Benny Ayerite: Manager, Enforcement, NSITF

The Everyday Leader podcast features inspiring individuals building and leading teams across Africa. Listen to episodes on your preferred podcast platform here.

About our Guest

This episode’s conversation is with Benny Ayerite from Nigeria. She is the Manager for Enforcement at the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, where she has worked for the past 9 years. She also hosts a podcast called Upshift with Benny where she tells the stories of change makers in the Delta region. 

Everyday Leadership in Action

Here are a few highlights from the conversation with Benny:

• Everyday management in a civil service institution requires a different level of accountability: Benny shared about how her role at NSITF compared with her previous time in the private sector. She describes how bureaucracy exists due to their resources coming from public funds rather than private investors. She also points to how they must ultimately approach citizens differently than customers as there is a greater expectation of responsibility. There still remains plenty of opportunities to step up a leader and innovate when needed. In our conversation, she shares one example of how her team had to go above and beyond to process a claim in service of an individual.

• There are many work responsibilities that don’t show up in job descriptions: Benny has found herself playing the role of an informal advisor and thought partner to the clients she looks after in her work. She also needs to have a good grasp of the current state of politics so that she remains aware of what to say and not say. This requires that she monitor local news, more than she would naturally. Overall, she has learned to think beyond her current job description and aspire to the level of influence she envisions for herself.

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The Everyday Leader is a podcast featuring conversations with leaders from across Africa’s companies, organizations, and governments about their experience managing teams and projects throughout their careers.

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