Women in Management, Business and Public Service, WIMBIZ, has expressed its continuous commitment to advance women’s leadership and increase female representation in both the private and public sectors as it marks its 25th anniversary
This was disclosed at a press briefing heralding its 2026 annual conference, themed, ‘Rooted, Rising, Ready: Born in Africa, Made for the World.’
Speaking at the briefing which featured the unveiling of WIMBIZ 25th anniversary logo, in Lagos, Chairman of the 2026 annual conference, Ronke Onadeko, affirmed that WIMBIZ had inspired the emergence of several organisations and conferences focused on empowering women across Nigeria and globally.
According to her, the organisation’s initiatives had motivated women to come together to improve their lives, strengthen their professional capacities and contribute to national growth.
Onadeko identified health checks, financial literacy and opportunities in the creative industry among the areas that would be addressed during the 2026 annual conference which is scheduled to take place in Lagos.
She said, the next phase of its activities would focus on scaling its impact, leveraging partnerships, repositioning women for greater opportunities and promoting self-care.
Reflecting on the organisation’s achievements, its founders, including Adeola Azeez, Ifeyinwa Ighodalo, Morin Desalu and Yewande Zaccheaus, highlighted its reach and leadership transition as significant milestones in its development.
They disclosed that WIMBIZ had reached more than 400,000 women directly and over five million indirectly through its leadership development, mentoring, entrepreneurship and humanitarian programmes.
The founders also said the organisation had strengthened its governance structure following the transition from its founders to a new generation of trustees in 2022.
To them, the decision to step aside was aimed at building an institution capable of sustaining its vision beyond the tenure of its founding members.
On her part, a member of the Board of Trustees, Rolake Akinkugbe-Filani, said the responsibility of the new trustees was to preserve and advance the founders’ vision.
‘I personally think that the tribute to any founder is an institution that can carry their vision further than they could ever. That is the responsibility we as trustees accepted in 2022,’ she said.
Akinkugbe-Filani also added that WIMBIZ was registered in the United Kingdom, recognised as a public charity equivalent in the United States, and had members in more than 20 countries.
She said the organisation had built a network of more than 4,000 accomplished women, comprising 3,757 associate members and 371 life members.
In her words: ‘More than 5,600 women had benefited from its mentoring initiatives, including Women on Boards, Women in Law, WIMBoard and its general mentoring programmes’.
On WIMBIZ Cares, the organisation’s humanitarian initiative, she said it had reached more than 78,000 families, while over 25,000 women had participated in its flagship annual conference.
She further stated that eight out of every 10 mentees in the Women on Boards programme were considered ready for board appointments, while six out of every 10 women surveyed reported significant positive effects on their careers from their involvement with WIMBIZ.
Despite these achievements, Akinkugbe-Filani expressed concern over the slow pace of progress towards global gender equality.
‘Although the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 targets gender equality by 2030, women remained underrepresented in management positions and parliamentary seats worldwide’, she said.
Also speaking, Osayi Alile said WIMBIZ would adopt a more strategic approach to partnerships with companies and other stakeholders over the next 25 years to strengthen its impact.
Alile emphasised the importance of engaging men in advancing women’s leadership and added that gender inclusion required collective responsibility.
‘We are empowering women to be better. We are not empowering them to take over; we are working together to make sure that the country we build, first Nigeria and Africa, is better,’ she said.
She called on the media to support the organisation by sustaining conversations on women’s participation in leadership and highlighting the economic benefits of gender inclusion.