Delectable Mrs. Adenrele Kehinde is many things rolled into one. To some, she is a socialite in her own right, to others, she is a professional, corporate personality; yet to many others, she is a woman in a man’s world, endowed with the ability to manage and turn things around.
Kehinde is the Chairman of the Board of FBN Insurance Limited. A seasoned professional with over 35 years of post-call experience at the Nigerian Bar.
She began her career as a state counsel with the Lagos State Ministry of Justice between 1974 and 1978, before she forayed into the private sector, where she gained significant experience in Company Secretarial duties, Banking, Dispute Resolution and Property Management.
A certified arbitrator, this Amazon obtained her first degree in Law from the University of Lagos and is a member of the Nigerian Bar and the Negotiation and Conflict Management Group.
Kehinde runs her own legal practice, which is retained by a number of reputable financial institutions for legal advisory services.
But how does she manage her career and the home simultaneously? There must be a balance between the two, she says, adding that a wise woman should not allow her career or home to suffer any neglect.
She says, “Fortunately, at my age, I have limited parenting. All my children are married; I am a grandmother now. My duties are limited to grand parenting. There is, therefore, no conflict between my career and the home. My advice to young ladies is that: no matter what their career is, they should balance it. The children will grow up; you have your own life and they have theirs, too. So, there should be no conflict. For younger people, they should be able to separate their professional duty from the home front.
“Whatever you do outside your home should be different from your professional status in the society, and if you carry that status of your profession and career to your home, there is bound to be a clash. So, when you get back home, you are a wife and when you are out there, you exhibit your professional prowess.”
Regarding the issue of women in business, the FBN Insurance boss says, “I think, globally, if you look at it, the men are still dominating. Men are still in the top echelon of businesses. Some sectors or rather businesses still see the womenfolk as the weaker sex.
“But from my personal experience, I have been working as a career woman in the last 44 years, and I have risen through the ranks, I can say women are better managers at the top than the men, if they are given the chance.”
She wonders why women, who also manage men at home, are always given second class treatment on the business field, saying, “This should not be so. Women are fantastic managers. They are naturally good and adorable mothers.”
I think, globally, if you look at it, the men are still dominating. Men are still in the top echelon of businesses. Some sectors or rather businesses still see the womenfolk as the weaker sex. But from my personal experience, I have been working as a career woman in the last 44 years, and I have risen through the ranks, I can say women are better managers at the top than the men, if they are given the chance
Also, for Kehinde, fashion comes in diverse ways as it cuts across the young and the old in the society.
“Although age is in the mind, you can be a 50-year-old, but fashion can transform you into a 20-year-old younger person. It is equally important that you dress according to your age to retain your integrity. It will be unethical for me at my age to dress like an 18-year-old lady or a 25-year-old lady. That will be very wrong. But I can still dress fine and look very good, irrespective of my age; it is all in the mind,”
she says.
On how she unwinds, the FBN Insurance boss says, “I am not really a sociable person, but if I do have the time to be in an event or occasion, I do attend. When I was growing up, I did not like parties. Although my professional life has nothing to do with my social life, in all, generally, I still have enough time for everything.”
Baring her mind on the current situation of the youths in the country, Kehinde notes, “My advice to the youth is to be focused. What I see in this generation, especially men and women, is that they are too much in a hurry to get rich quick. No matter the circumstances, it is a societal problem. To get to the top by any means is much worrisome. I believe that if you have been honest and hardworking, you get easily to the top. I always advise the young ones by letting them know that because you are a graduate does not mean you have to be on the desk. The young ones should be able to think outside the box. The era for white collar jobs are over.
“We must be skilled in different ways. So, if you can’t make a way in your academic career, you can get busy in some other fields that could sustain you and you can go in. But invariably, it was as if at a point in time everybody wanted to work in the bank; at other times, it was as if the oil company was the next destination
point.”
She, however, notes that Nigeria is gradually moving away from the 30-day work pay period, adding that young people should learn to acquire relevant skills and not dependent on their
certificates.
“The hurry and quest to get rich quick should not be uppermost on their minds. If at any point in your growth stage you cannot explain the source of your wealth, then the wealth becomes questionable. This kind of wealth comes and goes easily, because it was not achieved through the right way, the source cannot be explained, as against wealth generated through hard work, which grows in leaps and bounds,” Kehinde says.
