The 2014 edition of the annual Working Mom Awards will hold today, December 6, at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos.

Chief host of the event, Mrs. Mary Ikoku, said they would be consolidating on the maiden edition held last year, which recorded huge success. She is optimistic that this year’s edition would be better.

“This is the second season of the Mom Ball and Award and we are expanding the scope, as we would be having more categories than last year,” she said.

Ikoku also disclosed that part of the innovation for this year’s edition is to have pre-award conference and exhibition in the morning of the award.

“The conference would have a mini-exhibition where we would bring busy moms to interact with one another and brands,” she stated.

She listed some of the speakers to include Amina Oyabola of MTN, Ndidi Nwuneli of LEAP Africa and Nicholas Okoye of Anabel Group.

She also said there would be two sessions of panel discussion which would be led by Adesua Onyenekwe. While one of the sessions would discuss life of the mom in the office, the second would talk about life of the mom at home.

“We would be looking at issues like the mindfulness of the working mother, which would be by Amina Oyebola. Sourcing fund for businesses and a couple of other topics,” Mrs. Ikoku said.

She explained that the conference is designed to help mom in career and businesses to reach their full potentials while the award was created to celebrate, honour and continually support mothers from different walks of life in Nigeria.

She maintained that women being honoured are those who have been able to manage their home and work front as well as their life creditably well in a manner that one does not suffer unduly.

Disclosing that over five hundred delegates would be attending the conference with the theme, Succeed and achieve, she said during the award night, winners would emerge from ten categories and three other special categories.

According to her, “Among the ten categories is the Working mom of the year, and it is the women that has been able to get to the peak of her career without her loosing her family or getting divorced.

“We see a lot people getting to the peak of their career but by then, there marriages are no longer intact or their children are up to something negative. So we are looking for that woman who has been able to get to the top of her career yet her home front is fine and her life is still very much intact. That is the biggest award of the night. All the awards are very important but that is the title award.

“The person who wins that award goes through a lot to get there. There are usually three nominees in each category, while votes get people to the nomination stage, the judges pick the winners.”

Mrs. Ikoku revealed that in picking the Working Mom of the Year, “we go to the school of the children of these mothers; talk to her husband, neighbours to see what kind of mother is this person.”

She also disclosed that one of the categories is the Mom in Media, which is for the mother who is raising and taking care of her family yet, she is helping to break the news, whether print or broadcast.

According her, one of the categories would also reward the Best Company for Working Mom, which would be decided by an institute that has work in that direction.

“For all the categories, the nominees must have a child that is below eighteen years. The award is for working mother even that woman that is selling akara or fish. We do no preclude this category of mom,” Mrs. Ikoku said.

Expressing her belief that the programme is impacting lives, as women who attend the event are now better responsible, Mrs. Ikoku said: “I am sure the over 300 delegates we had last year were able to see that there is a reward for people who do it happily.”

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