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00:00and we'll see you in the next one.
00:02Take care.
00:04Bye-bye.
00:31Please welcome Blessing Adesiyon as she comes up.
00:38Blessing is a trailblazer in the care economy.
00:44She's a mother of four children,
00:47and so she understands this thing,
00:51knowing that care is not a woman's business.
00:58It's an economic issue,
01:01and she has put in her life, her energy, her blood, and her sweat.
01:06She's dedicated her career to closing the care gap
01:09for families, workplaces, and economies around the world.
01:13With a background spanning Fortune 100 companies in the U.S.,
01:18she's also led advocacy for paid family leave,
01:23not just maternity leave,
01:25but paid family leave and care infrastructure.
01:29I can't wait for Blessing to tell you so much about...
01:33Are you ready for this?
01:35We're honored to have you, and I'll hand over to Blessing now
01:38to bring in your panelists and go into the conversation.
01:41Please welcome Blessing!
01:44Care! Care! Care!
01:46Good morning, everyone.
01:48My name is Blessing Oyele Adesiyon,
01:51and I'm the founder and CEO of Caring Africa.
01:54It's nice and wonderful to see you all this morning.
01:57I'm super excited.
01:59Women do mean business,
02:01and I think that it's something that I've always championed
02:05because I truly believe that women are multifaceted.
02:09We can thrive and accomplish so much in the workplace
02:13and also in our homes and with our children.
02:16And I'm here this morning.
02:18How many of you, just before we bring on our speakers,
02:21how many of you have had to miss work
02:24because you did not have child care?
02:29Okay, I'm seeing a few women.
02:31I don't see men.
02:33I don't see men.
02:35All right, how many of you, when you are at work,
02:37you are pressing phone, looking for nanny,
02:40or somebody to take care of your aging parents?
02:43You better raise your hand
02:45because you were telling me about your mom.
02:47Or somebody to take care of mommy or daddy
02:49or to help mommy go and pick up something
02:51or to help mommy with her medication.
02:53How many of you?
02:55Okay, perfect.
02:56All right, so without further ado,
02:58I will introduce our speakers.
03:01So I just want to level set a bit
03:04because oftentimes society overlooks
03:07the importance of investing in care,
03:10and this affects all of us,
03:12whether you have children or you have aging parents
03:16or you have someone that you're caring for.
03:18You know, it could be a partner, a spouse
03:20that is going through an illness.
03:23Society overlooks this because, you know,
03:26we just always assume that somebody else would do it.
03:28And today we have three amazing leaders with us.
03:34One leading care for employees in the workplace.
03:39Another looking at this on a global perspective.
03:43And the third leader is a child care provider.
03:47And so today we're going to be talking about care
03:49because whether you like it or not,
03:51we all need care, right?
03:53Or we have all received care at some point in our lives.
03:55When you were born, somebody was taking care of you.
03:58You are caring for someone,
04:00and you still will or may need care when you get older.
04:04So this is why care is such an important conversation.
04:07So let me introduce our very first speaker, Adori Udechiku.
04:13She's the Senior Gender and Economic Inclusion Advisor
04:16at IFC, the World Bank.
04:19And Adori is...
04:21Please give her a round of applause
04:23because she had to pull everything to get here today.
04:27And she has been a champion of care here in Nigeria
04:32with the Care to Equal program that the World Bank is leading.
04:36She has...they've done a lot of work in quantifying
04:41as well as reporting on care infrastructure here in Nigeria.
04:46Our next speaker is Kinsley Ogiri.
04:49Mr Kinsley Ogiri.
04:51And he is the Chief Human Resource Officer at Providos Bank.
04:55Please give Kinsley a round of applause
04:58because he did not sleep in Lagos.
05:01And he literally just, you know,
05:04drove all the way to Lagos to be with us here today.
05:09Providos Bank has been a wonderful partner of ours
05:12for a very long time
05:14because they understand the importance of care for their employees.
05:18So if you know a Providos employee,
05:20just know that they are enjoying
05:22because they don't joke with their employees.
05:24All right.
05:26And last but not the least is my wonderful friend,
05:29a fellow care innovator,
05:32Mrs Itoro Ugoji.
05:35She's the founder and CEO...
05:38She's the founder and CEO of the Baby Lounge.
