A catalyst to our mission at viSHEbility was the recognition that there is a lack of representation of black women in decision-making seats in the marketplace. In line with IWD2021, #Choosetochallenge, we explore one pivotal area - the boardroom and challenge the stark absence of black women and help black women understand what it would take to become board ready.
Join us for a Board Readiness roundtable on Saturday 27th March at 12:00 (UK TIME) with guests Monique Legair, Oluchi Ikechi and Elizabeth Oni-Iyiola as we discuss their journeys to occupy board seats and what they have learned so far.
About our panelists
Monique Legair, ACIS
Monique is a Chartered Secretary and runs a governance consultancy providing governance advice and corporate administration support to international clients with business interests in the UK. She has spent 20 years working for various FTSE 100 companies providing governance advice to the boards and committees of UK PLC’s and also incorporating and administering privately-held companies for her clients which include HNWI, private equity firms and international financial institutions.
Monique is also partner of Cornerstone Partners, a UK angel investor network established to invest in businesses owned and run by black and diverse founders. With this focus, Cornerstone Partners aims to increase diversity in business and remove barriers to funding for individuals from backgrounds that are underrepresented in the UK business market today.
Oluchi Ikechi
Oluchi is a Managing Director/Partner at Accenture and is Head of Business Restructuring & Innovation for Capital Markets, UK. She is a business award winner and vocal advocate for next-generation leadership, innovation, diversity and inclusion, with a particular focus on women in leadership from the BAME community.
Oluchi is committed to supporting the wider community and plays an active role on the Business in The Community (BITC) London Advisory Board, Women in Finance and the International Business Diplomatic Exchange. In the former, she now constitutes a top priority for the London Board as she advocates to prioritise BAME entrepreneurs in London - launching an entrepreneur 'help me' event in March 2021.
Elizabeth Oni-Iyiola
Elizabeth is an Executive Director at Inclusive Boards, having worked with several high-profile clients including Sport England and UK Sport. She has led search assignments, governance reviews, board culture audits and delivered research into diversity and inclusion at board and leadership level. She has sat on EDI panel for CBI , the Institute of Directors, Tech UK, NHS Company Secretary Forum to name a few. She is an independent Committee member on the Nominations Committee at Which?, the UK's largest consumer champion.
She has a degree in Accounting and Finance, MBA in Business Management and was previously at Bloomberg LLP as a Financial Analyst. In her previous roles, she has managed large-scale multi-partner public sector contracts for BEIS, DWP and the SFA.