Caption: Griselda Togobo ( in yellow dress) at a past event.
Griselda Togobo is the Managing Director of Forward Ladies , an organisation that seeks to empower career and entrepreneurial women in accomplishing their goals. Griselda began her career as an electrical engineer before training in accounting and venturing into business. Power Women of City speaks to Griselda about Forward Ladies, the upcoming FL National Awards and the lessons she has learned in entrepreneurship. Read the excerpts below.
Power Women of City: Tell us about Forward Ladies and the support you offer career and entrepreneurial women in the UK and specifically in London?
Griselda: Our mission is to create a global platform that connects women to expertise, to community and to opportunities that will enable them to grow their careers and businesses. We hold events where we enable women to connect with each other at the regional, national and increasingly outside the UK as well. We also have training and leadership programs aimed at equipping women to tackle some of the challenges that are inherent in business. We work with organisations that are keen to support women in the workplace and we therefore feature opportunities such as jobs as well as products and services tailored to support working women. London is one of our core hubs, so we have our monthly regional Power Business Breakfast Clubs in London as well as our annual regional awards events. We have a lot of FTSE clients in London because they are headquartered there. Since we have a global outlook we are also doing online training and webinars to expand our reach.
Power Women of City: You will be hosting the Forward Ladies National Awards on December 1st. What is the significance of this annual event?
Griselda: Every year we bring Forward Ladies from across the country to Leeds, Yorkshire where our organisation originated. The national event is supported by global key brands that are keen to support women in business. We use the opportunity to showcase female talent across the country as well as tap into the regional variations and opportunities in each sector. So throughout the year we hold regional events across four key locations followed by the grand national awards ceremony in Leeds. So why is this important? As much as women feel liberated there is still a big gap in aspiration and in opportunity. Not enough women are making it onto boards of large companies.
When you look at careers in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) you will see we are not attracting enough women. Some of the few women working in these sectors are actually leaving.
So, there is a need to talk about the challenges women in male dominated sectors face. But the awards are also an opportunity to celebrate the women thriving, share their stories and inspire other women. We also see this national event as a platform to develop solutions to challenges women face. We don’t just want to talk about challenges and leave it there. We want to find ways to solve specific problems in specific sectors. We want to empower more women to thrive.
Power Women of City: What are some of the lessons you have learned in your journey in entrepreneurship?
Griselda: You have to be resilient. When you are in a team in a large corporation you take the hit together. When you are an early stage-entrepreneur you take the hit alone and often there is no one to brainstorm ideas with. You have to have a big ‘why’ behind what you are doing. It cannot just be money. I meet some people who are really motivated by money, but they are few and far between. Most successful people tend to be driven by the desire to fill a gap or bring a solution to a wider market. I think it is important to have clarity of why you are doing something so that you can be motivated throughout the tough times.
There are some important skills you also need to learn if you want to run your own business such as how to manage your money. If you have issues with money management and you are running a business, you will fail. The ability to sell is also an important skill even though it is something we are not taught in school. I think financial management and sales are very important in every day running of a business. If you have these skills, a good business idea and the passion and resilience to overcome challenging times, you should be successful.
Winners of the Forward Ladies National Awards 2017 will be announced on December 1st . We will bring you an update on the winners.
Photos Courtesy of Forward Ladies and Griselda Togobo.