Organised by Eskenzi PR in media partnership with the IT Safety Guru, the Most Inspiring Girls in Cyber Awards purpose to make clear the exceptional ladies in our business. The next is a function on one among 2026’s High 20 ladies chosen by an esteemed panel of judges. Offered in a Q&A format, the nominee’s solutions are written in their very own phrases.
In 2026, the awards have been sponsored by BT, Bridewell, Plexal and Constancy Worldwide. Neighborhood companions included WiCyS UK & Eire Affiliate, Girls in Tech and Cybersecurity Hub (WiTCH) and Seidea.
What does your job position entail?
As Chief Info Safety Officer, I’m accountable for defending the organisation’s digital property whereas enabling the enterprise to innovate safely and confidently.
I lead the implementation and embedding of enterprise cybersecurity and knowledge safety danger frameworks throughout a number of markets, making certain consistency in how dangers are recognized, assessed, and mitigated. This consists of overseeing incident response, regulatory compliance, expertise danger, and third-party danger, whereas sustaining an end-to-end view of the organisation’s cyber danger posture.
A core a part of my position includes driving the adoption of structured danger frameworks, working carefully with expertise, enterprise, and regional groups to evaluate essential info property, outline danger profiles, and implement management enhancements that scale back publicity whereas minimising enterprise disruption.
I additionally present advisory to govt management and boards, translating advanced cyber and expertise dangers into clear enterprise insights that inform strategic selections, regulatory alignment, and danger urge for food.
My position requires robust stakeholder engagement throughout C-level executives, regulators, and regional groups, making certain alignment, accountability, and efficient governance by danger committees and reporting boards. I additionally monitor key danger and management indicators, observe remediation efforts, and guarantee rising dangers are proactively addressed.
Past danger administration, I facilitate cyber disaster administration and resilience efforts together with cyber drills, Cyber response playbooks, and restoration capabilities to make sure the organisation is ready to reply successfully to incidents.
Equally vital is constructing a robust safety tradition. I drive consciousness and engagement throughout the organisation to make sure cybersecurity is embedded into on a regular basis decision-making.
Over the course of my profession, I’ve helped strengthen cybersecurity and resilience for organisations throughout banking, telecommunications, power, and expertise sectors in a number of African markets.
Cybersecurity right now is now not purely a technical self-discipline. It’s a management duty and a belief crucial.
At its core, my position is about safeguarding belief within the digital financial system.
How did you get into the cybersecurity business?
Like many individuals in cybersecurity, I didn’t got down to construct a profession on this subject — I grew into it as expertise and danger turned unattainable to disregard.
Nonetheless, my curiosity in expertise began early. I studied Electrical and Electronics Engineering, specialising in communication techniques, which gave me a robust technical basis. My first position was with MTN, one among Africa’s main telecommunications firms, the place I labored as an Info Methods Service Desk Engineer.
In that position, I had the chance to interact with totally different elements of the organisation and gained a broad understanding of how expertise helps enterprise operations. It was throughout this time that I turned significantly fascinated by the dynamics of the data safety house — how techniques could possibly be protected, how dangers emerged, and the way rapidly threats may evolve.
A pivotal second in my journey got here once I had a candid dialog with an skilled chief — the Common Supervisor of the Info Methods Group. I shared my profession aspirations and my want to work on massive, impactful info safety initiatives that supplied selection, complexity, and strategic depth past routine operational roles.
He listened rigorously and gave me recommendation that modified the trajectory of my profession. He prompt I take into account becoming a member of a specialised cybersecurity and IT GRC agency, the place I may achieve broader publicity and speed up my progress within the subject.
I took that recommendation.
That call marked the start of my journey into cybersecurity advisory — a path that has since developed into main cybersecurity and resilience initiatives throughout a number of sectors and markets.
Over the previous 16 years, I’ve had the chance to work with monetary establishments, telecommunications firms, expertise companies, and public sector organisations throughout Africa, serving to them strengthen cybersecurity frameworks, assist regulatory compliance, and put together for rising threats.
What continues to make cybersecurity significant to me is its affect. Cybersecurity protects organisations, economies, and people. And stays one of the essential disciplines in our more and more digital world.
What is among the greatest challenges you’ve confronted as a lady within the tech/cyber business and the way did you overcome it?
One of the important challenges I’ve confronted as a lady in cybersecurity is navigating visibility, illustration, and the strain to persistently show credibility in environments the place ladies are sometimes underrepresented.
After I started my profession, there have been comparatively few ladies in senior cybersecurity management roles, significantly in technical and risk-focused positions. This usually meant being the one girl within the room throughout essential discussions, the place assumptions about functionality may floor earlier than I had the chance to contribute.
Alongside the best way, I encountered moments of bias generally refined, generally direct:
“It’s laborious to imagine the venture chief was feminine.” — mentioned after efficiently delivering an enterprise-wide info safety venture.
“You aren’t technical.” — mentioned earlier than I had the chance to totally have interaction.
— amongst others.
In every of those moments, I selected to reply not with resistance, however with excellence. By persistently delivering outcomes, demonstrating experience, and displaying up with confidence, these perceptions have been steadily changed with respect.
Past illustration, one other defining problem got here at a extra private stage. At one level in my profession, I used to be near stepping away as a result of balancing the calls for of labor and the house entrance felt overwhelming. What helped me navigate that season was studying from others: mentors, friends, and skilled ladies who had walked comparable paths. Their steerage empowered me to take management, redefine stability, and transfer ahead with readability and confidence.
