Women of Rubies, Author at Women of Rubies

In Editor's Choice August 12, 2021 By Women of Rubies

#GetTalkingWithEsther| Kemi Oyesola: My Domestic Violence Experience

On the 8th of August, 2021 and to mark the one year anniversary of the tweet chat #GetTalkingWithEsther, hosted by Esther Ijewere, Kemi Oyesola, a coach, director of How2think Global Consultancy, and survivor of domestic violence was invited to speak on the topic “Leave to live: My Domestic Violence Experience.”

It was a moment of real truth and baring her journey, her mistakes and most importantly, her recovery and rebirth process.

Kemi Oyesola, our guest at the popular tweet chat dropped a lot of nuggets that had attendees reacting in awe.

Here are excerpts from the conversation and how it all went down.

This tweet chat was a moment of learning and unlearning and one thing that was constant in our guest’s response is the God-factor and how much role your thoughts play in shaping your life.

Those who attended the tweet chat testified to how much they learned when the Host asked them to mention what stood out for them. Here’s what they have to say about it.

Coach Kemi Oyesola is a living proof that you can rise from any hopeless situation. As long as you can find the strength, courage and determination to do so.

Find out more about the rest of this insightful tweet chat via the Twitter handle of the host or simply follow the hash tag #GetTalkingWithEsther on Twitter for updates on the next one.

In Inspiration August 8, 2021 By Women of Rubies

Edna Reis And Sandra Pimentel, Angolan Wellness Entrepreneurs Passionate About Workplace Wellness

The strength of every organization and company lie in the wellbeing of its staff and employees. Companies who know this ensure they pay attention to the wholeness and wellbeing of their staff as it is directly proportional to their success as a company. Helping employees avoid burnout and providing maximum support to help them manage their physical, mental and emotional balance is key. This is why Edna Reis, the founder of Active Wellness in Angola created her business to help meet the demand for better health and total wellbeing in the workplace.

Edna Reis launched Active Wellness in 2017 and her partner, Sandra Pimentel joined in 2019. They are both psychologists with great management skills, motivation and experience in this field.

Active Wellness is a Start-up focusing on Mental Health and Organizational Well-Being Consultancy, with a diversity of services that meet the growing national and international health demand in the corporate environment.

Active Wellness works towards the perfect mental health and well-being of organizations by proposing solutions that help reduce the incidence and prevalence of mental disorders through specific psychotherapeutic interventions inside and outside the work environment.

Their services include: Mental health consultancy; Quality of life research at work; Individual and group psychotherapeutic interventions to better manage traumatic events with a high probability of triggering anxiety, stress, burnout; Employee wellbeing programs; Mindfulness classes; Mind and Body Balance interventions; Workshops and lectures.

Both Edna and Sandra had no entrepreneurial background prior to Active Wellness but Edna’s strong believe that each of us has a vision about how we would like to position ourselves in the professional world drove her into entrepreneurship as her own means of making meaningful contribution with her work.

She is happy being an entrepreneur and she describes her fulfilment as an entrepreneur using these words, “The possibility of helping to de-stigmatize mental health, contribute to the country’s growth, development and people’s health is undoubtedly a great satisfaction.”

Be willing to learn every day, nothing is given, have the courage to create the future you want, without neglecting the challenges that are typical of the trajectory. Edna says to women who want to start or create anything new.

In Inspiration August 6, 2021 By Women of Rubies

Mary Nyaga, A Florist Making A Difference in the Floral Business in Kenya

Flowers are beautiful. Everybody loves flowers because of the freshness and aesthetics they add to homes, offices and exterior spaces. Mary Nyaga, a Kenyan florist and founder of LorMar Florium is on a mission to adding joy and beauty to people’s lives through flowers.

Mary is harnessing the power of technology to do this through a subscription-based flower business using an App called Flowerhood that creates virtual floral arrangements and messages for customers to send to their family and friends.

