Omoayena Odunbaku

Omoayena Rosemary Odunbaku is a Nigerian development expert, university lecturer, human settlement officer with UN Habitat, and founder of the organization Her Ability Hub. Quotes Many other things also make me happy outside my formal job. I am on the board of HerAbility Hub. I support HerAbility Hub in its quest to empower women to break the glass ceiling and make them realise their emotional worth, emancipating their minds, making them understand that sometimes you have all odds probably against you, but showing you need to be you, never give up and put in more effort. We need an army of women to shatter the glass ceiling. I’m also on the board of the Gabriel Akomoh Yadua Foundation, a mathematical NGO, which was named after my father, to sponsor mathematical prodigies to free after-school education in a very low-income area where I grew up. The kids that have come out of that programme have made me so proud. All these things complement my work at the global stage. Gender inclusivity is absolutely important. And I’m not riding on the global clamour; I’m coming in from the perspective of understanding and experiencing it first-hand. This is about bringing in other perspectives, and not to point fingers, but we have seen professionals in the built environment sector design buildings and cities without consideration for the females. It’s not just about my field, but generally, we need women represented in every field because our social, economic and cultural biases are different. We need female professionals in every profession. Impact and knowledge are one, and happiness is another way. Happiness doesn’t come with only acquiring; it comes with a level of giving. Success is very contextual, it’s relative. Success is making the best out of your situation. Success is about impact and knowledge, it’s about building the next generation, it’s about selflessness, it’s about giving what you can. Happiness is not about looking at the surface of the problem; it’s about the nitty-gritty of the problem. It’s about charity, not just giving money and fundraising, but giving yourself, your resources, your passion, and that gives me much more happiness than ever before. When I was younger, around 18 years old, I used to have the mantra ‘life goes on’. When I had a professional career and wanted to learn more about the nexus between economic activities and urban planning, I enrolled in an undergraduate degree in Economics, London School of Economics, and then my mantra was ‘focus, focus, focus’. I printed the word focus and pasted it on the board in my study to constantly remind me of the tasks at hand and ahead. External links