Female corporate leaders speak on the importance of mentorship for career growth

Career growth for corporate women in Nigeria is no longer seen as endurance, but a series of deliberate, well-negotiated choices in an increasingly competitive and digital workplace.

Drawing on over 30 years of legal excellence, Chinyere Okorocha, legal partner at Jackson, Etti & Edu (JEE), and former Chair, Women’s Forum at the Nigerian Bar Association, recently led this conversation during the official launch of her book: Heels & Ladders: A Career Acceleration Handbook for Female Professionals.

The event brought together senior business leaders, legal professionals to reflect on how women can navigate corporate hierarchies with greater clarity and intent.

At its core, the discussion challenged outdated ideas about visibility, self-advocacy and gratitude, while offering practical guidance on personal branding, negotiation and ambition.

Through lived experience and direct counsel from accomplished professionals, the conversation reframed career growth not as endurance, but as a series of deliberate, well-negotiated choices in an increasingly competitive and digital workplace.

The event was attended by Bola Adesola, chairman, Ecobank, Bolanle Austen-Peters, film producer and founder, Terra Kulture; Lookman Durosinmi-Etti, senior partner, Jackson, Etti & Edu, Chika Mbonu, managing director/CEO, KSBC Knowledge Resources Limited; Mfon Usoro, managing partner, Paul Usoro & Co and Amaka Chika-Mbonu, author and marriage counsellor, amongst others.

Through the cmetaphor of ‘Heels’ and ‘Ladders’ as the book is named, Okorocha offered women the essential tools for women to claim their rightful place at the head of the table, navigating corporate hierarchies with grace and audacity.

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The need for mentorship

Okorocha noted that mentorship can happen from a distance, through observation, learning and intentional engagement, particularly on professional platforms such as LinkedIn. However, this must be done without sacrificing individuality, as imitation without self-awareness risks eroding authenticity.

Challenging long-held attitudes, she dismissed resistance to social media as outdated, warning that disengagement from platforms like LinkedIn is no longer a mark of seniority but a missed opportunity.

​”The older generation of women often say with pride, ‘I’m not on social media.’ They wear it like a badge of honour. It is not a badge of honour. If you’re a female professional in the 21st century and you don’t have a proper profile on LinkedIn, you are missing out”, she remarked.

In a knowledge-driven economy, she noted that personal branding is a strategic necessity, a way of deliberately shaping perception by aligning experience, expertise and personal presence.

“Mentorship from afar is a thing. My advice to the younger generation is, even if you can’t have a one-on-one with someone you admire, follow the person on LinkedIn. But don’t lose your authenticity along the way. Don’t copy somebody so much that you lose yourself. Look for someone you admire, emulate the parts of them you think suit you, and leave the rest.”

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Kunle Ajagbe, commercial lawyer and co-founder, Aidan Partners tackled the subject of negotiation in his review of the book. He observed that many women give “100 percent or 200 percent to their roles but remain plagued by the feeling that something is missing.

He argued that negotiation must be viewed not as a conflict, but as a value exchange, insisting that for high-achievers as “competence is simply not enough.

While negotiation provides the mechanics, ambition provides the fuel. Mary Akpobome, founder, State and Stone Consulting, in her review, sought to deconstruct the negative stereotypes surrounding ambitious women.

She highlighted the “double bind” where quiet women are overlooked, yet vocal women are judged as aggressive. Her advice was blunt: You might as well choose to be ambitious, because you will be judged anyway!”

Akpobome further linked ambition to audacity, particularly when navigating “the boys’ club” where deals are often struck in informal settings. She argued that true boldness is a direct result of skill. “The moment an organisation knows that the job will get done by you, they will, of necessity, come to you,” she asserted.

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Women claiming their space

The conversation continued in a panel session which reflected on ambition, confidence and the cost of growth, as senior women leaders urged their peers to stop waiting for permission and start claiming space.

Drawing from her personal experience, Chinwe Uzoho, regional managing director for West Africa at Network International, framed self-investment as a deliberate and sometimes uncomfortable choice, arguing that visibility and advancement rarely come to those who “play small”.

” I worked in a very good bank that sometimes trained us abroad. From there I would take up a course on my own, even those that cost as much as $2,500 or $3,000. Do not play small. Go to the big events, meet the industry experts, the one percent of the one percent, hear them speak, notice what they do differently, and always, always invest inyourself regularly.”

Her remarks set the tone for a broader discussion on challenging self-doubt, reinforced by Udo Maryann Okonjo, CEO, Fine and Country West Africa, who challenged women to confront self-doubt, and reject what she described as “toxic gratitude”, and demand rewards that truly reflect their results.

“We women are very high on results, but when we match it to the reward, it’s usually lower. Most times we’ve adopted what I call ‘toxic gratitude’, gratitude for just being the one woman at the table or having the opportunity, but this should not be the case, she said.

Ngozi Ekugo is a Senior Correspondent at BusinessDay. She holds a Masters in management from the University of Lagos, an undergraduate from University of Lagos, and is in an alumni of Queen's College. Shes currently an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM). She has a brief experience at Goldman sachs, London in its Human Capital Management division. She is interested in human capital development and is leveraging her varied experience across sectors to report labour and global mobility trends for stakeholders to make informed decisions.

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