Mary Nyaga is a co-founder of LorMar Florium, a business launched in 2019. She started the flower subscription company using the highest quality Silk artificial flowers.
Not willing to shut down business as a result of covid, she decided to take the business to another level by giving people an opportunity to create their own flower designs and personalize them with messages through their App called Flowerhood.
Mary describes herself as having an entrepreneurial spirit and a creative, having tried a few businesses. Taking women through a Leadership program where they have to draw their goals really motivated her to capture her dreams in her own form and drawing.

LorMar Florium, is a flower subscription company with different arms and product/service offerings. They have a flower studio with amazing flower delectables, creating a setting for brides or other people to come choose the array of colourful silk flowers. They also do flower design training and photography at our studio. And their App, Flowerhood, now on Google Play store allows customers to create virtual arrangements that they can send to their dear ones near and far, giving the gift of thoughtfulness to dear ones. Mary sees the flower industry as a great opportunity to bring connectivity to others.

Mary has been a jack of all trades, living in other countries and just picking up on what could come in as an extra income, and the good thing about this kind of lifestyle is that it has a way of leading you straight to where you want to be.
She had a school that she founded In Uganda which she had to let go after moving back to Kenya. On the side, she had a jewellery and shoe shop selling high end and unique products, and at one time she also ran a clinic. This also enabled her to network unconsciously back then. Moving back to Kenya accelerated her leadership journey and yet it was her entrepreneurial spirit which led to starting up her flower business, LorMar. Mary’s background of entrepreneurship sure contributed to her path as her grandfather was an entrepreneur and some of her family members too. Her mother has a streak of entrepreneurship in her as well.

Mary is pleased with being an entrepreneur because of the motivation and other benefits that come with it. For her, she loves the work-life balance that comes with entrepreneur. She enjoys the freedom to think, explore ideas and grow her business whenever she likes. She enjoys the freedom to also engage in other activities that gives her a boost mentally, spiritually, emotionally and physically. For her, her greatest pleasure of being an entrepreneur is the flexibility of time to engage in other things.

Her advice to going women who are seeking to start up is this, “Ladies, women, young and mature, I would just say start. Write down the areas you are interested in, see how best you can do in your different business ideas, single out them out. Do your research, network, get a mentor, be confident in yourself, and do not be afraid to speak up. For me, not speaking out cost me. Now I know better and I can say look at me now. Be proud of yourself and note down every little success. Those little successes put together are key milestones.”

In Career Gems August 5, 2021 By Women of Rubies

Blessing Oborududu Won Nigeria’s First Ever Wrestling Medal At The Olympics

The first ever silver medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games is here, thanks to Blessing Oborududu. This is coming after Ese Brume’s bronze win earlier today. Blessing lost the 68kg final match to USA’s Tamyra Mensah-Stock 1 – 4.

This win makes Blessing the first Nigerian wrestler to win an Olympic medal. Blessing is the first Nigerian wrestler ever to win a silver medal at the Games.

Congratulations, Blessing.

Go win some more

In Food August 5, 2021 By Women of Rubies

Aasiyah Ravate, A Mozambican Food Entrepreneur And Founder Of Home Cooking With Love

For a lot of people, cooking is a chore while for others, it is their love language and a thoughtful expression of their love. For Mozambican entrepreneur, Aasiyah Ravate, cooking is a passion turned business venture. Founder of Home Cooking With Love, every meal she makes are a delicious hit made with lots of love for her customers.

Aasiyah Ravate is a 22-year-old CEO and founder of Home Cooking With Love. She is also a year 4 student of dentistry. She has a great passion for cooking, and during the pandemic she reinvented herself and created her business, Home Cooking With Love. During the past six months, she has been serving her snacks to agencies, banks, and thousands of people in her city.

Aasiyah’s business celebrates the concept of homemade food, which makes people travel for flavors without leaving home and without needing a visa. Her business specializes in traditional Indian food, Italian food, fast food and desserts.

