•Masade-Olowola
She is young, dedicated, versatile and intelligent, but so passionate about her home. Bekeme Masade-Olowola is the executive director of CSR-in-Acton a non-governmental organisation set up by her two years ago. Senior Reporter, ANTHONIA SOYINGBE met with this mother of two recently and she spoke about herself
“I try to find time and that is what makes it harder. I am a wife and a mother and I do all the cooking in my home. I take my daughter to school and drop her by myself, nobody does that for me. It is really tough because I still come to the office everyday because it is still a new business. I pick her from school also, getting home I cook for my family and also put them to bed. I wait for my husband to return from office and I feed him. I sleep about 2.00 a.m daily just to ensure that my home is in order. I am a perfectionist, I don’t believe in people doing my work for me, so I do my work well. It is hard, but I feel it is very rewarding because I take care of my family as I wish and I do so in a way to make me feel very satisfied. One of the major reasons I am self-employed is to achieve flexibility in the use of my time, so that I can look after my family while I do other things. If I am pursuing money, I employ people to look after my children so that I can pay for it later. My mother did it for us and I felt it is reasonable for me to also take good care of my children. I have helps at home, but I still have my duties at home,” these were her words when Sunday Independent asked her how she combines her career with her family. For ‘Beks’ as some people call her, her primary assignment is her family, which includes cooking for her family, taking and picking her daughter from school and ensuring that her home doesn’t suffer. Yes, she is passionate about what she does, but getting close to her, it was evident that her home means more to her.
CSR-in- Action, she told our reporter is a networking platform which was set up to advance the collective social action in Nigeria. “Lots of organisations do CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) but I thought within myself that we don’t have a database and I told myself that I am going to do something where people will work collectively to make greater impact. We are educating people who impact the masses; we want to approach poverty alleviation from an intellectual point of view. We educate government and organisations not just to treat the disease but to treat the cause,” she said while answering further functions of her organisation.
CSR- in- Action, was also established because she wanted to carry on the legacy of her late mother’s philanthropic acts. “She will give you her last and go hungry. I grew up in an environment that wanted to advance the society. I felt there were many NGOs and organistions that centred on women and children so I felt it was wise if I could impart on people who impart on people. We also help small NGOs to project themselves. We want NGOs to do their work right whether they are big or small,” she explained futher.
Challenges abound in all fields. For her, starting up a new kind of business wasn’t a child’s play. Hear her story, “I started this enterprise because it was a challenge the first of its kind. When I started, people told me they weren’t ready for this, but I was persistent. The business now is actually picking up because a lot of people are now interested in what I do. The biggest problem is trust, but slowly we are surmounting them. We had the first ever Global Initiative Reporting. It is not easy, but we are making an impact in a way that matters.
She has always worked in a PR (Public Relations) firm; she also worked in Department of Health in UK. She was on apprentice to Africa when she came back to Nigeria. “Why did you delve into this line of business?” Sunday Independent asked her. With a broad smile and confidence she replied: “It was a niche as I have always been an entrepreneur right from my primary school days when I made pastries which I sold to my friends, I also knitted purses and I also sold them to my friends. I made my first million from selling when I was 20. I have always looked for opportunities and I have never been afraid of going to new terrain. Lots of my personal money has gone into the project when we don’t have funding, but we are still moving because I love what I am doing. We raise money from more innovative ways. We have managed to surmount the challenge of money to a large extent. Some of Nigerian organisations, because of lack of trust prefer to go to patronise expatriates. We are moving and things are getting better.”
Bekeme was born and grew up in Lagos in a family of four children of which she is the third. Her mother, according to her, was a very strong woman, who looked after her children, though they didn’t grow up with their father. For a lady, who was raised and nurtured by a single parent, it is not far-fetched for her to have mixed feelings about marriage. When asked if she had such feeling before wedding, she dismissed it with a wave of the hand and said, “there is always that fear whether you grew up with a single parent or otherwise. I had a relationship with my husband, we liked each other and I don’t have any regrets. I personally don’t dwell on mistakes, regrets or negatively.” She further said she didn’t miss the father figure while growing up as she grew up in a home where women were trained to be strong.
Passionate about Nigeria, she said, “I believe strongly in Nigeria and I never planned to stay longer than I intended to stay abroad. Nigeria is a country with great potential. Through our annual reports, we tell the world what is happening in Nigeria and I am so proud to be part of this.”
Advising women,this PR practitioner who could pass for a marriage counselor said, “The most important thing is placing your family first. A woman shouldn’t get carried away by frivolities of everyday life. A woman shouldn’t forget that she has left her family and so she shouldn’t let interference from outside scatter her family. Unless it is a very tough issue, a woman should always discuss issues with her spouse. Women should always make family time, don’t compare your husband with someone else’s marriage because you are just seeing it from the outside, you don’t know what is happening on the inside. We are all unique individuals. You have to be satisfied with what you have and never take your family for granted. Treat them always like it’s the last moment you are going to see them.
“Never invite any third party to meddle in your affairs, rather talk to one another and settle your issues without involving the third party. Even if you as a woman think you are right, you still have to settle issues. Communication is also very important in marriage you can’t be building a house without your husband knowing that to me is deceit and it is not the best.”
She started her career in public relations before graduation and proceeded to work in project management and policy performance measurement and evaluation with the Royal Borough of Kingston and Surrey County Council, respectively.
She became a pioneer contestant on the premier edition of The Apprentice Africa; has since hosted The Entrepreneur Meet, a business networking series for young entrepreneurs; U-turn Africa Forum, a collaborative meet to share best practices; and she is a member of the Governance Institutions and Policy Commission of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group.
Bekeme holds a Merit in International Human Resource Management & Employment Relations (MSc) from the prestigious University of London, Queen Mary College. She is a Bachelor of Arts graduate of the University of Lagos.