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YEWANDE ZACCHEAUS: An Agent Of Change
When we interviewed Yewande Zaccheaus at her office, her easy-going,
vivacious attitude was evident as she spoke about her family, her
journey in the corporate world, and her life as a business owner and
author.
In Her Early Days
Born fifty years ago in the city of Ibadan to a father who was in the corporate world before he veered into entrepreneurship, and a mother who was a civil servant before she joined her husband in business, Yewande Zaccheaus is a chip off the old block.
Yewande, who is married to Teni with two children, says her parents’ career paths set the pace for who she is today.
Ibadan was at that time the capital of the Western Region of Nigeria and was reputed to have one of the highest educational standards in Africa. Yewande traveled to England for her “A” Levels and returned to study Law at the University of Lagos. She graduated in 1982 with a 2nd Class Upper degree. After Law School, she obtained her LL.M at the prestigious Cambridge University and came back to Nigeria. She did her National Youth Service at the Nigerian American Merchant Bank.
A Corporate Sojourn
After her Youth Service, Yewande was retained at the bank and there she began her career as a legal officer. Two years later, the adventurous Yewande wanted to try something new and impactful, so she went into private legal practice with a law firm. It was not as she envisaged and after two years of practice without taking on one case, she left the law firm. In 1989, she joined Ecobank Nigeria PLC as the pioneer Company Secretary and Legal Adviser. After several years of being Company Secretary, Yewande wanted to do more, so she changed departments and went into private banking as the head of the unit; providing a range of financial services to the bank’s high profile clients.
Taking A Leap
In 2002, at a time when the banking industry was one of the highest paying industries in the country, and despite attaining the position of Deputy General Manager at Ecobank Nigeria PLC, Yewande still felt unfulfilled and derived no satisfaction from her corporate job.
“It got to a stage where I was just going to work because I had to. I was not happy,” she says.
That same year, at the age of forty-one, Yewande resigned from Ecobank and started an events management company, Eventful Limited. The company was borne out of her passion for, and her innate ability to organise people and events.
Paving The Way
When Yewande ventured into events management, it had not become an established industry in Nigeria and there was no available study on the business in the country. She had no way of knowing the viability or otherwise of the business. When she made the decision to start an events management business, quite a number of people thought she was crazy.
“Why would you leave a bank? Why would you go into that kind of business?” they asked her.
However, she took the risk, paid no heed to pessimism and tuned in to self-belief and optimism. She exhibited the traits of an entrepreneur. Little did she know that she was about to trigger the explosion of an industry and better the economic fortune of many.
Nine years on, Eventful Limited is still waxing strong. The huge 2011 calendar on the lilac painted wall of Yewande’s Eventful office is filled with marked dates for high profile corporate, private and government event bookings. Her success at events management paved the way for many others in the business and helped change the negative perception of Nigerians about the business.
God’s Waiting Room
In the Nigerian society, a stigma has often been attached to childlessness, with childless women scorned. Yewande has been instrumental in the transformation of the lives of scores of such women. Her ministry has given encouragement and hope to many hopeless women.
In 2005, she wrote God’s Waiting Room, a phenomenal book that documents the inspirational account of her perseverance and rewarding faith in God during her trying period; something the doctors called “unexplained secondary infertility”.
Yewande had her first son in 1990, but for inexplicable reasons, could not bear a second child. While she waited on God, she made a vow to Him that if he would give her another child, she would write a book as a testimony. Her second child, a daughter, came in 1999 but she did not fulfill her vow until years later when she lost a pregnancy after six months. Immediately, she wrote the book, in three weeks!
So impacting was the book that she wrote a sequel in 2008. The third part of the book was launched on her 50th birthday, earlier this year. Testimonies keep pouring out about the three books. Childless women, after many years of marriage, have received strength from reading the books, even more have been blessed with their own children after following the lessons contained in the books.
A Woman In Management And Business
In more ways than one, Yewande has changed lives positively. As the current Chairperson of WIMBIZ (Women in Management and Business), she is at the forefront in the battle for the advancement of women. In a society that perceives women as ‘lesser citizens’, WIMBIZ is concerned with ensuring the realisation of a level playing field for both genders, particularly in the corporate and business world.
In 2002, Yewande; her sister – the current Minister of Communication Technology, Omobola Johnson; Ibukun Awosika; Chichi Okonjo (a man); Morin Desalu and nine other women, founded WIMBIZ, a non-profit organisation. The organisation’s motto is: “To be a catalyst that elevates the profile and influence of women in management and business”.