Aasiyah was inspired to start her business by her mother who was both a fighter and a warrior and taught her to fight for her dreams. “I have a passion for cooking. I am still struggling to achieve my dream of opening a restaurant. I was also inspired to start my business to help my mother because she was always a mother and father to me and my brother, she deserves the best.”

On her entrepreneurial journey, Aasiyah confirms that at first it was very difficult, because she had no idea how to own and run a business. Her mother helped her invest, and with time she gained experience. These experiences have in the long run, taught her to be a better entrepreneur.

Her biggest satisfaction as a food entrepreneur is her client’s happiness when they taste her food, and the thoughtful feedback she gets from her customers.

She advises young women to trust in themselves, be faithful, believe in their dreams, and fight for them no matter your age. In her words, “be strong and fight for your business, do not let anyone put you down. Believe in your potential and in the potential of your company. Hear the voice of your heart and make your way from it. I am sure that in the future, you will have the professional satisfaction you deserve!”

In Career Gems August 5, 2021 By Women of Rubies

Meet Elohor Aiboni, The First-ever Female MD Of A Shell Company In Nigeria

For the first time in Shell Nigeria’s over 60-year history, a woman has taken over the reins of leadership of one of its companies.

The appointment of Elohor Aiboni as the first female managing director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) is another classic example in the oil and gas sector.

Alboni was unveiled as the successor to Bayo Ojulari with effect from August 1

The oil and gas industry has been traditionally male-dominated, with few women ascending to top management positions. But Aiboni, a “self-motivated person with a strong sense of business priorities,” is one of few women to change the narrative, becoming leader of the multinational oil company Shell’s offshore business in Nigeria.

SNEPCo, a wholly-owned Shell company, has interests in four deep-water blocks; two of which it operates. The company develops and deploys the latest deep-water drilling techniques to reduce drilling times, cut costs and increase production, according to

It pioneered Nigeria’s deep-water oil and gas production at the Bonga field, a project that increased Nigeria’s oil capacity by 10 percent when output began in 2005.

Here is Aiboni’s life up till her appointment as SNEPCo MD.

AIBONI: A WOMAN OF MANY FIRSTS

Aiboni has many firsts to her credit — from being the first female asset operations manager in SNEPCo to being the company’s first female MD.

As asset operations manager, Aiboni was responsible for providing leadership in health, safety and environment (HSE), operational excellence and overall asset management of the Bonga deepwater floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel operated by Shell in Nigeria.

The Bonga FPSO vessel has a total production capacity of 225,000 barrels of oil per day and 150 standard cubic feet of gas export per day.

The height of a 12-storey building, and spanning an area the size of three football fields, the FPSO explores for and extracts oil from more than 1,000 metres below sea level.

TRAINEE TURNED MANAGING DIRECTOR

She has 19 years of working experience in Shell. Aiboni joined the oil company as a trainee production engineer and gradually rose through the ranks over the years.

“Immediately after I completed the compulsory national youths service, there came the opportunity to sit the Shell Intensive Training Programme examination. I made it, and that’s how I got into the prestigious SITP school. After a year of hard work and successful interviews, I transitioned to an employee as a Trainee Production Engineer about 19 years ago,” Aiboni disclosed in an interview with DMG events – a global energy show, in March.

Within the 19-year period, she served as business adviser to the executive vice president, and also managed third-party interface across several Shell assets in Nigeria and Kazakhstan.

Afterwards, she became a senior PtA engineer, then a manager at different tiers and transitioned to asset operations manager of Bonga, and presently SNEPCo boss.

The managing director holds a Bachelor’s degree (B.Sc.) in Chemical Engineering from the University of Benin, Nigeria, and a Master’s degree in Integrated Environmental Management from the University of Bath, UK.

‘A PRODUCT OF DILIGENCE, COMMITMENT TO SHELL’S VALUES’

Under her leadership, the Bonga asset received numerous awards, including the CEO HSSE Awards, Upstream Impact Award, and the Asset of the Year Runner up in 2019, in the Shell Group.