05:41If you don't know where the Baby Lounge is,
05:43you need to Google them.
05:45She understands childcare back-to-back.
05:47If you wake her up at 6 a.m. and say,
05:49Mrs Itoro, tell me about childcare in Nigeria,
05:52she has the answer.
05:54All right. I don't want to waste too much of our time
05:56because our speakers have so much to talk about.
05:59But before they dive in, I just want to share my own story
06:02in case they've never heard that before.
06:05So when I was 23,
06:07I... 22, 22, 23,
06:10I had my baby, my first child.
06:13So my child is 16 years old.
06:15So do the math.
06:17I'll be 39 this year.
06:19And I walked into the workplace
06:22with a baby.
06:24And, you know,
06:26a lot of people, when they go into the workplace
06:28as a 22-year-old,
06:30you know, you're thinking about your pencil skirt.
06:32You're thinking about, you know, your perfect journal.
06:35You're calling your friends.
06:37You guys are talking about your first day of work.
06:39And here I was. I was like, oh, my God.
06:41What am I going to do with childcare?
06:43Who is going to take care of my child?
06:45So I'm researching baby formulas.
06:47I'm researching the next childcare location.
06:49And that was when it occurred to me
06:52that this really needed to be,
06:54you know, a societal issue
06:56and a workplace issue
06:58because I couldn't be the only one
07:00figuring this out for myself.
07:02I thought about the millions of working families,
07:05working moms that were out there
07:07that were doing exactly the same thing,
07:09just typing, researching.
07:11I mean, now we even have, you know,
07:13I think we can search for a lot of things.
07:15But back then, this was 16 years ago,
07:17it was really tough to find
07:19real-time, up-to-date information.
07:21So I relied on the phone calls.
07:23And it was a lot at the time.
07:25So I want to start off with you, Adori,
07:27because I know that you have done a lot of work
07:29in trying to understand
07:31the impact of childcare,
07:33of reliable, accessible,
07:35and affordable childcare
07:37for women especially
07:39because if women are going to need,
07:41if women are going to mean business,
07:43they need childcare.
07:45Or am I wrong?
07:47Especially here in Nigeria.
07:49So please share with us, you know,
07:51what has been the,
07:53what have you found to be the most important,
07:55you know, need
07:57in our society
07:59around childcare for women?
08:01Or what are the issues or the barriers
08:03that you've seen?
08:05Thank you. Thank you very much,
08:07Blessing, and thanks for opening with that story.
08:09I think
08:11I will start with
08:13the most recent share
08:15where you asked how many of you
08:17missed
08:19work yesterday or something because you didn't
08:21have access to care.
08:23I was just behind to see the show of hands
08:25and right behind me was someone
08:27who could not be at work
08:29yesterday because they had to
08:31provide childcare.
08:33And, you know, it just struck me again
08:35and
08:37today I would like to challenge
08:39all of us about how we think
08:41about care. It struck
08:43me again about the
08:45impact of societal
08:47norms and expectations
08:49on women. So what
08:51a study found two years ago,
08:53a year and a half ago, we
08:55conducted an assessment
08:57of the care economy in Nigeria.
08:59We looked at the demand side and the supply
09:01side of care. We looked at the infrastructure
09:03that's available. We looked at
09:05the legal and regulatory frameworks.
09:07And what we found
09:09was that women
09:11are disproportionately
09:13impacted by the burden of
09:15care. While
09:17globally and in
09:19Nigeria as well, they
09:21dedicate three times more
09:23of their time than men
09:25to provide care.
09:27Men rise
09:29three times faster than women
09:31in the workplace and in their business.
09:33So it's sort of, you know,
09:35not
09:37balanced is the word that I would
09:39use. And so
09:41you begin to ask the question, why is this
09:43so? If we are advocating for
09:45women to enter the workforce,
09:47if we are advocating for more women
09:49to participate in the female labor force,
09:51if we are advocating for more women
09:53to be entrepreneurs and to thrive,
09:55we then need to begin to
09:57think about their
09:59time commitment.
10:01A lot of studies have shown that
10:03women are time poor. But you begin to ask
10:05yourself, why are they time poor? It's because
10:07their
10:09time is tied up in providing
10:11care, either for children
10:13or for the elderly or for
10:15a sick person.
10:17Because this is just expected.
