Cisco commemorates International Women’s Day with Women Conference

Cisco, leader in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and networking, recently held its 5th annual Women of Impact Conference (WOI). The event, which coincides with the International Women’s Day was themed, “It’s Time. Collaborate. Lead. Inspire.” The Nigerian edition of the conference took place at Cisco’s Victoria Island office, where several eminent women, business leaders and entrepreneurs from the region shared their experiences.

The Woman of Impact Conference, which has been a staple at Cisco for several years, is devoted to the professional development of women. The conference took place simultaneously across all Cisco offices around the world and was designed for women in ICT, with the aim of uniting women all over the world, giving them a place to network, motivate and co-develop one another. The Women of Impact (WOI) Conference is a free, global event that is open to all Cisco employees to help women in the ICT field gain practical knowledge to help their careers.

This year, over 10,000 Cisco employees, partners, and customers from over 30 countries attended the conference via telepresence. At the end of this day, women will emerge with an expanded network of allies to support them in the future, ideas for collaboration, and a new empowerment to lead and chase the career of their dreams.

Invited as a speaker for the Nigerian edition of the conference was Ms. Funke Opeke, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Main One, a telecommunications solutions provider that built West Africa’s first privately owned submarine cable system interconnecting Lagos, Nigeria; Accra, Ghana; and Seixal, Portugal in 2010. Main One has grown to become the leading provider of Wholesale and Enterprise connectivity and data centre services across the region and the company has played a major role in changing West Africa’s Internet landscape.