NiPRO International - MIPAD

NiPRO International is a global network of motivated young Nigerian professionals work-ing together to build a prosperous, united and stronger Nigeria now and for the future. NiPRO is a subdivision of the African Professionals Network.

Our Vision (Worldwide)To build a new positive image and appreciation for young Nigerian professionals and Nigeria, her culture and her people!”

Our MissionFostering the growth of highly talented, socially responsible and dynamic young Nigerian profes-sionals to

Address issues that affect young Nigerians•Build meaningful contacts•Cultivate impeccable professionalism •Discover business etiquette & protocol•Exchange ideas & visions•Foster Travelers’ Philanthropy in Nigeria•

NiPRO has Five Pillars upon which we are building the Network:

Professional Development•Wealth Creation & Investment•Cultural & Political Awareness•Technology•Community Service i.e. Medical & Technol-•

ogy Missions via Travelers’ Philanthropy

Travelers’ Philanthropy: An initiative that encourages young Nigerian Professionals, from the Artist to the Zoologist, to spend a day or two volunteering at a local hospital, NGO, shelter, etc. while visiting Nigeria.

HistoryIn late 2002, we started organizing Business & Social Networking events for young Nigerian professionals in cities across the USA and London, UK. On January 2nd 2004, we organized our first Business & Social Networking event in Nigeria.

THE NiPRO PLEDGEI pledge to NiPRO my NetworkTo be professional, hardworking and honestTo serve Nigeria with all my skillsTo stand up for her good imageAnd uphold the ethics of my professionSo help me God...

ABOUT NiPRO:

NiPRO

Awarding the Achievements of Young Nigerian Professionals on the Move at the NiPRO 1st Global Convention.

L: Akudo A. Anyanwu (Excellence in Health Award),R: Obinna Nwobi, MD, NiPRO President USA.

NiPRO meets with President Olusegun Obasanjo

The Official Global Network of Young Nigeiran Professionalswww.niproevents.com

G L O B A L TO P 4 0 U N D E R 4 0 - PA G E 2

on behalf of the Nigerian Professionals Network (NiPRO) and the Global Top 40 Summit planning committee, I welcome you to our 2nd Top 40 Summit in Lagos, Nigeria. This is the second in a series of summits we have designed to help inspire our nation, one list of 40 achievers at a time.

NiPRO is a progressive network of young Nigerian Professionals. And, since 2002, we have been organizing conventions around the globe that inform, inspire, empower and celebrate Nigerian youth and young professionals.

In our efforts to achieve our mission to inspire Nigerian youth, specifically young female professionals, we organized the Global Top 40 Under 40 Nigerian Female Professionals Summit, themed “Inspiring a New Generation of Female Leadership in Nigeria.” This summit and elegant dinner reception will recognize and highlight the achievements of 40 diverse, young and talented Nigeria female professionals, worldwide.

Why? We are witnessing today the gradual change of perception by many governments, organizations and individuals around the world about the role of women in society. Nigeria, for instance, with the ushering in of democracy has gradually seen many women rise to higher positions in academics, politics and the corporate world. Many young Nigerian women are continuing to use their

special talents (feminine genius and energy) to transform the Nigerian society. Therefore, it becomes necessary to recognize and highlight the achievements of these women to inspire and cultivate a Nigeria that appreciates the NiPRO Woman.

The goal of this summit is

To create a platform for the Global Top 40 1. Under 40 Nigerian Female Professionals to meet, network, connect and mingle with themselves and invited special guests

To engage in dialogue about the 2. achievements and challenges faced as women in their leading roles.

To outline a collective and innovative plan 3. of action to inspire more female leadership in Nigeria

The summit and dinner reception will attract the who’s who in the Nigerian community, top level executives, high ranking government officials, Nigerian’s most eligible bachelors and much more.

The outcome of the summit will be a collective and innovative plan of action to help inspire more female leadership in Nigeria during the 21st century and beyond.

As we continue on this journey to inspire a nation by recognizing and highlighting the achievements of 40 diverse and talented Nigerians under and over 40, we ask for your continued support. I implore you to join us on this journey and take the NiPRO pledge; to be professional, hardworking and honest. To serve Nigeria with all your skills, To stand up for her good image, And uphold the ethics of your profession, So help us God…

Please Join the Network and the Team.

