My WIBF Journey – Stephanie Ogunjimi

Steph is an Economic Crime Prevention specialist dedicated to protecting communities from criminal harm. Now leading the 1st Line Economic Crime Training team at Nationwide Building Society, she brings over 20 years of leadership experience from Lloyds Banking Group and is recognised as an industry thought leader. Her background spans Learning and Development, Strategy, Risk Frameworks, Policy, Oversight, Assurance and Audit.

A passionate advocate for gender equality, Stephanie sits on the WIBF Midlands Regional Board and volunteers as a mentor, empowering women to build confidence and realise their potential. Here, she talks about her WIBF journey.

When I think about my journey with Women in Banking & Finance, I always smile because it actually started much earlier than people might expect.

I first discovered WIBF in around 1998, really early in my career. I can remember quite clearly walking into my organisation and seeing information about WIBF through our gender network. I remember thinking, “That sounds quite interesting,” and then I did absolutely nothing.

Fast forward more than 20 years and everything changed because of one conversation. Jo Hanley, who now sits on the Midlands Regional Board, invited me to a Midlands development conference that was taking place on a Saturday. She said, “Do you want to come along? We’ve got some spaces.” I thought, “You know what, I’ll have a look.” That was my first real taste of WIBF, and I loved it so much that I became a member a couple of months later. From there, there was really no looking back.

My volunteering journey has happened quite organically. I joined WIBF as a member in 2021, became part of the Mentoring team in 2022 and then joined the Midlands Regional Board in January 2024. Looking back, it’s been a journey through different phases, with each opportunity naturally leading to the next.

Today I have two volunteer roles that are quite different but equally rewarding. As part of the Mentoring team, I help manage participants on the platform, creating mentor and mentee pairings, reviewing feedback and helping resolve issues when a pairing hasn’t quite worked. I also support mentoring events, contribute to workshops and presentations, work with corporate partners and help develop new initiatives, including our LinkedIn community for mentors, where they can collaborate, support one another and continue developing their own mentoring skills.

Alongside that, I’m a member of the Midlands Regional Board, where we organise events for professionals across the region. Whether that’s arranging panel discussions, speed mentoring sessions or simply bringing people together to build relationships and networks, I really enjoy creating opportunities for people to connect.

When people ask how I became a volunteer, the answer is actually very simple. Someone asked me. I was already involved in mentoring and gender initiatives within my own organisation, and somebody recognised that passion and invited me to support WIBF. It’s a good reminder that sometimes all it takes is someone seeing something in you and asking whether you’d like to get involved.
People often ask if there’s one project or initiative that I’m most proud of, but I genuinely find that difficult to answer because I think I’m proud of everything we manage to do. So much effort goes into every event behind the scenes, and ultimately everything we do is something that benefits other people.

One event that really stands out for me was an ESG thought leadership event we delivered alongside my employer. We had brilliant speakers, fantastic attendance and so many organic conversations came out of the event. Seeing people making new connections, sharing ideas and leaving with such positive feedback made me incredibly proud.

One of my favourite memories, though, has to be attending my first WIBF Awards in 2022. I’d only recently become involved as a volunteer, but it was the first time I’d met so many people in person after only seeing them on screen. It felt like the beginning of so many relationships that have continued to grow ever since. For me, that’s what makes WIBF so special. It’s the people.

Some of my closest friendships have come through volunteering, particularly within the original mentoring team. We were so passionate about getting things done that we even spent an entire Bank Holiday Monday together at one of the team’s houses, working on WIBF projects. When you stop and think about it, you don’t spend a Bank Holiday doing voluntary work unless you genuinely like the people you’re with. We’ve met socially, we still keep in touch, and those connections have remained incredibly important, even as our mentoring team has grown.

Balancing volunteering alongside a full-time career can sometimes be a challenge. If you asked my husband, he’d probably tell you I’m often doing my WIBF emails at 11 o’clock at night because that’s when I finally get chance to catch up with the inbox or spending a few hours over the weekend finishing things off. There are certainly busy periods, particularly when we’re working on new mentoring initiatives or reviewing how we can improve what we do, but because I’m passionate about it and because I can see the benefit, you make sure you can fit it in.

Volunteering has also helped me develop in ways I wasn’t expecting. One of the biggest things has been learning to take different perspectives into account. Throughout my career I’ve mostly worked in very large organisations, so getting to work with people from much smaller firms across financial services has given me a completely different perspective on the industry.

It’s also pushed me well outside my comfort zone. I absolutely hate public speaking, but through WIBF I’ve spoken on panels, presented at events and challenged myself to do things I would never previously have volunteered for. It’s still not something I ever feel completely comfortable doing, but it’s helped build my confidence enormously.

I think lots of women experience imposter syndrome, but what makes WIBF different is knowing that you’ve got such a supportive community behind you. No one wants to see anyone fail. Whether you’re speaking at an event, leading a project or taking on something completely new, everyone wants you to succeed. If you’ve got too much on, somebody else will step in and help because we genuinely care about one another as individuals as well as wanting what we’re doing to be a success.

That support became particularly important during one of the biggest transitions in my career. After working for the same organisation for 28 and a half years, I was made redundant. Although I had another opportunity internally, I knew it wasn’t the right move for me. Having the external network I’d built through WIBF was invaluable. I could reach out to people I trusted, ask for advice, speak to recruitment consultants and explore opportunities I might never otherwise have known about.

At the same time, I deliberately chose to have a WIBF mentor to help me through the transition into my new organisation. That experience reinforced just how powerful mentoring can be. I wouldn’t have had access to that support without the connections I’d built through WIBF, and it made a real difference at a time when I needed it most.

Perhaps the biggest thing volunteering has taught me is that you can probably do more than you think. We often have more skills than we realise, whether that’s active listening, organising events or coming up with creative ideas. The supportive network around you gives you the confidence to use those skills and to have more faith in your own abilities.

Looking ahead, I’m really excited by WIBF’s new strategy and where it can take the organisation. I’m particularly interested in how we can use technology and AI to enhance mentoring and improve the matching process, helping us create even better mentoring experiences. More broadly, I’m excited about bringing in new volunteers with fresh ideas, new voices and different perspectives. Organisations only continue to grow when they’re prepared to welcome new thinking.

If someone asked me whether they should get involved with WIBF, my advice would simply be: just do it. You won’t know what it’s like until you take that first step. Yes, it can be demanding at times, but the benefits far outweigh the effort you put in. For me, it’s never been about ticking a box. It’s been about making a genuine difference, building lifelong friendships, growing in confidence and being part of a community that wants every member to succeed.