“Elohor’s appointment is a product of diligence, competence and commitment to the Shell ideals and core values, amidst our strong focus on diversity and inclusion,” Bamidele Odugbesan, media relations manager of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), quoted Marno de Jong, Shell’s senior vice president for Nigeria, as saying.

“We take pride in our intention of being one of the most diverse and inclusive organisations in the world, and focus on further improving inclusion and representation in critical areas, including gender.”

‘SELF MOTIVATED WITH STRONG SENSE OF BUSINESS PRIORITIES’

In her LinkedIn profile, Aiboni describes herself as “self-motivated with great ability to work easily without supervision. Result-oriented showing a sense of urgency and can challenge positively. Very good communicator with strong sense of business priorities.”

According to the profile, she is experienced in project to asset handover, operations of oil and gas facilities with HSE, cross-discipline, cross-functional units and multi-operating unit exposure with great interpersonal skills.

She is a certified quality management system (QMS) auditor, trained health, safety, security & environment (HSSE) & control framework auditor.

Source: The Cable

In Inspiration August 2, 2021 By Women of Rubies

Chipo Aaron, Botswanan Entrepreneur and Owner of Cutikles Skincare Brand

The journey into the world of entrepreneurship begins with a single step. For some, that single step can be passion to meet a need, quest to solve a problem or just the need to have an extra source of income. For Chipo Aaron, a Botswanan entrepreneur, frustration was her own push into the world of entrepreneurship.

Constantly frustrated by the chemical-intensive, highly synthetic formulas which have dominated the skincare market for too long, Chipo Aaron felt it was time to change the situation by launching her own skincare company, Cutikles to create high quality spa products that harness the healing power of Africa’s indigenous oils.

Chipo Aaron is the founder of Cutikles, a cosmetic manufacturing brand located in Gaborone, Botswana. She also doubles as an interior designer at Ca Concepts, an interior design firm that designs bespoke residential and corporate spaces.
Cutikles brand produces high quality spa products blended with raw African indigenous oils for both the African and international market. The business also has a spa that serves as a research and development centre that gives clients a foretaste of Cutikles products before release to the general public. Cutikles cosmetic brand exists to help the users of the products improve the overall health of their skin and their general appearance as a whole.

Some days are better than others but we cannot give up because the dreams that we have are valid.

Chipo believes quality and safety must not be compromised at any point which is why she ensures Cutikles spa products are locally produced using natural plant extracts and pure essential oils that have been well researched, packaged and delivered.

Chipo has an entrepreneurial background that has helped her succeed in her business. She was raised by two entrepreneurs who owners clothing retail stores and a logistics company. She learned from an early age that building a brand requires patience, hard work and resilience. She started cutikles after the birth of her first son and in her words, “I have always known that I wanted to be an entrepreneur and once I found the cosmetic world, I knew that is where I belong. I continued with interior design side jobs as I needed the funds to be pushed into Cutikles. The business continues to surprise me every day by the way we are changing lives through our products and services. Some days are better than others but we cannot give up because the dreams that we have are valid.”

She describes her journey so far using these words “being an entrepreneur has given me liberty in following and building my dreams and also providing others with better work environments. I have worked in harsh environments and I don’t wish for anyone to experience such. It is liberating to see someone smile because of the way you respect them and that makes me happy. The freedom of being an entrepreneur is for me a winner and sometimes the several wins and lessons that come with the package are also a game changer.”

Chipo Aaron is a firm believer that women are diamonds that can just change the world. Which is why she enjoins women to follow the idea in that has been lingering in their head.
Imagine the lives that you could change by just developing what you think would have never worked, the jobs you could create, and the happiness that you could create in a household!

Believe in yourself and jump! Go for it.