Sincerely Yours,

Kamiludeen Olufowobi,Co-Founder & Executive Director,NiPRO International

EXECUTIVE -DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

SUMMIT SCHEDULE SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2ND

• Order of Ceremony •

Nigeria National Anthem by Recording Artist Modele

Introduction of the Host & Hostess of the Recognition Ceremony by Tope Esan,

Head, Global Marketing of NiPRO

Welcome Address by Kamil Olufowobi, Executive Director, NiPRO International

SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER: “The need to inspire a new generation of Nigerian female leadership” by Oluseyi Afolabi,

GM, Projects Development, ExxonMobil

Special Guest Speaker: “Global Female Leadership” by Hannah Kamenetsky,

Commercial Officer, US Embassy

Group Discussions / Q & A: THE STATE OF FEMALE LEADERSHIP IN

NIGERIA

Dinner

Entertainment

PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATES 1by Ceclina Loader, Head, Corporate

Communications, UBA Plc

Entertainment

PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATES 2by Oluseyi Afolabi, GM, Projects

Development, ExxonMobil

Closing Speech By Prof. Pat Utomi, 2007 Presidential Candidate & Director, Lagos

Business School

ANNOUNCEMENT OF NEXT SUMMIT by Victor Goteb, GM, NiPRO

Nigeria.

Entertainment

Dance Dance Dance

PA G E 3 - G L O B A L TO P 4 0 U N D E R 4 0

O. A. (Sheyi) Afolabi

General Manager, Projects De-velopment

Mobil Producing Nigeria & Esso Exploration & Production, Nigeria Limited.

Sheyi is the General Manager for Projects Develop-ment for the ExxonMobil Upstream subsidiaries in Nigeria. These companies are Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU), Operator of the NNPC/MPN Joint Venture and Esso Exploration & Production Ni-geria Limited (EEPNL), Contractor of OML 133 PSC operations. Sheyi received a B.Sc. degree in Chemi-cal Engineering from the University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria in 1984. She began her career with Ashland Oil Company in Port-Harcourt in 1985 and joined MPNU in 1989. Since that time, she has held several various technical, supervisory and managerial assignments for Mobil (now ExxonMobil). She served in various capaci-ties in the Subsurface Engineering function as Reservoir Engineer, Reservoir Modeling Engineer and Supervisor within the NNPC/MPN JV Operations. She moved into Commercial function, first as Planning Advisor and later as General Manager, Plans, Programs and New Business Development in 2003. In this capacity, she coordinated Strategic business planning activities for the ExxonMobil upstream companies in Nigeria. Following the Planning assignment, she took on the role of General Manager, Commercial and Nigeria Content to develop this important area of ExxonMobil Upstream companies business focus.

As GM Commercial & Nigeria Content, Sheyi served as the Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS) Joint Venture Memorandum of Understanding lead negotiator and also an active member of the OPTS Nigeria Content Sub-committee. She was appointed as the Lead for the NNPC/PTDF Joint industry Capacity Develop-ment Initiative working with NNPC Nigeria Content Division to develop a strategy for sustainable in-country human capacity and capability.

Sheyi assumed her current position in July 2007. In that capacity, Sheyi leads the EM Upstream Projects Devel-opment group in Lagos in Opportunity development/Maturation and Project Execution Planning for EM Upstream subsidiaries in Nigeria.

In addition to her organizational responsibilities, Sheyi is also an active member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and the Nigeria Society of Chemical Engineers. She served as the first female president of the SPE Nigeria Section 061 in 1997/98.

Patrick Okedinachi Utomi: Political Economist, Management Lecturer, Entrepreneur

A fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants of Nigeria and a Senior Faculty of the Lagos Business School - Pan African University, he is Director of The Centre For Applied Economics at the Lagos Business School. He has served in Senior positions in govern-ment, as an Adviser to the President of Nigeria; the Pri-vate Sector, as Chief Operating Officer for Volkswagen of Nigeria, and in academia. He is the author of several Management and Public Policy books including the Award Winning Managing Uncertainty: Competition and Strategy in Emerging Economies. His academic background covers a range from Policy Economics, Business Administration, and Political Science to Mass Communication. As an entrepreneur he has founded or co-founded companies that are active in fields including financial services, ICT, and media.