Source: Exceed Magazine Online
In Her Early Days
Born fifty years ago in the city of Ibadan to a father who was in the corporate world before he veered into entrepreneurship, and a mother who was a civil servant before she joined her husband in business, Yewande Zaccheaus is a chip off the old block.
Yewande, who is married to Teni with two children, says her parents’ career paths set the pace for who she is today.
Her success at events management paved the way for many others in the business and helped change the negative perception of Nigerians about the business“I grew up and studied in Ibadan. Ibadan was calm, not like Lagos,” she says.
Ibadan was at that time the capital of the Western Region of Nigeria and was reputed to have one of the highest educational standards in Africa. Yewande traveled to England for her “A” Levels and returned to study Law at the University of Lagos. She graduated in 1982 with a 2nd Class Upper degree. After Law School, she obtained her LL.M at the prestigious Cambridge University and came back to Nigeria. She did her National Youth Service at the Nigerian American Merchant Bank.
A Corporate Sojourn
After her Youth Service, Yewande was retained at the bank and there she began her career as a legal officer. Two years later, the adventurous Yewande wanted to try something new and impactful, so she went into private legal practice with a law firm. It was not as she envisaged and after two years of practice without taking on one case, she left the law firm. In 1989, she joined Ecobank Nigeria PLC as the pioneer Company Secretary and Legal Adviser. After several years of being Company Secretary, Yewande wanted to do more, so she changed departments and went into private banking as the head of the unit; providing a range of financial services to the bank’s high profile clients.
Taking A Leap
In 2002, at a time when the banking industry was one of the highest paying industries in the country, and despite attaining the position of Deputy General Manager at Ecobank Nigeria PLC, Yewande still felt unfulfilled and derived no satisfaction from her corporate job.
“It got to a stage where I was just going to work because I had to. I was not happy,” she says.
That same year, at the age of forty-one, Yewande resigned from Ecobank and started an events management company, Eventful Limited. The company was borne out of her passion for, and her innate ability to organise people and events.
Paving The Way
When Yewande ventured into events management, it had not become an established industry in Nigeria and there was no available study on the business in the country. She had no way of knowing the viability or otherwise of the business. When she made the decision to start an events management business, quite a number of people thought she was crazy.
“Why would you leave a bank? Why would you go into that kind of business?” they asked her.
However, she took the risk, paid no heed to pessimism and tuned in to self-belief and optimism. She exhibited the traits of an entrepreneur. Little did she know that she was about to trigger the explosion of an industry and better the economic fortune of many.
Nine years on, Eventful Limited is still waxing strong. The huge 2011 calendar on the lilac painted wall of Yewande’s Eventful office is filled with marked dates for high profile corporate, private and government event bookings. Her success at events management paved the way for many others in the business and helped change the negative perception of Nigerians about the business.
God’s Waiting Room
In the Nigerian society, a stigma has often been attached to childlessness, with childless women scorned. Yewande has been instrumental in the transformation of the lives of scores of such women. Her ministry has given encouragement and hope to many hopeless women.
In 2005, she wrote God’s Waiting Room, a phenomenal book that documents the inspirational account of her perseverance and rewarding faith in God during her trying period; something the doctors called “unexplained secondary infertility”.
Yewande had her first son in 1990, but for inexplicable reasons, could not bear a second child. While she waited on God, she made a vow to Him that if he would give her another child, she would write a book as a testimony. Her second child, a daughter, came in 1999 but she did not fulfill her vow until years later when she lost a pregnancy after six months. Immediately, she wrote the book, in three weeks!
So impacting was the book that she wrote a sequel in 2008. The third part of the book was launched on her 50th birthday, earlier this year. Testimonies keep pouring out about the three books. Childless women, after many years of marriage, have received strength from reading the books, even more have been blessed with their own children after following the lessons contained in the books.
A Woman In Management And Business
In more ways than one, Yewande has changed lives positively. As the current Chairperson of WIMBIZ (Women in Management and Business), she is at the forefront in the battle for the advancement of women. In a society that perceives women as ‘lesser citizens’, WIMBIZ is concerned with ensuring the realisation of a level playing field for both genders, particularly in the corporate and business world.
In 2002, Yewande; her sister – the current Minister of Communication Technology, Omobola Johnson; Ibukun Awosika; Chichi Okonjo (a man); Morin Desalu and nine other women, founded WIMBIZ, a non-profit organisation. The organisation’s motto is: “To be a catalyst that elevates the profile and influence of women in management and business”.
Source: Exceed Magazine Online
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