In Editor's Choice July 31, 2021 By Women of Rubies

“I Launched Alora Reusable Pads To Address Period Poverty” – Sarah Kuponiyi

Sarah Kuponiyi is a passionate youth leader whose work cuts across gender equality and sexual reproductive health. She is also a 2019 nominee for 120 under 40 New Generation of Family Planning Leaders, recipient of Sustainable Solutions Africa 30 under 30 2019 and Cohort 15 Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) emerging Leaders Program West Africa.

The founder of A Well-Informed Adolescent (AWA) Initiative, an organisation where she leads the team in creating and managing Safe Spaces that ensure young people can achieve their potential by enabling them access to essential services. She recently launched Alora Reusable Pads, a social enterprise to address period poverty by creating eco-friendly menstrual hygiene products freely distributed to in school and vulnerable girls and sold at affordable prices to the public. As a Beijing +25 Eagle (women advocate) for UN Women Nigeria, she uses her skills to advocate for upholding of human rights for sexual and reproductive health as the key to ensuring that women and girls can be equal and free to make decisions in all spheres of their lives, without discrimination, violence, or coercion, and with the assurance of their dignity upheld.

She shares her inspiring journey, her passion for development work, and endorsement of different Government parastatals in this interview with Esther Ijewere.

Childhood Influence

No, I don’t think my childhood prepared me in any way for what I do now but I can say it’s part of what inspired me or should I say it is one of my why(s) in doing what I do now. Growing up, it was awesome experience, had a lovely family, hardworking and sacrificial parents. Life itself was not so smooth not so rough; it was a beautiful as well as hard a journey. Becoming an adolescent I realized I was a lone ranger hardly had friends, there were issues around self-identification and family challenges I had no one to share with, my parents were not available for those kind of talks and I always bottled them in. I was at the receiving end of my parent’s emotional breakdown when they separated and there were days I felt like running away, if there were safe spaces then that I could trust and go to it would have been helpful but I sucked it all in same with my siblings but in all right now I look back at my teenage self and I can say I am proud of that girl, the woman I have become is proud of the young teenage girl I was, she survived the lassitude of life, rode the rough waves graciously and got ashore unscathed, like not all adolescents could have been strong enough to to pull through without losing hope or sight of the goal.

So what I do now is to provide safe space services I couldn’t get at my time for adolescents and young people alike so as to enable them share their challenges, give a listening ears to them, let them know being stuck in the dark is not forever for those going through challenges and provide them tools and resources they need to make informed choices about their life, health, career etc so that they can transit to healthy adults without letting the light of their mind go dim even as the voyage on life’s journey.

Inspiration behind “A.W.A”

So what I went through growing up like I explained earlier inspired me to start A Well-Informed Adolescent (AWA) Initiative, which started as a community based project in 2018 to provide adolescents in rural communities an inspiration to live beyond their present definition, to aim high and think big and not let their background define them. Like the name of the organization, I am eager to have adolescents, who are well-Informed about the stage of life they are in, help them answer all the burning existential questions they have about their life, their overall health, their career, provide them guidance and tools they need to make informed choices by themselves. We achieved this through use of Multisectoral programs that link health to education, recreational activities, skills acquisition, youth club activities, school-based campaign, safe space services, advocacy and peer health education. Over the years the organization has grown to be more encompassing we also work to reduce gender based violence by educating women and young people about harmful gender norms and practices that contribute to Gender Based Violence in our society. We address issues around sexual violence; educate women and young people about their sexual reproductive health and rights. We provide parenting support programs, school-based dating violence prevention programs, & community based interventions to build equitable gender norms & attitudes in boys & girls. We provide sustainable livelihood programs for young women and girls through economic skill training and acquisition program. Nonetheless our primary core focus still remain investing appropriately in the health and development of young people and we continued to strive towards improving the health and development of this unique population sub-group

