By Josfyn Uba
Clara Chinwe Okoro is the president of Brand Journalists’ Association of Nigeria and founder of My Beautiful Africa, a fashion, travel and lifestyle company based in Lagos.
In this chat with Daily Sun, she stated that while most developed Western countries who are dependent on tourism for their GDP have made deliberate economic policies to design a blueprint for tourism as a major income earner for their economy, Nigeria hasn’t looked upon it as an alternative to oil and is yet to build an enabling environment to promote it.
How was your experience as one of the entrepreneurs selected for the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s programme?
It was quite an incredible experience being selected into the 2019 cohort under the AfDB-selected candidates. I learnt quite a lot about my business, how to reposition it, the tools that were readily available for me to help me do that. I prepared my business plan, my pitch deck, I networked and travelled within that one year and it was an incredible experience. So, my travel technology company, My Beautiful Africa, benefitted a lot from the Tony Elumelu Foundation.
What in particular does the women’s month mean to you in light of this year’s subject of innovation and technology?
It absolutely means a lot to me for the simple reason that the world is finally acknowledging the fact that the women needs to be accorded the respect and dignity they deserve through affirmative actions. Technology and Innovations are playing important roles in redefining our world and so many women are being given the opportunity to showcase their talents, deploy their knowledge, contribute their quota, develop their skills and recalibrate their lives optimally through the opportunities the fourth industrial revolution has offered them.
What made you switch careers from broadcasting to tourism and technology?
I am first and foremost an entrepreneur and my first business was media entrepreneurship with Brandworld Media, which is still an ongoing and existing business. So, I am still a practicing journalist. We were amongst the first set of Independent TV producers and that gave us a first mover advantage. I still cover brands and our marketing communications digital website is up
My second business is Travel and Tourism and it was a career move I made in 2014 after a trip to Gambia where I noticed that Africa was under represented in the global tourism map. So, I chose to focus on the technology aspect of the industry and today we host an annual event that focuses on that primarily which is the Tourism and Technology Summit Africa series. My role model in business is Richard Branson. He runs multiple businesses under the Virgin Brand, Airline, Cruise Line, Record Label, Trains, Hotels. I am following his model of business with Media, Travel and Tourism for my own model of business with a focus on Technology.
Why should Nigerians and the government care about tourism in the 21st century?
Most developed Western countries are heavily dependent on tourism for their GDP. This is a deliberate and intentional economic policy to design a blueprint as a major income earner for their economy. Countries like France, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, UK and also the US earn trillions of dollars through tourism and every airport in the world is a testament to the power of tourism as a major income earner with the volume of human traffic moving in and out of those airports.
How should Africa bridge the gender gap in technology, innovation and tourism?
There is already a lot happening; the Internet has demystified a lot of things. There are endless opportunities open to women now. All you need is data to access these worlds of opportunities. There are countless number of programs designed specifically for women through affirmative actions to bridge the gap for women led enterprises and businesses. There are also concerted efforts to up-skill women through digital skills acquisition trainings to help them get jobs in the tech sector and earn better income to upgrade their family’s quality of life.
What do you make of the gender equality bill that passed the second reading sometime ago in the Senate?
I believe it is a bill long overdue and needs to be speedily passed so implementation can commence. I have a healthy dosage of respect for Senator Biodun Olujimi representing Ekiti South for initiating this bill, for the records “The bill seeks to implement section 42 of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria. It also seeks to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women,” “It will ensure the equality of opportunities for every person’ in the Nigerian State. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that this bill seeks to address the numerous issues bedeviling the Nigerian female and seek ways to redress these issues through just and healthy societal laws
As president of Brand Journalists’ Association of Nigeria, how many women have you trained and what efforts have you put to close the gender gap?
Almost half of our members are women. Journalism is a bastion of gender neutrality. There are really not much one can criticize that sector for in terms of gender inequality. It offers women a lot of opportunities and we at BJAN have also been beneficiaries of those opportunities. So, the gender gap isn’t wide at all in terms of looking for ways to close it and it is a healthy state of affairs in the sector. I pray it remains so.
Oil, Nigeria’s most reliable export, is fast losing economic power, globally. And tourism/technology are said to be the next oil. Is Nigeria cashing in on this sector, compared to other countries of the world?
The state of affairs isn’t truly encouraging. Tourism is still not being looked upon as an alternative to oil in Nigeria. The countries in Africa who have moved on and become intentional about raising the status of tourism to become part of the major source of GDP for their countries are Egypt, Rwanda, South Africa, Ghana, Kenya.
In Nigeria, we haven’t built the enabling environment which aims to promote tourism as an intentional economic bloc. Perhaps, when we understand the dynamics, security and infrastructure as the backbones of tourism in an economy, then, we can leapfrog to join these other countries that have activated theirs and are reaping the benefits.
What is your last word for girls and women who seek career paths in technology?
My first and last word on this would always be the world waits for no one. The world is moving. Don’t be left out. The opportunities are there. Leave your comfort zone and arm yourself with skills and the future you aspire to will unveil itself.
