Nigeria is a typical patriarchal society; a country that never finds women competent to be in leadership positions. This has gained root due to the deep-rooted cultural practices inherent in our society, which has existed from the pre-colonial era to date.
Despite this, Nigerian women across the globe are thriving in the private sector, laying standards that their male counterparts have to run miles to achieve in this 21st century. These women have proven to be major stakeholders in the development project of any society. Globally, the issues of women marginalisation and low participation in leadership and decision making are gradually fizzling out with the past these days. Although women and men have different biological and physiological make-up, they may share common features with men in terms of educational qualifications, socioeconomic status and occupation among others. One of such women is Adia Sowho, the interim CEO of Thrive Agric and first woman Chief Marketing Officer of telecommunications giant, MTN. Just as other super-women, Adia Sowho may not have had an easy passage through the needle eye of obnoxious social norms and political exclusion which dictate the presence and voice of women in public life. Particularly noteworthy is her recent assumption as the Chief Marketing Officer of Nigerian Telecommunications giant, MTN.
This commendable event has again put another Nigerian woman in the spotlight – teaching our men their impact on our society and how they can excel when given the opportunity. Abundantly clear is the fact that Adia Sowho did not become the CMO of MTN because she is a woman. The telecommunications giant was looking for a capable hand to lead marketing negotiations and her incredible CV did the magic. Interestingly, Adia Sowho is the first female Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of MTN, an announcement that was made as the company celebrates 20 years in operation in Nigeria. With the addition of Adia’s experience and expertise, MTN would be looking to leverage on her leadership skills to take the telecommunications company further.So, the Bachelor’s degree holder in Electronic Engineering at the University of Sheffield who was the VP for Growth at Migo (formerly Mines.io) in San Francisco, CA, and a Strategist got the exalted position of CMO of MTN wholly on merit. Her appointment follows the decision of MTN to “localise its management team” with the appointment of two Nigerians to two key senior positions previously held by expatriates.
Adia Sowho has over 19 years of experience in business. Before joining Thrive Agric, she worked at Migo for about 2 years where she held a managerial position as the VP of Growth for its Nigerian Branch.She has also worked at Etisalat Nigeria for more than 7 years where she held positions like Head, Strategy and Business Development, Head of Digital Media and Director, Digital Business.Before then, she served as Consultant at Deloitte Consulting for about 2 years and Radio Frequency Engineer at US Cellular for about 7 years.After her first degree, she attended Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management where she got an MBA in Analytical Consulting, Strategic Marketing, Management and Strategy, and Entrepreneurship. A multi-linguist, she is Fluent in both English and French.There are high hopes that she’ll guide the company’s Marketing section through a turnaround exercise to survive the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and other storms.Adia holds a Bachelor degree in Electronics and Electrical Engineering with a major in Communications from the University of Sheffield, the United Kingdom and a Master of Business Administration from Kellogg School of Management with majors in Strategy, Analytical Consulting, Strategic Marketing and Entrepreneurship. .At Etisalat Nigeria, she held positions like Head, Strategy and Business Development, Head of Digital Media and Director, Digital Business.Thrive Agric is an agriculture investment platform, where she replaced co-founder, Uka Eje, who stepped down and became the Chief Operations Officer (COO), an arrangement the company claimed was designed to allow him to understudy the incoming Adia.
Olamide Adeniji is a member of the editorial team of TheScript Newspaper
