The Young Professionals and Youth Coalition (YPYC), has honoured Vodafone Ghana’s CEO, Patricia Obo-Nai, with the Young Professional Role Model in Women Executive Leadership award.
The award was presented during the Young Professional Role Model Summit and Awards at the Accra International Conference Centre. The awards are aimed at recognising the most distinguished transformational leaders, change makers and influential and inspiring leaders in the public and corporate world.
Patricia’s citation was signed by Andy Osei Okrah, the YPYC President, and read: “You have displayed brilliance, breaking into hitherto male dominated fields to give meaning and expression to the adage that ‘what men can do, women can excel when given the space and time’. You glitter, shining bright.
“You are an icon to our young women who aspire for career development in both the public and private sectors of the economy. May you remain firm and unshaken in your convictions as you continue to provide unalloyed leadership to the Youth. You are a woman of substance. Ayekoo.”
Commenting on the award, Patricia said: “I am honoured to receive this award. It is always a delight to be given the opportunity to engage young people. I believe one of the ways we can drive effective change in the world is to continuously engage, collaborate, involve and develop the youth. We need to raise a generation that can fully participate and succeed in the rapidly evolving digital world. My passion is to drive this change by helping unearth the massive potential of the youth”.
Patricia is also a celebrated engineer and has become an inspiration for the youth in Ghana, especially females pursuing Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)-related programmes. She has on several occasions shared her experiences and career journey with thousands of young people on a number of platforms.
These include iYES, Ghana’s annual youth summit; the STEM Woman Connect, a gathering of females studying STEM across the country; the Youth Leaders Fellowship of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFP); and Ashesi University.
She has also featured as guest speaker and guest of honour on a number of school and university graduation programmes to help students discover their purpose. They include Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and Legacy Girls College.
Patricia is known for her profound thoughts on the digital future, future jobs and how the youth of Africa can prepare and participate in the digital economy. Her visionary leadership as the CEO of Vodafone Ghana has birthed several initiatives that are empowering the youth with requisite skills for the future. These include internship opportunities for female engineering students, hackathons and coding programmes.
Patricia is the first Ghanaian female to be appointed CEO of Vodafone Ghana. She joined Vodafone in 2011 as the first female Technology Director, and was later appointed Director in charge of Fixed Business and Customer Operations.
She has received several awards: including Telecom CEO of the Year, National Women in STEM Award, the Ghana Women of Excellence Award and the Best Female Technologist Award.