10:19A man takes a baby to the hospital
10:21and they're like, ah, where's the mother?
10:23Because the mother has gone to work.
10:25But a woman takes a baby to the hospital, nobody
10:27is asking, are you working?
10:29Do you do business? Who is taking
10:31care of your business? Who is filling in for you at work?
10:33Right? So first of all,
10:35I'd like to challenge the way we think
10:37about it. One, there's the
10:39societal norms and
10:41expectations that impact
10:43the care economy overall.
10:45So I'd like you to think about it as
10:47an overarching issue from there.
10:49And then you also look at the market
10:51failures. At the firm level, for
10:53instance, employers expect
10:55women to work
10:57at the same pace and be as productive
10:59as men, but have not
11:01provided the infrastructure to
11:03support them. Because
11:05they have, like Blessing
11:07said, multifaceted responsibilities.
11:09They're working at home,
11:11they're working at work.
11:13So they're doing two jobs.
11:15So what kind of provisions
11:17are employers providing?
11:19We found
11:21some best practices where
11:23employers were providing
11:25adequate maternity leave,
11:27adequate paternity leave,
11:29but only 5%
11:31of employers in Nigeria
11:33actually provide employer
11:35supported childcare to their
11:37employees. And that's
11:39a huge, huge
11:41gap. Because the other
11:4395% do not.
11:45And you can begin to think about the
11:47impact on women. A lot of us
11:49here are entrepreneurs.
11:51That is from the quick
11:53assessment that I did. As entrepreneurs,
11:55you then begin to think about yourself
11:57as an employer of labour, what
11:59are you putting in place to ensure that the women
12:01in your workforce are well supported?
12:03So we're talking about policies, we're
12:05talking about the practices, your family-friendly
12:07policies, etc.
12:09So that's one level of
12:11failure. And then you look at the
12:13market level failure.
12:15Where
12:17the government, the policies
12:19do not support
12:21or
12:23make childcare provision
12:25mandatory. In some other
12:27markets, we found that at the government
12:29level, there's a mandatory
12:31childcare provision that is
12:33required by employers
12:35who employ
12:37at least 100
12:39employees. And I think
12:41in Nigeria it should be lower.
12:43Because we don't have the
12:45non-employer
12:47supported
12:49childcare that's adequate.
12:51So you look at that market level
12:53failure, and then you also look at the
12:55supply-side failure, where
12:57there's
12:59when you think about childcare, affordability
13:01and quality
13:03almost cannot go in the same sentence.
13:05So if you're looking for quality,
13:07it's probably unaffordable.
13:09If you're looking for affordability,
13:11it's probably low quality. But why can't
13:13you have both in a childcare
13:15provider? So we also look
13:17on the supply-side. What are the challenges that
13:19care entrepreneurs are facing? I'll leave that to
13:21Itoro to speak to.
13:23But there are also those
13:25challenges. The care entrepreneurs
13:27are there. We have Itoros out
13:29there, but they also have
13:31constraints to
13:33growing and expanding their business
13:35so that they can support more families.
13:37So I'll stop there at this point
13:39and we'll come back to you. I'm just shaking
13:41my head. And please give
13:43Adori a round of applause for that.
13:45Because when I first came
13:47to Nigeria, I told myself, I said, you know what,
13:49I don't think I can find anybody
13:51that... I need to start educating people
13:53around care. And then
13:55I met Adori,
13:57and I met Mrs. Itoro. I said, ah, I already
13:59have my people. And
14:01we've stuck together since then.
14:03And what I love about
14:05everything that
14:07you've just said is that this is not sentimental.
14:09A lot of time when
14:11we're talking about childcare, when we're talking about
14:13paid family leave, when we're talking about
14:15breastfeeding in the workplace,
14:17a lot of people think, oh,
14:19it's because, let's just support these women.
14:21This is not sentimental. We actually
14:23have data. We have
14:25evidence-based research
14:27that shows that childcare
14:29is good for everybody.
14:31It's good for the families.
14:33It's good for business. It's good for
14:35our economic growth. It's actually
14:37one of the most
14:39important ways we can catalyze our economy.
14:41Because think about it, if
14:4350% of our population
14:45is not able to achieve
14:47their full potential, they're not able to scale
14:49their businesses, they're not able to contribute
14:51to their full capacity
14:53in the workplace, then that means that
14:55productivity continues to come down.
