The African Leading Women Organisation is set to host the Women Power Conference 2021 edition to celebrate African women of influence and humanitarian impacts to the continent.
The programme which is organised by Goodwill Ambassador Events Agency in collaboration with the African Union ECOSOCC Nigeria and WEWENETWORK AFRIQUE as part of their agenda of promoting gender inclusiveness.
Addressing journalists, the convener Amb Chris Odey said the Women Power Conference is aimed at recognizing and celebrating the exploits of the leading women folks in Africa who have broken through the glass ceilings and taken their seats at the tables of authority in different sectors.
He said that women have made tremendous progress and considerable marks thereby occupying enviable positions of leadership and authorities in various sectors in Africa, a thing that was near impossible a few decades ago.
Odey further revealed that today, we have about 6 female Group Managing Directors of major banks in Nigeria as well as having an African woman as head of the world bank, World Trade Organization, deputy secretary general of the United Nations.
He said, “We have to celebrate having a woman as the president of a country in Africa, speakers of parliament, etc. As much as we celebrate these feats, we would hope to see more of these exploits while acknowledging these are far from the goal considering the struggles, lack of women empowerment as well as gender imbalance that permeates almost every professional sector.
“We look forward to having women in the business community, academia, politics, religious and women opinion leaders, entertainment industry, sports, and art, etc as the platform will enable robust participation and broad based networking amongst our proposed audience which includes first ladies of countries and states, commissioners of women affairs, heads of MDAs, captains of industries, etc.
Odey who hinted that the conference with the Theme: “Breaking Barriers, will take place on Saturday, 30th of October, in Abuja, will have in attendance over 500 special guests across Africa; with Amb. Adaora Onyechere (Head Women Affairs and Gender Cluster Committee Africa Union Ecosoccc Nigeria ) as Chief Host, and Honorable Nkeiruka Chidubem Onyejeocha, deputy chief whip of the Federal House of Representatives as keynote speaker.
Odey stressed that the conference takes on a dialogue mood, paper presentations from notable speakers from the United Kingdom, the United States of America, South Africa, the Gambia, Zambia, Malawi, Senegal, and Nigeria addressing critical issues bordering on gender parity, financial inclusion for women in business, more slots for women in politics and governance.
Other deliverables of the conference include the launch of The African Girl Child Empowerment Trust((TAGCET) Fund worth strategic areas of funding which includes Mental Health, Skill Acquisition, Education, Sports Development and Special needs/disability empowerment and the Unveiling of Africa Leading Women Magazine.
He added that the last segment of the event would be the presentation of awards to awardees.