Nigerian business leaders Folorunso Alakija and Stella Okoli have urged women to move beyond speaking up and use their abilities, businesses and achievements to create value and drive lasting change in society.
The call was made at the 10th Voice of Women Conference and Awards held in Lagos on Tuesday, where speakers challenged women to transform ideas and opportunities into practical solutions that benefit communities and the wider economy.
Alakija, who delivered the keynote address, said having a voice was only the starting point because ideas and solutions could only create meaningful change when they were put into action.
She encouraged women to build the capacity required to take advantage of opportunities, stressing that access to an opportunity was not enough without the skills and preparation needed to make it productive.
The businesswoman and philanthropist reflected on her own journey through office administration, banking, fashion, oil and gas, philanthropy and leadership as an example of how women could progress from developing personal capacity to influencing society.
Alakija also distinguished visibility from genuine influence, noting that being recognised or holding a prominent title does not automatically mean that an individual is making a meaningful contribution.
She challenged successful women to use their positions and resources to address social problems, mentor younger women and provide solutions that improve the lives of people around them.
According to her, Nigeria needs women who will use their achievements to solve problems rather than simply accumulate personal success.
She therefore encouraged women to think about the lasting contribution they would leave behind and how their presence could create opportunities for others.
Also speaking at the conference, Stella Okoli, founder of Emzor Pharmaceutical Industries, focused on the relationship between women's voices, enterprise development and national economic growth.
Okoli said a voice becomes more powerful when it creates value through businesses, industries, employment opportunities and solutions to national challenges.
The pharmaceutical entrepreneur described her own journey as one that moved from vision to enterprise, then from enterprise to value creation and ultimately towards nation-building.
She recalled that she established her pharmaceutical business in 1985 after starting with a retail pharmacy and securing a N6,000 loan from FirstBank to begin local production of Emzor Paracetamol.
Her story, she said, demonstrated that entrepreneurs did not necessarily need to have every resource in place before beginning a business.
Okoli encouraged young women to start with whatever resources were available to them and gradually expand their operations instead of allowing the absence of perfect conditions to prevent them from taking action.
She also called for stronger government support for local pharmaceutical manufacturers and young entrepreneurs, particularly efforts to build Nigeria's capacity to produce pharmaceutical raw materials domestically.
The broader conference theme focused on how women could move from having platforms to turning their voices into influence, action and measurable impact.
Toun Okewale-Sonaiya, founder of the Voice of Women Empowerment Foundation and Executive Director of Women Radio WFM 91.7, said the platform had evolved over a decade from creating space for women to speak to seeking practical opportunities for their ideas to produce tangible results.
She argued that women needed access to resources, representation, opportunities and networks that would enable them to turn their ideas into sustainable solutions.
Okewale-Sonaiya also highlighted the need for greater inclusion of grassroots women and women living with disabilities in decision-making spaces.
She used the story of Oluwatobi Raji, a survivor of trauma, rape, drug abuse, homelessness and teenage marriage who now supports more than 150 out-of-school children in Mowo, Ogun State, to illustrate how individual experiences can be transformed into community impact.
The conference also featured calls for women to support one another and create pathways for younger women to advance.
Former Ekiti State First Lady Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi urged women to raise girls who are encouraged to dream and aspire while teaching boys to respect women and understand responsibility.
Ogun State Deputy Governor Noimot Salako-Oyedele similarly encouraged women to support and mentor one another, emphasising that personal advancement should create opportunities for others.
FirstBank Chief Executive Officer Segun Alebiosu, represented at the event by Helen Willie, said women's businesses also require practical support beyond encouragement, including access to finance, business knowledge, technology, markets and professional networks.
He noted that women-owned enterprises need different forms of support as they grow, including assistance with financial records, cash-flow management, pricing, governance and access to larger markets.
The 10th edition of the Voice of Women Conference came at a time when conversations around women's economic participation, leadership and representation are gaining renewed attention ahead of Nigeria's 2027 elections.
The conference also included discussions on governance, inclusion, gender-based violence, technology and economic empowerment, extending its focus beyond entrepreneurship alone.
The central message from the speakers was that empowering women should not end with giving them a platform to speak, but should include creating the conditions that allow their ideas, businesses and leadership to generate measurable benefits.