‘67% of our new hires are women’ — Guinness MD calls for gender equality in Nigeria

Baker Magunda, managing director of Guinness Plc, says men and women should be given equal opportunities at workplaces.

Speaking at an event titled ‘Diversity and Inclusion Drive towards Women in Leadership Growth’, Magunda said organisations need to grow beyond gender disparity and offer the same opportunities to both genders, including people living with disabilities.

He added that to achieve this, Guinness is collaborating with industries, government to show that its doors are open to everyone who has the capacity to give their best.

“At Guinness, we are committed to creating the most inclusive and diverse culture anywhere in Nigeria and to do that we will lead policy changes in this country,” Magunda said.

“Family and working full time was a big consideration for young females and we made it a policy that when you have a baby, you take six months off of paid leave.

“We started that policy and I am delighted that many organisations came after us and started copying what we did. What we are trying to create here is to embrace and cultivate a mindset..to access the full potentials of individuals, remove inhibitions that could stop people from expressing their potentials.

“And clearly one of the things that the society, especially in Africa, is that gender is still an inhibition and you have to confront that. Therefore, we are trying to remove any inhibition from the gender and we are on the journey to do that.

“Our intention is that all people who work at Guinness feel truly expressed value, equal chance to progress in their careers.

“Our intention is that we have committed to 2030, that 50/50 will represent the workforce at Guinness. And we want to start at the top and to do that, our board, leadership team is almost 50/50 female and men.

“All the hiring in the last 12 months, 67 percent of them have been females. It has improved the percentage of females at Guinness. And we will be doing more.”

Also speaking, Ajibola Ayodeji, director of human resources, said the company is focused on creating the most inclusive and diverse culture that ensures people thrive while shaping market leading policies and practices

“We want to achieve gender representation and promote gender parity at all levels,” Ayodeji said.

“We aim to create a culture where increasing diversity is led from the top but the responsibility for change is felt across board.”

On his part, Rotimi Ogunsola, corporate relations officer, said both genders deserve equal opportunities as this will

“Guinness is causing a change in policy and legislation. For instance, rather than having the Nigerian law that says women can’t work at night, a safe working environment should be created for them.

“We are working with the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association, ministry of labour and we are hoping to see that change come to pass.”