. There’s a false sense that we need so much, but we don’t need it. Hoarding money is scarcity thinking. You don’t need to pile and stash. Get clarity on what your why is, and what you need to have a good life.” Tomie emphasizes that investment is a process—one that requires discipline and commitment. “Start with your why. Then take steps towards checking your expenses and investing,” Tomie advises. “Take baby steps. There are mutual funds you can start with N2,000; then add to consistently. When it grows, you can take it out and put in other things. If you put your money in a business and see it grow and be sustained for decades, that’s a legacy. That’s enough. Investment is not a product. It’s a plan; a path to a destination.”

“I find that there are many people who have been working for years, yet have no financial security. So they can’t just quit to do an MBA, or even quit because they’re in an unhealthy work environment,” she says as she makes a case for investing. “In the end, the real thing most of us need is the freedom to make choices. Investing allows you to do that. I never want to feel stuck, and that is why I invest. It’s not about piling billions of money in an account. It’s putting your money to work.”

With her wealth of experience Tomie insists that she is still on a journey. “I can’t say I’m totally free, but I’ve learnt that investment is long-term,” she says. “My story has evolved a lot from starting an investment club to stepping out of paid employment. It has given me freedom to make choices.”