Chief Executive Officer of Vodafone Ghana, Patricia Obo-Nai has urged young women to make the right choices that allow them to succeed in every facet of their lives.
She stressed that apart from seeking divine direction, much of a person’s success significantly depends on the decisions they make.
Patricia Obo-Nai was speaking to over 500 female participants at the Extraordinary Ladies Summit in Accra.
The Vodafone CEO noted that her successes have been a result of a series of good choices she has made. According to her, the decisions she made, from her course in school to her internship and career move, were pivotal to how successful she has become in the corporate world today.
However, she explained that the choices that lead to success may be difficult, take us out of our comfort zone, and require many sacrifices. Nonetheless, these challenges prepare us to withstand the hurdles ahead.
Narrating her experience of how she had to overcome some challenges in the corporate world, Patricia recalled when she was building her career as an electrical engineer in the telco sector.
“As a young female engineer, I travelled to every part of the country alongside a team of male engineers to fix network challenges and infrastructure. We worked throughout the night, on weekends and holidays, and the fact that I was a woman did not matter or give me any special privileges. The guys showed me respect, and I showed it back, and that was it. Be ready to make the sacrifices that will not show on your profile, and continue to learn through humility.”
Speaking on becoming the Chief Executive Officer of Vodafone Ghana, Patricia said she had to move from her comfort zone to lead other commercial functions: from the Technology Director role to she became the Director of Fixed Business, Customer Operations, and the Marketing department. The Vodafone CEO emphasized the need for every young lady to learn something new to add value to themselves as they develop their career.
She admonished, “Life will throw choices at you, and you will have to make decisions. Some of the decisions may be right. Some may be wrong, but it is fine. The most important thing is that you make a choice, and you learn from the decision that you have made; you rise, and you move on. Some of the decisions that you make will be right because God will guide you. But please understand that life will always allow you to make a choice. So, think through the choices that you make.”
The 5th “Extraordinary Ladies” Conference, was organised under the theme “THE JOURNEY’’. The goal was for accomplished women to share their professional journey and experiences to motivate and empower the ladies and women and help boost their confidence and self-esteem.
