Rhonda Wells: Driving the Gender Inclusion Workplace Campaign

Rhonda Wells is Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of IHS Nigeria. She has over 25 years of experience in Finance, covering internal and external listed reporting, M&A transactions, and audits. A qualified Accountant since 1997 who holds an Executive MBA from ENPC/University of Edinburgh, Wells joined IHS in 2015 as Group Financial Controller having previously worked as GFC for a UK FTSE 250 listed Media Company and a London AIM-listed investment company. Before that, she worked at KPMG for many years. She spent a good part of her childhood in Zambia and 18 months in Libya. In this interview with Mary Nnah she talks about how gender bias can be countered, especially at workplace

How was growing up like for you, and how has it helped to influence where you are today?

I am the middle child sandwiched between two brothers. My Mom was keen that I had an education, if I wanted it, and made sure that all her children could cook and look after themselves. My brothers never stopped me from hanging out with them when we were younger, so I was, in that sense, taught equality of both opportunity and responsibility at home and was rarely in a position where I could not do something because I was female. We also lived in several different countries, giving me a broader outlook and joy of travel.

As VP, Chief Financial Officer of IHS Nigeria, what has been your motivation and driving force?

I’d say I grew up with a strong work ethic, and I was lucky that I enjoyed school, which helped. On top of that, from a young age, I wanted to independently pay my bills and know that I could without worrying, so that was a strong driver. For most of my working life, I’ve enjoyed my work. It has given me purpose and introduced me to interesting people and places. I’ve been lucky to work with many intelligent and driven people.

Do you think there is a gender stereotype associated with women working in a corporate environment? If yes, how do you think the industry can be free of such bias?

There certainly can be among some, even some weeks ago, a man meeting me was surprised to see a female CFO. I certainly had some instances of blatant outright sexism when I was younger, and still sometimes endure people not even realising they are patronising me by explaining something to me that I was dealing with years before they were. There is progress, though, and I see that younger generations are less threatened by the changes for both genders and see them as normal. To counter it, I think we all have to keep calling out its absurdity and recognise our biases and how we are conditioned by societal ‘norms’. 

What does the 2022 International Women’s Day theme, Break the Bias, mean to you?

It is about all of us, men and women, examining our biases and consciously trying to set them aside and act in a way that does not assume or create obstacles for women in the workplace. For example, we shouldn’t think a woman won’t want that new opportunity because she has a family to look after or may wish to start a family – instead, we ask her and let her decide.

How essential is diversity and gender inclusion is in the workplace?

It’s essential if we want our businesses to reflect the gender balance in the world around us. In an age where human capital is typically more about the skills, know-how, and attitude of staff, do we really want to restrict our talent pool to one gender and maybe miss out on better talent?  It makes no sense either as a society or for commercial reasons.

In your opinion, how can commercial organisations Break the Bias and drive lasting change?

We have to set the example and not pay only lip service; we need to be conscious of hiring and career progression biases. Sometimes that will mean working harder to get women into some functions and disciplines or promoting them when they have potential, in the same way, we do with men, and not just when they’ve already been doing the job for months/years. Instead of ‘empowering women’ or expecting them to empower themselves, we should be breaking down the barriers that have been put in place for centuries, so they have equal opportunity and progress according to their capabilities and not their gender.