Describing her as hardworking would be an understatement. Pastor(Ms)Rosemary Duamlong is a woman who knows her onion. Unlike many other women who begin to lose faith as soon as they are separated from their spouses, Rosemary, a mother of two who pastors at the New Frontiers Church in Lagos, has continued to wax stronger as the Principal Consultant of Gren Business Dimensions, a Travels and Tour firm in Lagos.

She is also an executive member of Women in Logistics and Transport- WILAT, a professional body of women in rail, road, air, and water transport sectors; including institutes and ministries. GIFT GABRIEL engaged her in a chat recently and she revealed how she combines working for God with running her business in a society where many find reasons to compromise their faith. Enjoy.

Being a minister of the gospel and running a business

(Laughs)Let me correct the notion that everyone in the business world have to tell a ‘white lie’ once in a while. A lie is a lie; whether you tell it once in while or everyday. The Bible is clear about who a liar is. Even before I was ordained a pastor, I had a principle which is that my word is my bond. When clients come to me for anything I know I cannot do, I tell them outright that I cannot do it. You see, in business, there’s nothing as good as transparency.

Pastor Rosemary Duamlong

I have been successful in business today not because I am better than anyone else, but because I’ve tried to be transparent in my dealings. That’s why people who I dealt with in organizations where I had worked before establishing my own firm still relate with me till date! There’s nothing like “Hmmm….I’m covering up with a white lie”.

What are you covering? Whatever you cover today, your client will find out elsewhere tomorrow! Pastor or no pastor, for me, integrity is the key. In anything you do in life, if people observe that you do not have integrity, just forget it because you will fail! So, my integrity is what I always try to protect.

Actually, my vision is to make a difference in the business world, globally. Thus, I’ve been able to make an impact in the South African government with regards to the image of Nigeria. I’m doing the same thing with the US right now. What Gren Business provides mostly is a platform for business networking amongst companies while helping them package business tours to different countries, and we’re not willing to compromise any standard.

Being an executive member of Women in Logistics and Transport- WILAT.

Actually, I’m the National Public Relation Officer for WILAT. WILAT is a professional group of women in the rail, road, air, and water transport sectors; including institutes and ministries. The body was formed out of the quest to give women in these sectors a voice, and it is a branch of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport- CILT.

The women in the various transport sectors have their associations, but WILAT is now serving as the umbrella body for all these various associations since the challenges are similar in the industries. With CILT as our overall professional body, we are sure to give women a voice and also key into all necessary areas where we are under represented.

WILAT was first inaugurated on June 12, 2010. However, we just had our first general election recently in 2012 when we elected our first executives, with Hajia Aisha Ali-Ibrahim emerging our National President.

Why WILAT was set up

Incidentally, Hajia Aisha Ali-Ibrahim, our National President, spear-headed the formation of WILAT in 2010! According to her, they were at CILT International annual conference in Malta in 2010, and were shocked to find that there were only about eight women at the conference (two from Nigeria). Since attending conferences is one of the ways people update their knowledge, meet people and network, it dawned on her that having so few a number of women at such a conference was dangerous to the growth of women in the industry.

She tabled her observation, and then CILT International came to a consensus that member countries should go back home to look for ways of creating awareness amongst women and encouraging them to come into the industry and also into the institute. Hence, in her action plan, Hajia Aisha Ali-Ibrahim decided to initiate the formation of WILAT. She actually believes that for optimal productivity, every industry has to be gender sensitive; otherwise, it will lose out people with talents and even women who are competent who would have contributed enormously to nation building.

Parting ways with her husband recently.

It was a challenge initially but presently, I’ve moved on. I always tell people who happen to have one challenge or the other in marriage that that problem is not the end of life. I believe it is better for you to be happy than to be unhappy. As a woman, once you know you’re doing something that doesn’t make you happy, move on.

The point is that you cannot breed happy children when you are not happy because history has shown that unhappy parents will always breed unhappy children. So, for you to be able to give your children the best, you have to be happy and that’s simply what I’ve done!