NIMN’s LEADHERS Conference Is Today — And Nigerian Marketing Has Never Needed It More
Today is not just International Women’s Day week. Today, at the Civic Centre on Ozumba Mbadiwe Street, Victoria Island, something quietly significant is happening to Nigerian marketing.
The National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria is hosting its inaugural LEADHERS in Marketing Conference, themed “Redefining Influence: Women Shaping the Future of Marketing.” And before you roll your eyes and say “another women empowerment event” — stay with us. Because this one is different, and the reasons why tell us a lot about where the Nigerian marketing industry actually stands.
What’s Actually Happening Today
The conference is bringing together some of the most formidable women in Nigerian business — Onyinye Ikenna-Emeka, CMO of MTN Nigeria; Adebola Williams, Marketing Director at Promasidor Nigeria; Chioma Afe, Director of External Affairs at Seplat Energy; and Folake Soetan, CEO of Ikeja Electric. These are not token appointments. These are women running marketing and communications at some of Nigeria’s biggest corporations.
The keynote is being delivered by Osayi Alile, CEO of Aspire Coronation Trust Foundation — a deliberate choice that signals something important. NIMN isn’t just celebrating women in marketing. They’re making the argument that marketing leadership is transferable, that the skills that build brands also build institutions.
The Problem This Conference Is Trying to Solve
Here is the uncomfortable data point that nobody in the industry talks about loudly enough: Nigerian marketing is full of women at the executive and mid-level, and almost empty of them at the top. Walk into any Nigerian agency’s or brand’s C-suite and count. The CMO seats, the Managing Director roles, the board positions — they skew heavily male.
This isn’t unique to Nigeria. But it is particularly stark here, where women make up a huge percentage of marketing talent coming out of universities and entering agencies every year. Something happens between entry level and the executive floor. NIMN’s LEADHERS conference is, at its core, an attempt to figure out what that something is — and interrupt it.
Why the SoroSoke Angle Matters
NIMN President Dr. Bolajoko Bayo-Ajayi is herself a first — the first woman to lead the institute. That context matters. This conference isn’t a checkbox exercise. It’s a president using her platform to normalise something that has historically been abnormal in Nigerian marketing: women in the room where decisions are made.
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The event is free and open to all — marketing professionals, students, executives. If you’re in Lagos and reading this in time, the Civic Centre, VI is where you should be today.
What the Industry Should Take Away
One conference doesn’t fix systemic inequality. But it does change the narrative. It creates visibility. It gives young women in marketing a room full of evidence that the top is reachable. And it puts pressure — subtle but real — on the organisations and agencies that have been comfortable with the imbalance.
The marketing industry builds perception for a living. It’s time to audit its own.
SoroSoke Brand Tip: If your agency or brand’s leadership team doesn’t reflect the diversity of the Nigerian consumers you’re trying to reach, your strategy has a blind spot. Fix the room first. Better work follows.
Who is the most influential woman in Nigerian marketing that you think deserves more recognition? Write us editor@sorosokebrands.com — let’s build that list.
