By Ingram Osigwe.
Lady Ada Chukwudozie is a successful career woman who perhaps took to heart Oprah Winfrey’s immortal words of encouragement to entrepreneurial and career-minded women: “I was once afraid of people saying, ‘Who does she think she is?’ Now I have the courage to stand and say, ‘This is who I am.”
Lady Chukwudozie’s steady but intentional rise to the top of the ladder as a chemical engineer, shrewd businesses administrator, publisher, a corporate czar and company executive has come to a crescendo with her inauguration as the chairperson of the South East zone of the Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria (MAN).
Before now, she was the vice-chairperson of the association in the South East, a position she held for four years.
Married to an industrialist and a big player in the oil and gas sector, Sir (Dr.) Daniel Chukwudozie, chairman of the Dozzy Group of Companies, Lady Ada Chukwudozie did not stumble into great heights over night.
She is a product of hard work, diligence and integrity. Right from the outset, aware that perseverance was the golden key to success and that quiters never win, Lady Chukwudozie steadily equipped herself mentally and educationally for future leadership roles.She had her path well outlined and defined.
Having as a husband and a pillar of support an industrislist whose business frontier spannes manufacturing, real estate, oil and gas, haulage, merchandising and hospitality, among others, was an added advantage.
Sir Chukwudozie’s bold imprints on his wife’s rise to the top are indeed too visible not to be noticed.
Arming herself extraordinarily with the requisite education and training to attain her current exhilarating status was, therefore, for Lady Chukwudozie, a fait accompli.
With close to three decades of experience in business management and administration, Lady Chukwudozie is one of Nigeria’s top female players in the corporate world.
She has held a plethora of strategic company positions, leaving marks of excellence in her trail.
The new MAN boss was, between 1993 and 1995, factory supervisor at De-Endy Industrial Company Limited, Taipei, Taiwan.
She would later emerge as assistant general manager, Specialty Oil Company Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of Dozzy Group, between 1999 and 2001, general manager, 2001 to 2004, and executive director, Dozzy Oil and Gas Limited, 2005 till date.
A good team player, one with excellent communication and interpersonal skills, good organisational ability and strong analytical qualities, Lady Chukwudozie aims at bringing her robust private experience to bear on South East MAN.
Lady Chukwudozie is cerebral and unassuming. Her passion for humanity, especially for vulnerable women and widows in rural communities, is top-notch. This explains why she established a non-governmental organization called PWORD (Association of Professional Women on Rural Development) in her bid to render financial and moral assistance to these women.
Lady Chukwudozie, who is the publisher of Vogue Afrique magazine, uses the medium to advance and advocate her ideals and passion.
A chemical engineer by training, she is a graduate of the prestigious Enugu-based Institute of Management and Technology’s Department of Chemical Engineering.
She left the institution with an Upper Credit.
Lady Chukwudozie’s appetite for versatile knowledge led her into obtaining a postgraduate diploma and master’s degree in Business Administration from Nnamdi AzikiweUniversity, Awka, and diploma in Law from Lagos State University.
She further broadened her frontier of worldview with a diploma in various courses such as Computer Science, and Mandarin Languages from Chinese Cultural University and Taipei Language Institute, Taiwan.
In the course of her strides in the corporate world, Lady Chukwudozie has undergone several pieces of training within and outside the country in areas like management, leadership, entrepreneurship and international trading in oil.
She is also an alumnus of the Academy of Entrepreneurial Studies and Lagos Business School, Pan African University.
Lady Chukwudozie is a member of several professional bodies, including the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Institute of Industrialists and Corporate Administrators, Energy Committee, Institute of Directors, Industry, Science and Technology Committee, Institute of Directors (IOD) Nigeria, Council Member, Nigerian British Chambers of Commerce, Council Member and Onitsha Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture.
In recognition of her strides, Lady Chukwudozie has in her kitty an avalanche of awards, including Paul Harris Fellow of the Rotary Club International, Lady Knight of Order of St. Christopher, Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, African International Achievers Merit Award for Excellence (in recognition of her selfless service to humanity towards sustainable growth and development in Africa), Distinguished Nigeria Women of Merit Award (in recognition of contributions to the development of Nigerian women), among others.
According to Isaac Newton, “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.”
The above quote X-rays Lady Chukwudozie. Having stood upon the shoulders of giants in the course of her career formation and growtt, her dear husband, hard work, honesty, academic acquisitions, training, etcetera, Lady Chukwudozie has arguably seen farther than others and this can be gleaned from her meritorious ascension to the MAN’s topmost position, the first woman to do so in recent history. She is indeed an epitome of inspiration to millions of Nigerian women.
•Chief Osigwe writes from Lagos