10:am: I drove into this building that made me forget I was in Naija for a minute. I knew for sure my snapchat fam were going to get back to back snaps of all corners of this beautiful building, Heritage Place.
I go up to the 9th floor and get in the room to realize I wasn’t the only one eager to attend SheHive Lagos. A bunch of ladies were already seated, mingling, and taking selfies at different spots with SLA props.
What are SLA props? There were name tags with SLA, #MotherlandMogul and other power slogans inscripted on them, which was super cool.
Trust me, even before the event kicked off, I already got the feeling I was in bombass territory!
11.01am: The MC welcomed everyone to SheHive. Say what?? No African time ke?I actually thought she was testing out the mic but I was proved wrong. I was really impressed!
Anyways back to my story, FK our MC told us to write down two things we were expecting from SheHive and then share what we wrote with the person beside us.
After that, it was time for “Nigerian’s Next Group idol”! We were divided into groups and had to rap to the beat of Phyno and Olamide’s “Fada Fada” song. We came up with lyrics centered on SheHive Lagos and SLA.
I thought my group came up with some decent lyrics (give it up for #TeamAwesome!) but it wasn’t until I heard other groups like Gingerbabes, Queen Bees of SheHive and Teamslay perform, that I knew the rap battle was on!
Thanks to SLA, some ladies discovered their inner Nicki Minaj that morning.
11:58am: Afua, co-founder of SLA spoke to us on building winning partnerships, using the SLA experience. She paired us in groups and we had to come up with a name of a company, its signature product, and a partnership that will help the business strategy.
We also had to create a pitch for our chosen partner. This was so much fun and it helped me get a better understanding of all what Afua had earlier schooled us on.
I also discovered there were #Mmotherlandmoguls that came to SheHive Lagos from different parts of Nigeria. We had people in the audience from states like Benue, Ogun, Delta and Ibadan. There were even women from other countries like Cameroon, South Africa, and Ghana.
Wow! So much #BlackGirlPower in one room!
1.00pm: Lunch time! As a foodie, I didn’t waste a second grabbing my pack of jollof rice and chicken.
During lunch, I sat beside a Cameroonian woman and we had the debate on whose jollof rice is the best. As much as she tried to convince me Cameroon jollof rice was better, we all know Naija jollof no dey they carry last!
We had a mini runway show of SLA couture right after lunch. Tuke and Ada modeled cool T-shirts branded with SLA lingo. I made sure I got one for myself, to complete my #MotherlandMogul swag!
2:05pm: For the next session, we had a panel of four Motherland Moguls discuss the act of balancing work with life. Arese Ugwu, Nibi Lawson, Nimi Akinkugbe and Foluso Gbadamosi all chipped in on how they have been able to some kind of balance between the work they do and their family/social lives.
After the panel, we had a group selfie with the panelists. I’ll bet my face didn’t show up in the selfie and I’m sure I speak for other “height challenged” moguls like myself. ?
3.20pm: Idorenyen Enang told us his Lego story, illustrating his colorful career path from Guinness to Coca Cola to Fanta to Cadbury to Samsung to L’Oreal before starting his own business, Corporate Shepherds.
The man is on fire! One valid point from him was that we shouldn’t dump traditional marketing tools just because of the famous Instagram.
4.50pm: We dived into the world of digital marketing with Ibukun Onitiju, Head of Sales and Online Marketing at Ringier Nigeria.
Do you feel bad because you haven’t found your passion? Or you don’t seem to know what you’re passionate about? Well don’t feel bad. It’s not always love at first sight for what you do.
Ibukun said he grew to love digital marketing. There was no passion, it was something he learnt, got good at, got paid to do and then he stuck with it! Now he is slaying in everything digital marketing.
He taught us extensively on how to profile your customers and the different sales funnel for each type of customer. I gained so much from his presentation, he seemed to get what I was trying to achieve career-wise.
Trust me, I cornered him backstage where we chatted more on sharpening a career path in digital marketing.
6.00pm: It was time for some cocktails and networking! Woohoo!
Ever heard of speed networking? I certainly hadn’t until SheHive Lagos! It’s just like speed dating but without the dating of course. You get 5 minutes to chat with the person in front of you and then move on to the next person.
Event planners plenty for Lagos sha! I met four event planners, two lawyers (one of the lawyers is also an event planner), a jewellery designer, and ladies in hospitality, travel, and PR.
It was nice to meet so many #MotherlandMoguls from different sectors.
6.50pm: I took a couple of pictures with the SLA props and then it was time to head home. I still had a lot of #awesomeness waiting to be explored at Sunday’s event.