Biodun Adefila, Chairman, Women in Advertising (WIA)

As the world celebrates the 2023 International Women’s Day, the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), has restated its commitment to equity for Women in Advertising (WIA) and celebrating their contributions to the growth of the advertising industry in Nigeria.

WIA is the female focused network that has the responsibility of championing the cause of female members in Nigeria advertising industry. International Women’s Day is an annual global celebration held on March 8.

In a statement released by WIA, the Chairman of WIA, Mrs. Biodun Adefila, said the vision for WIA is to transform female practitioners into outstanding leaders who can contribute broadly to their firm’s success and provide mentoring and professional guidance.

She explained that WIA has organized some programs and initiatives to continue to educate women on how to navigate within the industry, work life balance and celebrating their success.

AAAN Publicity Secretary, Mrs Tope Jemerigbe, said the association is committed to gender equity, development, and celebration of achievements of women in the industry.

She said “As we celebrate International Women’s Day, we will continue to seek ways to nurture, develop, recognize, and celebrate females who are pushing the limits and changing the narratives of advertising. We will continue to embrace and champion equity for the women within our Industry. As AAAN celebrates its 50^th anniversary this year, we are celebrating with our first female director, Mrs. Kemi Fabusoro,”

Advertising is traditionally a male dominated industry, however, the industry is witnessing the arrival of female amazons on the scene, with several female Managing Directors leading the charge in many top agencies.

AAAN Director, Mrs Kemi Fabusoro stated that this year’s IWD theme, ‘Embracing Equity’, is deep and powerful and applies to everyone whether male or female. “It means that it can’t be one size fits all, it’s all about recognizing individual needs and the necessary resources required to make the person successful and we will challenge our members to make this a reality,” she said.

“WIA is partnering with like-minded organizations such as the Street Projects Foundation to groom and mentor talented young women into the fold. The association is also an active member of the United Nations’ Unstereotype Alliance which has the vision to eradicate stereotypes in advertising materials in Nigeria and globally,” Adefila said.