Inspiration behind Alora reusable pad

As a younger girl who stayed with her father, I could not afford to buy sanitary pads for myself due to how pads were unaffordable for someone like me, neither was I able to ask him for such due to culture of shyness and silence. Likewise, working on school health outreaches made me realized this situation has not change and the Story is what cut across all region of the country; Nigeria is one of the countries that place a heavy tax on menstrual products. Without access to proper menstrual products, many girls miss classes and older women are unable to attend work A pack of sanitary pads cost an average of $1.30, even as an estimated 44% of Nigeria’s population (87 Million people) lives in extreme poverty earning less than $1.90 per day, women and girls may delay urination and defecation but it is not possible to stop menstrual flow. The lack of affordable sanitary products also exacerbates anxiety and stress during menstruation and increases their vulnerability to gender based violence and sexually transmitted infections. Alora Reusable Pads was created to solve Period Poverty by producing and selling eco-friendly reusable menstrual hygiene products from specialized fabrics that are comfortable to the skin, hygienic, and affordable. Alora Reusable Pads are made for every woman and girl. It is affordable, easy to use, comfortable and available in three sizes with varying thickness to fit every woman at all times. It is made of several layers of absorbent fabrics including cotton and water proof fabrics and it has numerous benefits such as saves you money, very economical, environmentally friendly, safer for the body, fashionably feminine and very affordable.

The reception since we launched

Wow, the reception has been awesome. We have received considerable acceptance in the development space and government parastatas because it is a sustainable way of solving period poverty but for individuals we realized there is need to do more awareness creation on reusable pads in Nigeria, it is still a new niche and awareness about this would help influence mind shift and behavioral change which help increase acceptance. Notably to note is our Alora Pads has been purchased by the following;

Cross River State Ministry of Women Affairs purchased Alora Pads for its UNFPA funded dignity packs distribution project in Cross River State.
Ekiti State Governor’s wife Her Excellency Erelu Bisi Fayemi purchased Alora Pads for her Keep Girls in School Project for world menstrual hygiene day 2021
NGO in Adamawa KPANG SURRI Foundation purchased Alora pads to commemorate World Menstrual Hygiene Day
NGOs in Calabar Gender and Development Actions (GADA) and A Well Informed Adolescent (AWA) Initiative Purchased Alora Pads to commemorate World Menstrual Hygiene Day 2021
Alora Reusable Pads was invited by Federal Ministry of Women Affairs Abuja, Dame Pauline Tallen in commemorating World Menstrual Hygiene Day 2021 at the Ministry Complex in Abuja.
Official presentation of Alora Reusable pads to United Nation Population Funds (UNFPA) Calabar Sub office
Discussion on period poverty on HitfmCalabar with Abenmire Ade where we shared sustainable solutions to addressing this menace; one of which is Alora Reusable Pad
We are so excited as our founder and team lead got profiled by US Mission to African Union on the celebration of International women’s day 2021.
Gate Way Excel Collage Otupka Benue State purchase alora pads for their gate way pad up project
Alora reusable pads was endorsed by the UN Women Nigeria.

Being a certified adolescent sexual health professional, running my organisation, volunteering for several international organisations, and managing it all

(Smile) well, let me honest not easy, reward of hard work is more work but because all I do is what I am passionate I enjoy it and I give it my best, I prioritize my schedules and deliverables, I have calendars and to do list, I set reminders, I delegate where necessary and most importantly I work with awesome amiable teams both at AWA Initiative and with Alora Pads. Our board of trustees, staff, volunteers and supporters are all amazing.

Challenges of my work

Time consuming, Mentally stressing -My life is all about work with little or no time for other things of life but lately I am making conscious effort to live a balance life.

Challenges involves in handling Gender based violence prevention at the grassroot or community is having to contend with community gate keepers and community strong holds (laugh) let me not go there while for young people it just a matter of them trusting you enough and the work becomes easier.

