Building Wealth as an Intrapreneur in Africa with Mariah Lucciano-Gabriel – Smart Money Africa

Episode 11: Building Wealth as an Intrapreneur in Africa with Mariah Lucciano-Gabriel

On this Episode Arese interviews Mariah- Lucciano – Gabriel; she is the Head Business Commercial Development at Sahara Energy.  She and Arese have been friends for the last 2 decades as they go way back to their early years in England as young school girls.

Mariah’s professional journey starts in after she returns from England for her National Youth Service. Her initial interest was in Investment Banking and she had set her eyes on Vetiva Capital to begin her career as a banker.  She was posted to Diamond Bank and served at their Oil and Gas desk where she came across Sahara Group and was so impressed by the ambience she was set on returning after her service year.  After getting in she recalls the grueling experience during her Internship at Sahara and how it solidified and set the foundation of a career, surrounded by consistent learning and getting better at her craft.

She talks about the stark differences in culture at her former role in Diamond Bank and her new role at Sahara Group and how adjusting took a while and getting into the groove of things.

Discussing with Arese, they both dive deep into the lower participation of women in C-Suite roles amongst Nigerian firms and Multi-nationals operating in Nigeria.  Mariah, talked about having to work very hard and constantly prove her value repeatedly to overcome gender and age-biases that underestimate the value she offers.  She admits to her fear of speaking up in her early career and her fear of not meeting up to expectation.  She learnt to document her wins and in her words, “never down-play your genius”

They addressed the sensitive topics on, the “sleeping her way to the top” narrative that hangs over the reputation of the few female executives in the Nigerian corporate space.  They discussed how many female executives sacrifice a lot on their journey, like delaying starting a family, they discussed Mariah missing a bridal shower she herself organised. They noted how more often than not women contribute more to this narrative and the tendencies to limit themselves and by extension other women they may be involved with at work .

Mariah discussed how invaluable her networks have been in furthering her career and solving business problems that come up daily, and how building the connections takes time and intentionality on your part.

What was most striking was the exemplary standard her mother set for she and her eight siblings she raised by herself and how that helped shape her world view and how she treated herself.