That lesson has stayed with me. As John Maxwell places it, whereas a clever individual learns from their errors, the wisest be taught from the successes of others. I’ve utilized this persistently, studying from mentors, shared experiences, and the broader cybersecurity neighborhood.
As a budding info safety marketing consultant, I used to be significantly influenced by Adedoyin Odunfa, a revered cybersecurity chief whose management, kindness, and dedication to growing others left an enduring impression on me. I additionally drew sensible insights from sources resembling The Strain Cooker by Nkiru Olumide Ojo, which I nonetheless discuss with.
One other defining second for me prior to now was listening to a fellow senior feminine cybersecurity chief brazenly share her expertise of stepping away briefly to regain composure earlier than going through high-pressure shopper conditions. That honesty was highly effective. It strengthened that energy and vulnerability can coexist.
I’ve confronted comparable moments — delivering advanced cybersecurity and privateness initiatives, presenting at board-level engagements, and facilitating govt coaching classes, even during times of intense strain or fatigue. These experiences strengthened my resilience and strengthened my perception that competence, consistency, and steady progress finally converse for themselves.
Equally vital has been persistently investing in myself, talking up, and constructing the suitable assist techniques. I realized that visibility issues: a closed mouth can imply missed alternatives. Networking, mentorship, and neighborhood have all performed a essential position in my progress.
Right this moment, whereas illustration in cybersecurity continues to enhance, there may be nonetheless extra work to be accomplished. Creating pathways, rising visibility, and offering sustained assist for girls in cybersecurity stay essential priorities for the business.
What are you doing to assist different ladies, and/or to extend range, within the tech/cyber business?
Supporting ladies in cybersecurity has change into an integral a part of my skilled journey and management philosophy.
I strongly imagine that each girl’s journey begins someplace, usually lengthy earlier than the affect is seen. That perception has formed how I method mentorship and management.
Over time, I’ve mentored a number of ladies getting into or rising throughout the cybersecurity career. Many started merely curious and wanting to be taught, in some instances, we have been studying collectively. Right this moment, they’re contributing to cybersecurity initiatives throughout totally different elements of the world. Generally I pause in awe of what these small seeds of mentoring have grown into.
I additionally based InfoSec Amazons, a mentoring initiative targeted on serving to ladies construct confidence and develop cybersecurity, resilience, and management capabilities, whereas navigating profession alternatives in cybersecurity and associated fields. The purpose is to create a supportive ecosystem the place ladies usually are not solely geared up to enter the sphere, however to thrive and lead inside it.
Past direct mentorship, I’ve contributed to broader business efforts to advance range and inclusion. I’ve supported and collaborated with initiatives throughout platforms resembling ISACA London (She Leads Tech), ISC2 Nigeria, Cybersafe Basis (CyberGirls), SheSecures, NaijaSecCon, and the United Nations ITU mentorship programme, contributing by steerage, talking engagements, consciousness initiatives, {and professional} growth alternatives for girls and younger professionals at totally different phases of their careers.
By mentoring, advocacy, and business engagement, I stay dedicated to creating pathways for extra ladies to take part, develop, and lead in cybersecurity.
I strongly imagine that range strengthens cybersecurity. Totally different views improve problem-solving, danger evaluation, and innovation — all of that are important in a subject that should continuously anticipate evolving threats.
Constructing a extra inclusive cybersecurity workforce just isn’t solely the suitable factor to do. It’s important for strengthening the resilience of our digital ecosystems.
Who has impressed you in your life/profession?
I’ve been lucky to attract inspiration from many phenomenal position fashions throughout totally different aspects of my life and profession — each women and men — making it troublesome to call all of them. Nonetheless, I can spotlight just a few distinctive leaders in cybersecurity, expertise, and enterprise who’ve influenced my journey, together with Tope Aladenusi, Ade Akomolafe, Opeyemi Onifade, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Adedoyin Odunfa, Dr. Alissa Abdullah, Dr. Peter Obadare, Wunmi Adetokunbo-Ajayi, Ibukun Awosika, Dr. Nneka Abulokwe, and Mikko Hyppönen. Every has formed my considering in numerous methods — by management, excellence, braveness, and affect.
Isaac Newton’s well-known reflection in his 1675 letter to Robert Hooke — “If I’ve seen additional, it’s by standing on the shoulders of giants” — resonates deeply with me and displays how I method progress and management.
Earlier than formally transitioning into cybersecurity, I sought steerage from an skilled skilled about my profession aspirations. I listened, acted on that recommendation, and it modified the trajectory of my profession. That have strengthened the significance of studying from those that have gone forward.
At one other section in my journey, I confronted a special sort of problem — balancing the calls for of labor and residential. There was a degree the place I thought-about stepping again. What helped me navigate that season was the counsel of skilled ladies who had walked comparable paths. Their steerage empowered me to take management, redefine stability, and transfer ahead with readability and confidence.
As a budding info safety marketing consultant, I used to be significantly influenced by Adedoyin Odunfa, a revered cybersecurity chief whose management, kindness, and dedication to growing others left an enduring impression on me.
I’ve additionally drawn insights from books and thought management targeted on supporting ladies in demanding careers. One which stood out to me is The Strain Cooker by Nkiru Olumide Ojo, which I discovered each sensible and deeply relatable.
As an African Yoruba proverb reminds us:
“Ẹni tí ó bá ṣubú, á mọ ibi tí kò yẹ kí a tún rìn.”
“The one who falls is aware of the trail others ought to keep away from.”
In some ways, my journey has been formed by studying from others — their errors, successes, experiences, and steerage — and I stay dedicated to doing the identical for the subsequent era.