14:57And that's why I'm going to go straight to
14:59Kingsley, because
15:01that is something that Providos
15:03does well, in terms of
15:05understanding that childcare is a
15:07business imperative. Let's remove
15:09the sentiments. Let's drop that. Because we
15:11know that when we go to workplace leaders,
15:13and Kingsley and I, we've had this conversation before,
15:15Kingsley would tell me, listen, I need numbers,
15:17I need data, because
15:19my shareholders don't listen to
15:21sentiments. So we now
15:23started looking at, okay, how can we
15:25convince shareholders, investors,
15:27and business leaders that childcare
15:29is worth investing in?
15:31And that is something that Providos
15:33has done really well, thinking about
15:35care, not just childcare.
15:37They're looking at aging care. They're looking
15:39at paid leave. They're looking at, okay, what happens
15:41when mom has a baby and come back to
15:43work? So I'm not going to steal your thunder.
15:45I just want you to describe to us
15:47why Providos Bank
15:49has made a business
15:51decision to invest in care.
15:53All right. Thank you,
15:55Blessing, and good afternoon
15:57everyone.
15:59First off, before I answer the
16:01question, you will notice that
16:03I am in the severe minority.
16:05So I would like to say
16:07happy International Women's Day
16:09to everyone. And
16:11just by looking at this room, it means
16:13that women actually mean business.
16:15Right?
16:17So let's talk about
16:19Providos Bank as an employer
16:21that has decided
16:23to focus on employee
16:25care as a differentiator
16:27and as a value proposition.
16:31I don't think it's news anymore that
16:33women rule the world. And
16:35if you look at the statistics, and I'll go
16:37to my demographics,
16:39for the bank, 60%
16:41of our workforce is
16:43women, and
16:45it's females.
16:47And so that makes us begin
16:49to think, okay,
16:51of that 60%,
16:53about 80% of them are married,
16:55getting ready to start a family,
16:57and as such,
16:59we began to wonder,
17:01how can we deliberately and
17:03intentionally focus on
17:05care as a value
17:07proposition to
17:09our talents?
17:11It made us come up with a couple of things,
17:13and I'll share some with you.
17:17The first one that's
17:19very important to us
17:21is what we call
17:23the newborn care
17:25kit from the bank that goes to
17:27every female employee
17:29that gives birth. Now,
17:3180% of our employees are
17:33married,
17:35they're ready to give
17:37birth. One day, I was just
17:39sitting in my office, and right in front
17:41of me, I had about
17:43six pregnant women walk past
17:45my office, and I said, wow,
17:47we need to take this thing very seriously.
17:49And
17:51then we said, okay, so
17:53when these women, you know, go and live,
17:55the bank gives them maternity
17:57leave. Yes, that's fine. But
17:59before they come back,
18:01what can we do
18:03to recognize the fact that
18:05they're bringing someone into
18:07the Providos Bank family? And as
18:09such, when we talk about employee
18:11care, it's hinged on three things.
18:13Wellness, welfare,
18:15and well-being.
18:17Those three things are very,
18:19very important to us
18:21in the bank. And
18:23you know, when you look at
18:25wellness, for instance,
18:27a
18:29female employee just puts
18:31to bed, she's ready
18:33to come back to work, but we say, no,
18:35hold on, stay,
18:37take your maternity leave,
18:39but you need support. So
18:41we have this care kit that was
18:43curated by Caring Africa.
18:45It has everything that a
18:47newborn, you know, everything
18:49a newborn wants is in that box.
18:51We call it the box of happiness.
18:53So whatever you're looking for is there.
18:55I know
18:57because, yes, I know
18:59Adobe said we
19:01men typically
19:03rise faster.
19:05Men typically are not seen as
19:07carers. The notion is changing
19:09though, because now I hear
19:11some men coming to me to say, my wife said
19:13I should stay at home with the kids, and I'm saying, please
19:15stay at home with the kids, you know.
19:17But first of all, the
19:19truth of the matter is, society
19:21places a responsibility on
19:23women to first and foremost take care of
19:25children, although that mindset
19:27is shifting. So we have this
19:29beautifully crafted
19:31newborn kit for
19:33people who
19:35just gave birth. We give it to every
19:37female employee who puts to bed.