Other Projects and activities

We have done various projects and here are some of them

A Well-Informed Adolescent Campaign 2018
A Well-Informed Adolescent Campaign 2019
A Well-Informed Adolescent Campaign 2020
A Well-Informed Adolescent Campaign 2021
Women Voice Leadership Project in partnership with Child Care and Adult Protection (CCAPI) and Action Aid Nigeria funded by Global Affairs Canada
UNESCO/Society for Family Health Spotlight Initiative potlight Initiative Project Activity 4.2.4 which is aimed at ”Strengthening the capacity of youth network (Civil Society Organisation) to carry our peer education and support young people to access Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) and SRHR services” in Cross River State

Here are the Programs we run at A Well-Informed Adolescent (AWA) Initiative

Tackling Gender Based Violence; A weekly program that offers crucial approach to poverty reduction, economic development and a key to protect sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Friday Talk Date: In this event we provide adequate age appropriate comprehensive sexuality education to adolescents at the youth resource center
Safe Space Activities: We provide youth friendly services that cater for the overall development of young people
Health Programs
Livelihood Programs

3 women who inspire me to be better and why

I have plenty women ooo but since you asked for 3 here are they

Dr. Yolanda N George-David also known as auntlanda, I met her while I was still in secondary school through a radio program tag “Sharing Life Issues” wow she inspires me to do better because despite her own life issues that she could use as a legit excuse to just remain in her corner yet she leaves everything to give her all to total strangers, mehn its wow. And she first exemplified this bible verse “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” to me mehn Mama has plenty PhDs in Neurology, Obstetrics and gynecology, psychologist etc an OAP, a wife, mother, farmer, business mogul, caterers etc she literally made me believe I could be anything I set my mind on and work towards.
Mrs Emilia Eyo-Effa, I met her while working at my first NGO work ever she was the Gender Specialist, currently now works with USAID, seeing her transition from jobs to jobs gives me hope that I can achieve my career dreams in the development sector, all I need to do is work hard and be consistent. She also an amiable supporter of our organization, she is one of our astute board of trustees who always open her arms and doors for me, to advises me using her wealth of professional experience I am so glad to be in her circle and to have as a board of trustee for AWA Initiative.
Michelle Obama, reading her book titled “Becoming” gave me a glimpse to her life, her roots, how she came of age, her family, her life as the first lady. Reading about her triumph and disappointment made me realized I am a work in progress I have not arrived or gotten to my final destination and that in every of my life phase I keep working, keep learning, keep living and keep becoming the better version of myself always.

To young women

Self Identifcation, Self-worth, Self-value. I would tell them to work on themselves first, evolve or commence their journey of becoming before getting entangled, and I would tell them to be strong and not lose sight of their goals not be distracted by society but rather press on and be the best version of themselves that they could be.

Future of Alora Reusable Pad

At Alora Reusable Pads our vision is A World without Period Poverty, were every woman and girl can have their period with dignity. Our Mission: To be a leading producer of affordable, eco-friendly, comfortable reusable pads in West Africa and to address period poverty through distribution of reusable pads and provision of menstrual health and hygiene management programs. We hope to reduce poor menstrual hygiene by 30% in Nigeria (and Africa) by 2025.

Being a Woman of Rubies

I am a Woman of Rubies because contribute to developing my communities; I empower women and girls to become change agents.

Awards and Recognition

National Gender Youth Activist for United Nations Women HQ, Beijing eagle (Women advocate) for United Nations Women Nigeria. A 2019 nominee for 120 under 40 New Generation of Family Planning Leaders, recipient of Sustainable Solutions Africa 30 under 30 2019 and Cohort 15 Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) RLC emerging Leaders Program West Africa. Immediate past Deputy Coordinator YALI Network Cross River State, She is part of the Cross River CSO Gender Responsive Budgeting Monitoring Group, Cross River State CSOs Network, and Cross River State GBV/SRHR Network respectively among others.

In Inspiration July 29, 2021 By Women of Rubies

Naike Moshi Is Promoting Women Visibility Through Her Women In Management Initiative

For the African continent to experience lasting positive socio-economic change, two things need to happen:

First, it the gender gap between male and female leaders must be closed.
Next, women leaders in various sectors in Africa need to work on promoting their visibility.

Everyone has a role to play in order to make this happen and this is why Naike Moshi, Tanzanian founder of Women in Management is playing her part in promoting women visibility through her work in business management and human resources.

