Link to main article: https://guardian.ng/guardian-woman/guardian-woman-means-business-with-bosede-bukola-afolabi/
As we gear up for year 2025, which will host the second edition of The Guardian Woman Festival, in our columnis a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Bosede Bukola Afolabi. She speaks on her journey and strides in women’s health. This stands as a key part of the festival holding on March 14, at the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island with the theme, Women Mean Business.
Share with us your career journey.
After graduating from one of the most beautiful Universities in the world, the Obafemi Awolowo University, an institution that passed through me and opened up itself for learning so many other things apart from Medicine, I resolved a number of things. 1. To pay it forward to Nigeria as noone else can help make our country better but us Nigerians. With this I decided to ensure that I spent most of my working life in Nigeria. 2. Work in women’s health as women understand women better and I am passionate about making the world a more just place for women.
I trained in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in the UK between 1994 and 1998 and came back home as planned. My third resolution came later, during my training in the UK, when I suddenly fell in love with academia – to become an academic and help create new knowledge in women’s health. I therefore returned home and applied to join the College of Medicine, University of Lagos and the Lagos University Teaching Hospital in 1999 and became a lecturer and a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist. Since then, I have risen throught the ranks and am now a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
What does ‘Women Mean Business’ represent for you?
That women apply themselves very seriously to whatever they commit to and work extra hard to be taken seriously and to further the goal of their organisation. It also means that when women take on a career, they often excel in their work. Personally, although my major roles are in academia and clinical medicine, I have functioned in business in several ways. I have co-owned a clinic and helped it grow from zero beds to ten beds in less than three years. I have consulted in the medical space and helped develop an emergency and obstetric training centre as well as a Diagnostic centre. I currently direct a Centre for Clinical Trials, Research and Implementation Science that employs 35 full time research staff and hundreds of part time staff. I founded and chair the Board of a non-profit – MRH Collective (www.mrhrcollective.org) that employs 45 full time staff and over 100 part time staff, and has succeeded in reducing maternal and newborn deaths in the states in which it functions.
As a clinician, I show that I mean business by being attentive to women, empathising with their needs, concerns and complaints, and ensuring that they leave my consulting room with a feeling of being heard and understood. When I carry our surgical procedures, I counsel the women appropriately and ensure that I follow them up conscientiously till they are discharged from hospital. As a lecturer, and clinical teacher, I pass on knowledge to my students and resident doctors using case-based and experiential learning sessions and being inclusive and considerate of their learning needs.For the Boards I chair and the organisations I administer, I am time conscious, organised and detailed, and I listen. I ensure continuous professional development for members of staff. I hire conscientiously and by consensus and I pick members of my team carefully.
How can women continually stay relevant and build a successful business?
Women can stay relevant by trusting. By nature, a lot of us like to try to do everything ourselves and believe that if we don’t do the work, it will not be done well. Unfortunately, that also leads to burnout and reduced prodcutivity. My motto is that whatever can, should be delegated, to free yourself for the most important stuff – i.e. to lead. This builds loyalty and satisfaction in your team.
Collaborate with like-minded people, both men and women; choose partners – romantic and business, wisely and carefully; understanding each other’s strengths and weaknesses and supporting each other as required. Remembering to take time to refresh one’s mind and body by exercise, checking in with yourself with some quiet time as frequently as possible, doing things that relax you and make you happy, taking breaks/holidays as required, are crucial. All these help us remain mentally alert enough to continually stay relevant and build a successful business.