19:39It's a way of
19:41saying, welcome to the
19:43world, but it's also a way of saying
19:45we care about
19:47you and your baby.
19:49Right? That's
19:51what we're trying to tell you every time
19:53we give you that box.
19:55And let me just take it a bit further.
19:57One of the things that happened
19:59about two years ago
20:01was that
20:03we noticed that
20:05aside from maternity
20:07leave, every time
20:09a female employee wants to
20:11come back to work, she's
20:13always having to have this conversation with
20:15us about finding support
20:17for the newborn, where will I
20:19keep my child when I go to
20:21work and everything. So we said, wait, hold
20:23on a minute.
20:25We can create
20:27something called a creche support
20:29allowance, which we give
20:31to every female employee
20:33actually, we give it to
20:35the male employees.
20:37I was just going to say that.
20:39Just tell us that you've had a baby
20:41and you're entitled
20:43to get a monthly allowance
20:45that allows the bank to pay
20:47for creche for your
20:49newborn.
20:53These things are very
20:55important to the management of Providos Bank.
20:57In fact, we see it as a
20:59differentiator because everybody
21:01is focused on
21:03pay and salary,
21:05but what about the
21:07well-being and the wellness
21:09of the employee? What about
21:11care? How are we as
21:13a bank telling the employee
21:15that we care for them? Now, these are
21:17just some of the initiatives that we've put in place
21:19to show our employees that
21:21you're important to us, not just
21:23in terms of monetary benefits, but
21:25in terms of the word care.
21:27Your wellness, your well-being
21:29and your welfare is critical
21:31to us as a bank.
21:39Wow. Please,
21:41let's give Mr. Ogiri
21:43Kinsley another round of applause because
21:45I don't know if you heard correctly,
21:47and he has not even shared everything.
21:49What you all do for families
21:51with aging, with elderly parents,
21:53the OnRamp program,
21:55there's a whole lot that they
21:57do to support working
21:59families. And I say working families because
22:01it's not just about
22:03babies, right? So many people
22:05are also caring for their aging parents.
22:07So many people are also caring
22:09for a spouse
22:11with disability or with a terminal
22:13illness. And these things, we need
22:15to think about them because whether we like it or not,
22:17the employees at Workbody are not present
22:19if they are thinking about all of these things.
22:21And Providas has done a wonderful
22:23job positioning themselves as a strong
22:25employer that values
22:27and prioritizes employee care.
22:29So let me go to Mrs. Ito
22:31Raira. She's already waiting for me.
22:33And one of the reasons
22:35I'm really excited
22:37about hearing from you
22:39is because you have been
22:41in this space. You've been
22:43on the other side where you were an employee.
22:45You are now a care provider
22:47providing child care
22:49for families, and
22:51you have serviced hundreds of families,
22:53hundreds of employers. In fact,
22:55you have placed crutches in
22:57various companies across Nigeria.
22:59And I just want to ask you,
23:01what do you hear
23:03from families,
23:05especially moms, about
23:07the challenges of child
23:09care and the challenges of actually
23:11going to work, right?
23:13Being able to scale their businesses
23:15or even rise
23:17in corporate Nigeria. What challenges
23:19have you been hearing and seeing from your end?
23:21They will not silence us.
23:23Thank you
23:25for having me again.
23:27So before
23:29I get to that, I want
23:31to say to Mr. Giwi,
23:33very well done.
23:35And I recommend
23:37that you step up the wellness,
23:39well-being, and welfare work
23:41that you are doing.
23:43And I also want to say
23:45to Mr. Giwi,
23:47thank you very much for
23:49stepping up the wellness, well-being,
23:51and welfare women
23:53coming back from maternity leave
23:55with your Mugwa plan.
23:57I want to think about that.
23:59That's fantastic.
24:01So the Mugwa plan is a postpartum care
24:03for new moms and their babies
24:0524 hours
24:07so that these women can truly
24:09rest and recover
24:11from the rigors of pregnancy
24:13and childbirth. Think about
24:15it. Most of the time
24:17they are not actually resting.
24:19Which is why
24:21moms who are resuming back to work
24:23are palpitating.
24:25We have a number of them who resume
24:27and the
24:29waiting room
24:31has them crying, breaking
24:33down. You know, people often
24:35talk about separation anxiety and
24:37the first thing that comes to your mind is
24:39the child. Women,
24:41mothers suffer from separation anxiety.
