Once upon a time, women didn’t know what was going on in their household finances. Money was made and supplied by the men, and women had no involvement. The men set the budgets and decided how it was spent. But that is no longer the case. It is now increasingly common for women to hold the financial responsibilities. In fact, often, they are CFO (Chief Financial Officer) of their household. Some women, like Nenadi Usman, take this one step further even.

Who Is Nenadi Esther Usman?

Esther Nenadi is the former finance minister of the southern Kaduna state in Nigeria. As the economic and financial minister, she represented Kaduna and the wider country in the financial matters of the country as a whole. Nenadi is a woman who showed the world that finances are very much gender neutral. As Senator Nenadi Esther, she sent ripples through her community, her country, and even the world.

Women As CFOs

Esther Usman is quite unique in terms of how much she has achieved, particularly as a woman from a country with traditional value. But Nenadi Esther was always meant for great things. This is seen, for instance, in her dogged determination to marry Mr. Usman, a Muslim man with whom she has been joined in matrimony for many years now. However, Esther Nenadi Usman does not believe she is unique. She believes she is doing what all women do around the world.

Women receive the mail at home, sort the mail and ensure bills are paid. In the USA, 60% of new vehicles and 53% of used vehicles are purchased by women. Furthermore, they may decisions on the family’s finances, such as where to shop for what, which coupons to use, how to get rid of debt, investments to make, and more.

Women are CFOs, in other words. Business people are catching up to this, and they are seeing just how good women are at balancing the books. They also see that women have their own ways of doing things, and this is precisely what makes them so successful. Some of the things that make women such great CFOs include:

1. That they gather information from community locations, asking others with experience for advice.
2. That they do not have a lot of confidence in their ability to budget yet, even if this is a perceived lack of ability, not a real one. There is a need, therefore, to rethink the language used in financial services.
3. That they love to network. They don’t simply pass someone on to another professional within a company, but try to figure things out for themselves for the benefit of their clients.
4. That they can spot truth around brands very quickly, and will think nothing of moving away from a certain company or brand if they perceive their message to be a lie.

Women are not taking over the world. Rather, they are showing that they have been ahead of the game for many years already.