#Hermoneyherpower: Driving women’s economic power
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00:00Bella Niger, in collaboration with the SheTank, launched a groundbreaking initiative on Saturday
00:14at Allianz Francais in Koyi, Lagos, tagged HerMoneyHerPower.
00:21I'm expecting a lot of beautiful things coming today.
00:24This is a women empowerment program which I represent very well.
00:28I'm the host and governor of Hama Scout, which is an empowerment program.
00:33So I'm expecting to see a lot of things, initiatives, something I've never seen before.
00:37I want to see how this particular initiative by Bella Niger is going to transcend and impact
00:44women all over Nigeria and all over the world.
00:47So I can't wait to see what they have in stock for us today.
00:50I expect it to reach all women, and men too, to understand the independence women can have
00:56when they have financial freedom.
00:59The campaign aimed at promoting women's financial independence, as well as initiating conversations
01:05that help debunk mindsets and narratives limiting women from attaining their full economic power.
01:11When you have money, you make better choices with love.
01:14With your career, when you have money, you make better choices with your career.
01:18With friends, when you have money, you make better choices.
01:20You don't have to settle because, okay, I don't have money.
01:24I just have to settle with this man that is beating me, but he's going to buy me a Birkin.
01:29So basically, this campaign is just saying, as women, you need to go out there.
01:33You need to make your own money for your power and for your independence.
01:37Please give me a round of applause.
01:51Thank you so much for coming out.
01:53It's been so nice to get to speak with some of you and that you took time out of your busy day
01:58on a very hot Saturday to come out.
02:01Thank you so much.
02:03So I am the founder of the She Tank, but most importantly,
02:06I call myself a women's equality evangelist.
02:10I think if you look at a lot of the issues that women face in Nigeria and around the world,
02:15they're tied to money.
02:17So you think about women, as the host mentioned, who are in abusive relationships.
02:21Many times they stay because they do not have the resources to leave.
02:25Or you think about girls in rural areas who can't go to school.
02:29We know that if their mothers had money and how they say in the home that they would go to school.
02:33So those issues matter.
02:35But it's also connecting the dots around trends we see.
02:38So for example, things that we think about who should do the work in the house.
02:42Many times we don't challenge that norm, that mindset,
02:45and we don't understand how that ties to broader things.
02:48So for example, data shows us that women do two or three times more of the housework
02:53childcare, cooking, cleaning, taking care of elderly relatives in the home than men do.
03:00And we never question that, regardless of the circumstance.
03:04And what we don't think about is how that often leads to women not being able to participate in the workplace
03:09in the same way their male peers are.
03:11Any opportunity I see to push this out to young ladies out there,
03:15that you can make your own money.
03:17You don't have to rely on any man or any other person to make your own money.
03:20I will always jump at it, and that is why I'm here today.
03:23To let them know that your business, work harder in your business,
03:27help your business to grow with hard work, with enough training you get,
03:32and eventually you can have your independence.
03:36Women here are powerful.
03:38They're already doing a lot.
03:40Across every stratosphere of society, you can see women working.
03:46And I'm happy that this event, and this initiative, and this campaign
03:49has put this in the forefront even further.
03:52My hope is that two things.
03:55One, certain limiting norms, certain perceptions change.
03:59When you hear Nigerian woman, the first thing you should think of should be something of value.
04:05And we want those norms to shift.
04:07When you think of a job, and a woman comes in for the job,
04:13we want her to be paid her worth, and not paid less, because she's a woman.
04:18Blessing on Maku, in partnership with Uche Pedro, the founder of Bela Nainja,
04:23and Dr. Busola Tejimola of Multi Choice, came together not just to organize the event,
04:29but to serve as key voices in driving home conversations
04:32that further champion the economic empowerment of women.
04:36As far back as when I finished, even from secondary school,
04:40I would gather compound kids then, and tutor them, and get $5,000 each from their parents.
04:51And I just developed that mindset from when I was very young.
04:55So I've always had that mindset of making your own money,
04:59because like you said, when you have your own money, you can do more.
05:02You can dare to dream.
05:04Let's say we have a problem, the first question is can money solve it?
05:08If money can solve the problem, it is not a problem.
05:11So just leaving this now, I'm just saying that women and everyone needs to have
05:16a healthy relationship with money, and a healthy mindset towards money.
05:21Aside to the sensational music,
05:37but nobody really won't pay us.
05:40My mama said girls should leave school,
05:43but look at you, I get bored.
05:46The intriguing poetry.
05:48Everything she's not supposed to be, she's a glitch in societal programming.
05:53She's becoming, evolving the system.
05:56She's a crack in the matrix.
05:58The event stirred up some of the most emotional, yet inspiring conversations,
06:03as women got to tell their success stories amidst life-challenging situations.
06:12I lost my husband four years ago,
06:14and I was pregnant with our third child when he died.
06:17And I had exactly 4,000 Naira to my name.
06:21We hadn't paid rent, and the children had been out of school for two terms.
06:26I mean, as an eldest daughter, anybody who is a first daughter knows that
06:30we are entrepreneurial.
06:32And I'd always had three jobs, always done things.
06:36Ushered when I was in school, I paid my way through school.
06:39So it wasn't difficult to begin to think of how to make money.
06:44But there's this societal stigma with widows.
06:47They just gather them in the room, give them Indomie and rice,
06:52every December, bye-bye.
06:54But that's what my foundation is trying to alter.
06:57I had people advise me to just get one older man to marry you
07:01so you can take care of your children.
07:03It's wrong, and when you have money, you have a choice.
07:07If we're being honest, women are so way creative.
07:11And I feel like when you bring a lot of women with creativity into the economy,
07:15they can come up with new ideas and new implementations
07:17that can help the country grow, even in its economy.
07:20I know there's a popular saying that says,
07:22every change starts with a little effect.
07:24And I feel like this is just one of those kind of events
07:27where we make noise and get people talking about it,
07:31talking about women empowerment,
07:33talking about financial freedom and economic power for women.
07:37And I feel like at the end of this,
07:39all the girls who are watching us are going to feel empowered,
07:42they're going to know that they can do this,
07:44they can make money and they can own their own choices
07:47based on their financial freedom.
07:49I don't know that one event can change Nigeria's economy,
07:53but I do believe that the conversations that we've had today
07:56will be very important in changing people's mindsets
07:59about how we think about women and economic power.
08:02Her Money, Her Power campaign marked a turning point in the lives of women
08:07with so much potential, yet limited opportunities and resources
08:11to actualize their dreams,
08:13through reorientation from top successful women leaders
08:16and inspiring stories from women who blazed the trail,
08:19despite limitations.
08:21Till we come your way next time,
08:23stay tuned for more insightful coverages and events from The Guardian TV.