24:43It's so real.
24:45And so
24:47I find myself having to
24:49sit down with those moms
24:51and encourage
24:53and support them and assure
24:55them that their children
24:57will be fine. So we talk
24:59about that's one of the challenges.
25:01So a mom is concerned
25:03about the safety
25:05of her children.
25:07Most of them
25:09have never been separated from those children.
25:11Remember these are children of vulnerable
25:13ages.
25:15You know, one of the biggest
25:17steps of faith that mothers take
25:19is entrusting
25:21their children to total
25:23strangers. That nanny,
25:25do you have background checks
25:27on that nanny?
25:29Can your nanny perform CPR?
25:31Please
25:33do not say God forbid because
25:35God forbid is not a strategy.
25:37Can your nanny do
25:39first aid in event of
25:41an emergency? And for those
25:43of us who have web nanny
25:45cam, right, let me announce
25:47to you that nanny cam
25:49and CCTV, fantastic,
25:51but they're called comfort
25:53because you will be at a remote
25:55location and watch your child
25:57being molested and you'll be totally
25:59helpless. So it's about
26:01getting child care support
26:03or support systems
26:05that you not only trust
26:07but are reliable.
26:09So one of the major, some of the other
26:11major challenges, right,
26:13would be peace of mind, comfort.
26:15How do I know that my child
26:17is well taken care of?
26:19Now as an organization,
26:21we do not give remote access
26:23to parents. And the reason
26:25is very simple. We used to,
26:27but we find it very disruptive.
26:29A mother logs into the CCTV,
26:31right, and
26:33the ladies just
26:35cannot work because
26:37they are raising issues that may not
26:39necessarily be issues, right?
26:41And the service is one
26:43of trust. So we say to you,
26:45we are not giving you remote access, not because
26:47we have anything to hide. You can come
26:49into the crèche at any time,
26:51right?
26:53But we can give you footages if you want.
26:55So what we do is at the
26:57end of each day, every single
26:59child gets a report.
27:01It's a snapshot
27:03of their day. Drop off
27:05time, pick up time, temperature checks
27:07at drop off, feeding routines,
27:09what they ate, how much they ate, what time
27:11they ate, diaper changes
27:13for the infants, whether it was
27:15wet, whether it was a bowel movement,
27:17potty training for the toddlers,
27:19sleep routines, how long they slept
27:21for, then a highlight
27:23of their learning and play activities.
27:25And guess what? Because
27:27we do not want the moms to completely
27:29miss out or
27:31carry that mom guilt, we also
27:33send you pictures and videos.
27:35So you're sitting
27:37every single day.
27:39In fact, mothers have used that to even tell
27:41the time. Twelve o'clock,
27:43the videos and the pictures drop in your phone.
27:45Right? Now
27:47we are privileged to see
27:49a lot of the milestones because the children
27:51stay with us for so long. We see the first
27:53step. We see the first crawl.
27:55We take short videos and send to the
27:57parents.
27:59Absolutely.
28:01The people who did not
28:03clap are yet to get on that motherhood
28:05journey.
28:07So I totally understand.
28:09One of the other challenges
28:11too is the timing, the structure.
28:13So you have
28:15schools and daycares that close at 2.
28:17The mom is in the office till 6.
28:19So how does that serve her?
28:21So the extended hours,
28:23we run the service 7 a.m.
28:25to 7 p.m.
28:27Late pick up starts at
28:297 p.m.
28:31So we have kids in the
28:33crèche sometimes at 8.
28:35Not every day. Please don't judge
28:37that mom. Our realities
28:39are different.
28:41It doesn't make her an irresponsible
28:43mom. It's just the circumstances
28:45with which she finds herself.
28:47And what the moms need are
28:49support systems.
28:51The reason why we also run the service
28:53all year round.
28:55No time breaks.
28:57So we are one of the crèches that are open
28:59on the 24th of December, for example,
29:01if it is a work day.
29:03Right?
29:05Because moms don't go on time
29:07breaks.
29:09Wow.
29:11Mrs. Itoro, I can listen to her all day.
29:13Especially because I'm a
29:15mother of four and my children,
29:17I have a 16-year-old
29:197-5-3.
