Women have been urged to embrace their identity, find their voice and take deliberate steps towards fulfilling their purpose, building sustainable wealth and creating meaningful impact in society.
The call was made at the UPYOUWOMEN Two-Day Conference 2026, held on August 28th and 29th, at Eko Hotels & Suites Convention Hall in Victoria Island, Lagos, with the theme, “Aligned: Positioned for Purpose and Impact.”
The hybrid conference brought together women from different fields to discuss purpose, identity, leadership, personal development, creativity, family, financial independence and the need for women to translate their aspirations into measurable impact.
In her welcome address at the Conference, the Convener, Ezinne Kufre-Ekanem, challenged participants to move beyond inspiration and make concrete decisions capable of transforming their lives.
Kufre-Ekanem said the conference was designed to help women recognise that they do not need permission to pursue their dreams, stressing the importance of courage, community and purposeful action.
She said: “I want a woman to leave the room and say, I am no longer waiting for permission. I know who I am, I know what I carry, and I am going to do something with it.”
According to her, alignment is not about becoming someone else, but about becoming more fully who one is meant to be.
She urged women to speak up, make difficult decisions, forgive, heal and take responsibility for the direction of their lives, while encouraging participants to actively engage with one another, build relationships, share their stories and turn ideas into action.
The Convener noted that the difference between a woman’s dream and its fulfilment could sometimes be “one conversation, one phone call, one application, one business, one difficult boundary or one great beginning.”
Kufre-Ekanem also stressed the importance of empowering others, saying women who have acquired knowledge, influence or success should use their resources and positions to create opportunities for others.
She introduced Project Empower Her 1000, describing it as an initiative close to her heart and part of the conference’s broader commitment to advancing the lives and prospects of women.
Also speaking, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ), Ebisan Akinsanya, urged women to embrace authenticity and make deliberate choices about their careers, values and personal lives.
Akinsanya said women should regularly question whether the lives they lead truly reflect their aspirations or are largely shaped by societal expectations.
She said authenticity requires women to honestly ask themselves what they want, what matters to them and how much of their lives they have consciously chosen rather than inherited.
According to her, women often inherit societal ideas about success, respectable careers, marriage and what they should achieve at certain ages, adding that they can become so focused on meeting expectations that they stop asking themselves what they truly want.
She described women’s ability to “read the room” and make others comfortable as a valuable skill, but warned that it could become harmful when women become so accustomed to meeting the expectations of others that they can no longer hear their own voices.
Akinsanya linked authenticity with alignment, stating that alignment does not mean having every aspect of life perfectly figured out, but recognising when personal values and life choices begin to move in different directions and having the courage to respond.
She noted that WIMBIZ’s 25 years of working with women had demonstrated that there was no single formula for success.
“Women lead differently. Women choose differently. We bring different experiences, temperaments and ambitions to the table. And that is not a weakness to be managed. It is part of our strength,” she said.
Speakers at the conference, which featured panel discussions and interactive sessions, addressed issues including voice, personal branding, family, leadership, execution, music and creativity, while encouraging participants to remain grounded in their faith and trust in God.
Speaking on finding and reclaiming one’s voice, a speaker stressed that pain, shame and unresolved experiences could affect how people express themselves.
She urged women to confront such experiences and embrace authenticity as an important step towards finding their voice and fulfilling their potential.
Earlier, motivational speaker Eden Onwuka, who spoke on “Aligned With Your Voice,” said people could align their voices through love, learning and lighting up, in order to harness the benefits that come with discovering and effectively using their voices.
She warned that the consequences of misalignment could be severe, stressing the need for individuals to ensure that their voices, values and actions are properly aligned.
A Nutritionist and Culinary Expert, Iquo Ukoh, during a session on personal branding, encouraged women to deliberately build and consistently communicate their values, expertise and uniqueness.
Ukoh shared her professional journey, including her experience at Nestlé, where she began as a medical representative and later leveraged opportunities within the organisation to establish herself as a nutrition expert.
She explained that contributing to the company’s internal magazine and deliberately building visibility around her expertise helped distinguish her professionally and eventually opened new opportunities.
According to her, her transition from a long corporate career further reinforced the importance of building a personal identity that extends beyond the brand of an organisation where one works.
She urged women to identify their unique strengths and communicate them consistently across relevant platforms, noting that deliberate personal branding could create new opportunities, strengthen credibility and expand influence.
Also speaking at the conference, Financial Expert, Obinna Onunkwo urged women to move beyond income generation and deliberately build sustainable wealth through proper financial planning, investment and disciplined management of their resources.
Onunkwo observed that although women dominate many Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and major markets across Africa, men continue to occupy a disproportionate share of the world’s largest corporations and wealth rankings.
He attributed the disparity partly to women’s failure to fully embrace the structures and strategies required for long-term wealth creation.
According to him, earning a high income does not automatically translate into wealth, stressing that true wealth is created when income is converted into assets and investments capable of generating sustainable cash flow.
He challenged women to consider how long their families and impact could continue if their income suddenly stopped.
“If your income were to stop today, how long will your impact continue?” he asked, urging participants to assess whether their current earnings and assets could sustain them for months, years or even generations without active income.
The financial expert distinguished between being rich and being financially well, explaining that while being rich could refer to immediate cash flow, financial wellbeing was largely about owning assets capable of generating continuous income.
He defined alignment as an intentional effort to structure behaviours and actions towards specific outcomes, urging women to deliberately organise their finances, relationships, responsibilities and investments in ways that support their wealth-creation goals.
Onunkwo also cautioned against allowing emotional considerations to undermine financial decisions, particularly where women assume excessive financial responsibilities for family members, friends or employees.
He advised participants to examine their bank statements regularly, noting that spending patterns often reveal an individual’s true priorities.
“Your bank statement tells you where your priorities are,” he said, noting that expenses on extended family, philanthropy, religious activities and other obligations could significantly affect an individual’s ability to save and invest.
He encouraged women to develop the discipline of saving and investing while prioritising fixed deposits shares, bond, and land stressing that income becomes meaningful wealth when a portion is consistently channelled into productive assets.
The conference also featured musical performances by renowned singer Yinka Davies, alongside contributions from Dr Nike Folagbade, Ronke Adebiyi, Karen Ubani-Ali, banker Nnena Jacob-Ogogo, and other speakers and professionals.
The UPYOUWOMEN Conference 2026 ended with participants encouraged to move beyond inspiration, take deliberate action, pursue their individual goals, support other women and use their voices, resources and influence to create lasting impact in their families, workplaces and society.
