The Mary Prince Women’s Entrepreneurial and Leadership Conference opened in Bermuda yesterday with an inspiring keynote from Ibukun Awosika, former Chair of First Bank of Nigeria and a prominent advocate for women’s leadership across Africa.
Speaking to a packed audience at Pier Six, Ms Awosika drew a playful yet powerful comparison between her home country of 220 million people, over 350 tribes, and more than 500 languages — and Bermuda’s close-knit island community.
“Our diversity is beautiful… but I envy your unity of purpose and your oneness,” she told attendees. “In a small community, disagreements might be over something as light-hearted as cricket, and that can always be resolved. I treasure who you are, value it, and learn from it.”
The two-day conference, founded by Dana Selassie, also marked the official launch of Gifted — Girls in Film, Technology, Entertainment and Design. The new charity aims to inspire Bermudian teenage girls to pursue creative careers, with its first major project being a youth-directed film about Mary Prince, the island’s celebrated national hero.
“This transcends a conference,” Dr Selassie said. “We are cultivating a culture of women who lead with authority, raise children with vision, and claim spaces where we’ve been told we do not belong.”
As part of the launch, Ms Awosika led a creative masterclass for teen girls. Dr Selassie reflected on first meeting her years ago at a UN Women event in Jamaica, during a time when her own future felt uncertain.
“She looked me straight in the eye and said, ‘So what are you going to do now?’” Dr Selassie recalled. “That question brought me here today.”
Addressing the men present, Dr Selassie stressed that the movement is not about exclusion. “We have a lot going on in our community right now, and this isn’t just about the women — it’s the men as well,” she said.
Highlighting the importance of empowering women to positively impact future generations, she added: “We are the ones who will birth the next generation of sons. We don’t want to see another mother have to bury her son.”
