Female journalists must have other income streams — Bimbo Oloyede
Veteran broadcaster, Mrs. Bimbo Oloyede, has called on female journalists to ensure that they live a life and have alternative streams of income.
She said it was better for journalists to plan their lives rather than allow life to plan them and that one of such plans was to make out time for self and family.
Oloyedo made these points as one of the facilitators at a two-day training for female journalists across Africa organised by the Africa Foundation for Young Media Professionals, AFYMP, in Lagos.
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Staying power
To make her point on the need for other streams of income for journalists, Oloyede handled the topic “Staying Power as a Female Media Professional”.
She described staying power as determination and commitment, noting that it was important that female journalists created a balance between career and family.
Oloyede outlined STAYING POWER as: S – sincerity, T – talent, A – adaptability, N – Nature, Y- yourself; P – principle, O- opportunity, W – warmth, E – entrepreneurship, and R – relevance.
Expatiating on N and E, the gender advocate noted that: “You cannot alter life. It is better to plan life than allow life to plan you. Make out time for yourself and your family.
“Again, E in ‘power’ stands for entrepreneurship, which means that as a journalist you should have an alternative stream of income. Be creative and try new things to earn extra,” Oloyede reiterated.
Speaking earlier on the reason for the training tagged: “Women in Journalism: New Talent Discovery,” the Executive Director of AFYMP, Mr. Yinka Olaito, stated that the women in journalism fellowship was done to have more females break the ceiling in a male-dominated field.
“This fellowship is believed to prepare female journalists to reach the glass ceiling, preparing them to become better in their careers.
“We believe that in the next five to 10 years, we will see cohorts from this fellowship becoming media owners, editors and publishers who are doing great in the industry,” Olaito noted.
Facilitators and participants
Olaito also explained that the maiden Women in Journalism fellowship had 28 cohorts chosen from 700 applications, with participants drawn from Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania and Nigeria.
Other facilitators at the two-day training were the Director of Programmes, Lagos State Television, LTV, Mrs. Abimbola Bello, who was represented by award-winning journalist, Modupe Olasumbo; and Prof. Suraj Olunifesi.
The Director of News, Television Continental, TVC, Mrs. Stella Din-Jacob; Commissioning Editor, The Conversation Africa, and a public health consultant, Dr. Jegede Ademola, were also facilitators at the fellowship that encouraged the female journalists to get other streams of income.