Naike Moshi is the founder of Women in Management Africa, an initiative that closes the gender gap that promotes visibility for Women Leaders by honouring and recognizing them for their achievements.
Naike is a strategic, innovative leader with a proven track record of building and creating successful business products and services and with a strong academic background, creative problem-solving skills, and an innovative mind. She has more than 10 years’ experience in the area of business management and human resources. Her expertise includes building businesses from the ground up, women and youths’ empowerment, coming up with innovative ideas, executive search and employer branding.

Don’t be scared to start, Nothing will ever happen until you start and put action on your dreams. Even if you fail, know that at least you dared greatly and take lessons from it. Be patient, persevere….

Her initiative, Women in Management is one that closes the gender gap by honouring and recognizing women leaders for their career achievements. They also provide mentorship, encouragement and develop emerging talented female professionals to be inspired in their careers and to be role models to them. They empower women by organizing education and training workshops that are designed by women for women and to help them address gender disparity issues in their work environments.

Naike was inspired to launch the Women in Management initiative when she found out through research that in order to apply for a job women feel they need to meet 100% of the criteria while men usually apply after meeting about 60%. She saw a huge gap in senior level women applying for senior level roles and even low placement rates for Senior Women. And to combat this disparity, she founded the initiative known as Women in Management to promote and increase visibility for Senior-Level Women in Management.

Naike Moshi describes her initiative as successful and in her own words, “The impact of this initiative has been tremendous. Most women leaders in the corporate spaces have been forgotten and are never recognized for their career achievements. I have seen many young female leaders being inspired to follow certain careers and they have found quality role models to look at. We are touching lives.”

Naike Moshi is proud of how far her initiative has come. Women in Management initiative is one of the SDGs that captures gender equality. It’s a universal problem that affects many nations and with their expertise in Talent Management/Acquisition, they were able to tap into their network and acquire very strong female leaders. The service and this initiative are very scalable and they have great plans to go to other African countries.

In Inspiration July 27, 2021 By Women of Rubies

Two South African Entrepreneurs, Dinah Kgeledi And Lesego Seloane, Are Making Environmental Impact Through Landscaping

You never can tell how far your passion for a thing can take you until you immerse yourself in it and allow yourself to be consumed by that passion. Lesego and Dinah gave themselves away to their passion for landscaping and now, it has led them to founding and building a thriving landscaping business in South Africa.

Ronewa Creations Ltd co-founded by both entrepreneurs is a family business between a niece and her aunt, respectively.

Lesego has a background in Botany, having completed her studies in Biochemistry and Botany at the University of Johannesburg. While Dinah has a background in the corporate world, working in the IT field using her Diploma in IT. She worked for various companies before resigning from her corporate career to fully pursue landscaping as her passion.

The passion they have for plants comes from Lesego’ s gran, Dinah’s Mother, who has an eclectic small garden in Soweto. They have seen her tend her garden and as such, sparked up an interest in landscaping in them.

Their company is a landscaping business specialized in horticulture and botany. They also offer garden maintenance solutions for all our clients and are a strong advocate for the environment with the tag “Love your Surroundings.”

Dinah and Lesego had the urge to start the business after learning so much about the biodiversity of their country, South Africa. They realised that most people don’t know how to tend their gardens and make them functional.

They also discovered people needed to learn how to preserve ecosystems by not taking down trees. These relatives turned business partners wanted to ensure that people can enjoy the outdoors, and in turn they felt this will strongly lead them towards the direction of a developed country.

Their business has received several awards and recognitions including Forbes Africa Women Magazine Feature, Sowetan Article, and Best Green Female entrepreneur (Lesego Seloane).

Lesego and Dinah are a firm believer that women have so much to give to this world, and they desire to see more representatives of women in the world of business.

Their advice to women who want to launch any business is simple, “With a determined spirit you can tackle any type of business!”

Women of Rubies