29:21So the 7-5-3, they camp
29:23with her at the baby lounge
29:25almost every weekend.
29:27But I want us to, because our time
29:29we're running short on time,
29:31but I want to bring this
29:33back to our care experts here.
29:35Based on everything we just talked about,
29:37whether it's
29:39child care as a service
29:41or child care in the workplace
29:43as a benefit,
29:45how else can we think about
29:47care?
29:49Right? What can we do,
29:51especially here in Nigeria, what are the opportunities?
29:53Whether it's for government,
29:55policy makers,
29:57other workplace leaders,
29:59what is the opportunity
30:01that, you know, we want them
30:03to see so that they can
30:05invest in care? What are your own suggestions
30:07around how do we invest
30:09in care? And lastly,
30:11I'm going to take this,
30:13you know, to also ask you,
30:15how can we get men?
30:17I know today is women's,
30:19you know, we're talking about women in business,
30:21but we also need our men.
30:23So how do we redistribute?
30:25Perhaps the question is this redistribution
30:27of care, right? Because
30:29right now, care sits squarely
30:31on the lap of the woman.
30:33And I always say that we need to redistribute
30:35that care. We need to redistribute it to our
30:37men, we need to redistribute it to our
30:39government, we need to redistribute it to
30:41workplaces and institutions,
30:43and lastly, redistribute it to markets.
30:45Right? So all the tech
30:47people, the providers,
30:49the entrepreneurs, how are they thinking about solving
30:51this issue for us? So I'll just
30:53leave you to, you know, help
30:55us understand more around this
30:57redistribution of care.
31:05So I was thinking about your
31:07question and reflecting on a few points.
31:11And there's so
31:13many ways to
31:15deal with the
31:17urgency of care, and I describe
31:19it as an urgency, which I'll
31:21come back to in a moment, but please stay on that
31:23word, urgency.
31:25To emphasize
31:27what
31:29Kingsley has said,
31:31he talked about
31:33employees. Our study
31:35found that 76% of working
31:37parents reported that they are more productive
31:39when their employers supported
31:41them with care. So that's
31:43a business case. So it means that
31:45it equals down to the bottom line of
31:47companies. I'm stating this
31:49so that as an employer
31:51in here, you begin to think about
31:53why this is important.
31:55And then you asked about redistributing
31:57care. Another thing we found from the study
31:59is low uptake
32:01of paternity leave.
32:03So
32:05paternity leave is
32:07not mandated by the labor law,
32:09unfortunately. However,
32:11state governments in their
32:13public service act
32:15make provisions for paternity
32:17leave. But what we found is
32:19that even when paternity leave is available,
32:21in some institutions,
32:23it is reported that men do not take the paternity
32:25leave. And it was
32:27argued that for those who take the paternity
32:29leave, what do they use it for?
32:31So they probably
32:33add to the burden of care on the woman
32:35in some cases. But we need
32:37to shift that change.
32:39We need to shift that mindset. We need to change
32:41it through awareness creation.
32:43We need to change it by engaging
32:45men and boys. And I'll quickly share
32:47a story, if time permits me.
32:49And this is, I'm a mother
32:51of three boys.
32:53A few days ago, just before
32:55International Women's Day, I was shocked
32:57in a conversation I had with my
32:59last baby, who is turning seven in a few
33:01days. So we're talking about
33:03healthcare. And
33:05for some reason, he said, men
33:07are doctors, women are nurses.
33:09And then I said, oh, but why
33:11do you think, so why don't you think women
33:13can be doctors? So we argued, went
33:15back and forth a bit about it, and he said, yes,
33:17okay, yeah, women can be doctors, but doctors
33:19are men. He was just convinced
33:21that care should come,
33:23or rather, doctors should
33:25be men, and care, the nurses,
33:27should be the women.
33:29So I'm sharing this about
33:31engaging men and boys, because the
33:33boys become the men, right?
33:35And so we cannot begin to say, oh,
33:37let's shift, yes, we shift the mindset
33:39of the men, begin to help them understand
33:41that there's a platform
33:43called Promundo, you probably know them,
33:45engaging for positive
33:47masculinity, where you
33:49help men see the benefits
33:51of caring, of sharing in the
33:53care burden, right?
33:55But we also need to begin
33:57to engage from our homes.
