{"id":48949,"date":"2023-05-09T16:53:11","date_gmt":"2023-05-09T14:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/?p=48949"},"modified":"2025-11-28T14:40:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T12:40:08","slug":"the-value-of-professional-relationships-what-i-learned-on-a-womens-leadership-programme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/the-value-of-professional-relationships-what-i-learned-on-a-womens-leadership-programme\/","title":{"rendered":"The Value of Professional Relationships: What I Learned on a Women\u2019s Leadership Programme"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Developing as a Woman in Leadership | Meet Olufunto Agbeniga\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/I-p1u2AhnZk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">\u201cI had a lot of \u2018a-ha\u2019 moments. I needed to come into my own, in a sense, and say, \u2018Okay, this is who I am, this is what I want to do next\u2019 \u2013 just appreciate myself better as a woman leader.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>\u2013 Olufunto Agbeniga, Head of Commercial Finance and Planning, GB Railfreight<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Meet Olufunto<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"313\" height=\"313\" src=\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/getsmarter_blog_headshot_Olofunto-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-48980\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>With a decade of experience as a chartered accountant under her belt, Olufunto Agbeniga felt it was time to take stock. \u201cI was at a point in my career where I felt like I needed clarity. I needed to just do a self-evaluation of my career journey, and ask myself, \u2018What next?\u2019&#8221; she explains. This moment of reflection pushed her to register for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/products\/oxford-women-leadership-programme\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Oxford Women\u2019s Leadership Development Programme<\/a> from Sa\u00efd Business School, University of Oxford. \u201cI needed that down time to just sit with like-minded women, and learn from others.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why choose an online programme from Oxford Sa\u00efd<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When asked why she chose to study online with Oxford Sa\u00efd, Olufunto is emphatic that it is due to the School\u2019s reputation and rigor. It is embedded in a world-class university with an 800-year-old history. The online portfolio combines innovation with traditional excellence, and is informed by the university\u2019s cutting-edge education and groundbreaking research. Each programme is designed for busy professionals who want to benefit from having access to Oxford University faculty and industry experts, but need the flexibility to learn on their own time. Participants from around the world can take part in illuminating discussions with their peers as they work towards finding solutions to global challenges and growing into purposeful, future-focused leaders. As Olufunto puts it, \u201cI considered other reputable schools, but I didn&#8217;t find a similar course that could meet my needs as a woman in my career journey at that point in time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Developing leadership skills with an international cohort of women<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Oxford Women\u2019s Leadership Development Programme offers the reflective practice that Olufunto was looking for, even after many years as a manager, and focuses on self-acceptance, self-management, and self-development. It is designed to help professionals develop leadership skills to influence, persuade, empower, and mentor the next generation of women leaders. But for Olufunto, the most valuable offering was the cohort she met on the course. As she explains, \u201c[It] gave me an opportunity to meet women from different walks of life and different experiences. That has enabled me to build relationships that wouldn&#8217;t be possible for me, and I&#8217;m still connected with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her advice to other women? \u201cKeep improving\u2026 you need to be a step ahead\u2026 and position yourself rightly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Gain the tools to advance as a woman in leadership<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-16018d1d wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-background has-text-align-center wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/products\/oxford-women-leadership-programme\" style=\"background-color:#f42684\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Register now<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cI had a lot of \u2018a-ha\u2019 moments. I needed to come into my own, in a sense, and say, \u2018Okay, this is who I am, this is what I want to do next\u2019 \u2013 just appreciate myself better as a woman leader.\u201d \u2013 Olufunto Agbeniga, Head of Commercial Finance and Planning, GB Railfreight Meet Olufunto [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":48953,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"article-format":[],"class_list":["post-48949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career-advice"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.2 (Yoast SEO v26.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Value of Professional Relationships: What I Learned on a Women\u2019s Leadership Programme - GetSmarter Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn the value of professional relationships and gain powerful leadership skills through the Oxford Women\u2019s Leadership Development Programme.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/the-value-of-professional-relationships-what-i-learned-on-a-womens-leadership-programme\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Value of Professional Relationships: What I Learned on a Women\u2019s Leadership Programme\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Learn the value of professional relationships and gain powerful leadership skills through the Oxford Women\u2019s Leadership Development Programme.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/the-value-of-professional-relationships-what-i-learned-on-a-womens-leadership-programme\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GetSmarter Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-09T14:53:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-28T12:40:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/getsmarter_blog_header-banner_Olofunto.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"844\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shameel Mohanlal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"GetSmarter Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/the-value-of-professional-relationships-what-i-learned-on-a-womens-leadership-programme\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/getsmarter_blog_header-banner_Olofunto.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/getsmarter_blog_header-banner_Olofunto.jpg\",\"width\":1500,\"height\":844},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/the-value-of-professional-relationships-what-i-learned-on-a-womens-leadership-programme\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\"}]}]}<\/script>\n<meta property=\"og:video\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/I-p1u2AhnZk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:video:type\" content=\"text\/html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:video:duration\" content=\"152\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:video:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:video:height\" content=\"270\" \/>\n<meta property=\"ya:ovs:adult\" content=\"false\" \/>\n<meta property=\"ya:ovs:upload_date\" content=\"2023-05-09T14:53:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"ya:ovs:allow_embed\" content=\"true\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Value of Professional Relationships: What I Learned on a Women\u2019s Leadership Programme - 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