33:59For us to have children, men
34:01or women, boys and
34:03girls, start to engage them
34:05and shift the mindset,
34:07help them to understand that care is actually
34:09a life skill that
34:11they need to gain.
34:13So I will
34:15say that about redistributing
34:17care. There's
34:19a lot of things. There's different strategies
34:21from entertainment to infotainment,
34:23et cetera, to get that information
34:25out. But speaking to the urgency,
34:27and I want to emphasize this,
34:29let me paint a picture for you,
34:31right? So Nigeria
34:33has what we call
34:35the youth bulge, because
34:3770% of our
34:39population are below
34:4130. Think about that.
34:43Right now in 2025, 70%
34:45of our 218 million
34:47population are below
34:4930. You heard when Kingsley said
34:51he was sitting and six pregnant
34:53women walked past him. That's
34:55in one organization, just him.
34:57Now imagine
34:5920 years from now,
35:01those under 30
35:03would have had babies.
35:05They'll be in the
35:07workforce because there's a lot of intervention
35:09to get them into economic
35:11activities, get them employed
35:13or become employers of labor.
35:15And look at the flip side of it.
35:17If 70% are under
35:1930, it means
35:2130% are aging.
35:23So for us who relied on our
35:25parents and our parents' parents,
35:27by the time this
35:29youth start having their own
35:31children, their parents would have been
35:33aging out. Would they be able to provide
35:35the care? So we need urgent
35:37infrastructure that is
35:39non-parental care for
35:41children and for
35:43aging parents. If you also
35:45look at the immigration,
35:47the demographic shift,
35:49you know, there's
35:51an abandonment, well not an abandonment,
35:53there's a need for elder care
35:55as well, because parents, sorry, children
35:57migrating, the parents are left behind.
35:59Who's going to take care of them as they age?
36:01So we need that infrastructure,
36:03and it cannot happen only from the
36:05private sector. It has to be a public
36:07private sector partnership that
36:09subsidizes the cost. And I'll pause there.
36:11Thank you. Thank you so much.
36:13I mean, we can talk about this all day
36:15as you have seen, but I just want to leave
36:17you with the fact that Nigeria is going
36:19to be the third most populous country
36:21in the world in
36:23about 15 years.
36:25So sit with that.
36:27This is why this is
36:29an imperative. Care
36:31is something that we have to prioritize
36:33in our workplaces, in our
36:35institutions, in our government, in our
36:37homes, because quite frankly,
36:39who is going to take care of all these people that we are
36:41having, all these children? Who's going to take care of them?
36:43You and I don't have 500 hands,
36:45right? And it's going to be
36:47an issue economically for all of us.
36:49Thank you so much for indulging us.
36:51Thank you. Thank you for enlightening
36:53us and empowering
36:55us. Please, another applause
36:57for Blessing and the entire team.
36:59Please rise for a photograph.
37:01We welcome our festival
37:03creator, Anita,
37:05and of course our chairman,
37:07to please come join them in this
37:09group photograph. Let's take one
37:11of them there whilst
37:13Anita and Mum come up.
37:15Of course, if
37:17you are thinking, please come. If you
37:19are thinking about starting a care
37:21business, you should
37:23find a way to
37:25meet up with these
37:27wonderful women and gentlemen
37:29to ask some questions and be
37:31guided, because
37:33it is now
37:35an extremely
37:37important field, and people
37:39are willing, able, and ready to
37:41pay much more for such
37:43care. I was speaking with Blessing
37:45earlier in the day.
37:47My mum was diagnosed
37:49with cancer in
37:51November, and I know
37:53what we are spending on care
37:55alone, not medicals,
37:57just care.
37:59In fact, one of the days, my sisters
38:01and I were like, this is big business, so maybe we
38:03should now go into the business of care as
38:05well, because she needs someone through
38:07the day. She needs someone right
38:09there at night as well. It's
38:11not just business. It's solving an
38:13economic problem for
38:15each and every one of us.
38:17And guess what? As women,
38:19we tend to be the primary
38:21caregivers, right? Over and
38:23again. And if we don't have care
38:25institutionalized, many of us
38:27will miss out on work
38:29because we are caring for family
38:31and the people
38:33who depend on us. So we thank
38:35you, and we appreciate you for the enlightenment.