GUEST SPEAKER BIO

GUEST SPEAKER BIO

Ada Osakwe, Investment Officer, African Development 1. Bank, TUNISIA

Adefunke Adeyemi, Head, Legal & Company Secretary, 2. Virgin Nigeria Airways

Amina Mohammed-Baloni, Project Officer, UNICEF 3. Nigeria

Ayodele Adenuga, CFO, Primrose Development 4. Company

Azuka Ogujiuba, Senior Correspondent, This Day5.

Bola Atta, Editor, True Love Magazine West Africa6.

Bolanle Austen-Peters, Managing Director, Terra Kulture7.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Author, Purple Hibiscus & 8. Half of a Yellow Sun

Chioma Sideso, Managing Director, ADIC Insurance9.

Chrystabel Davis, CEO/ Founder, Sierra Visions10.

Dr. Akudo Anyanwu-Ikemba, CEO, Friends of the Global 11. Fund Africa

Emilia Asim-Ita, PR/Marketing, Director, RedSTRAT 12. (Organizers of Future Awards)

Eunice Omole, Managing Partner, New Frontiers 13. Investment Management, CHINA

Fadekemi Akinfaderin, Executive Director, Education as a 14. Vaccine against AIDS

Fola Laoye, CEO, Hygeia Nigeria Limited15.

Folake Ayoola, Corporate Attorney, Simpson Thacher & 16. Bartlett LLP, USA

Folake Folarin Coker, Fashion Designer, Tiffany Amber17.

Funmi Ogbue, HR Director, British American Tobacco 18. Nigeria

Funmi Iyanda, CEO, New Dawn/Queen Producton19.

Hafsat Abiola Costello, Activist & Founder, Kudirat 20. Initiative for Democracy (KIND)

Joke Giwa, Africa Regional Head, MoneyGram21.

Kemi DaSilva-Ibru, Medical Doctor, Lagos State Teaching 22. Hospital

Kudi Igbene, Marketing Director, Virgin Atlantic23.

Lebari Ukpong, Director, Nigeria Office, London 24. Metropolitan University, UK

Lola Akinleye, Head Corporate Finance, Zenith Capital25.

Lola Ogunnaike, Entertainment Reporter, CNN, USA26.

Mary Akpobome, SVP, Bank PHB27.

Mina Ogbanga, Country Director, Center for 28. Development Support Initiatives (CEDSI)

Ndidi Nweneli, Founder/C.E.O, L.E.A.P. Africa29.

Nkiru Olumide-Ojo, Head, Corporate Affairs, Virgin 30. Nigeria Airways

Omokehinde Ojomuyide, Manager E-Business, GTBank 31. Plc

Omolara Thomas, MD, Pediatric AIDS Corps Physician - 32. Malawi, Baylor College

Osayi Alile-Oruene, Executive Director, FATE Foundation33.

Oyiza Adaba, Journalist, AIT, USA34.

Ronke Onadeko Osayande, Consultant, drnl consult 35. limited / BNP Paribas

Stella Damasus, Actress, Nollywood36.

Tara Fela-Durotoye, CEO, House of TaRa37.

Titilayo Akinsanmi, Manager, Mindset, Global Teenagers 38. Project, SOUTH AFRICA

TY Bello, Recording Artist, Greenland39.

Yewande Sadiku, Head of Investment Banking, IBTC40.

• TOP 40 F INALISTS •


BIOS of TOP 40FINALISTS- i n a l p h a b e t i c a l o r d e r -

Ada Osakwe (Ms.)

Investment Officer, African Development Bank, tunisia

Ada Osakwe is an investment Officer in the Infrastructure and Public, Private, Partnership (PPP) division of the Private

Sector and Micro-Finance department at the African Development Bank (Af DB). She is on the Young Profes-sionals Program (YPP), and was most recently one of the Af DB Group’s portfolio managers, administering over $4 billion of the Bank’s Treasury assets. Prior to this role, Ada was a capital markets analyst in the Treasury team, where she worked extensively on African local bond market developments, specifically in Ghana and Nigeria.

During this period, she represented the Bank at numer-ous conferences and seminars, promoting the Bank’s ef-forts in developing African debt capital markets. In May 2007, she co-authored the Af DB’s ‘African Fixed Income Guidebook’, the first publication that provides informa-tion on the bond markets of all 53 African countries.

Prior to joining the Af DB, Ada worked as a debt capital markets analyst at BNP Paribas Investment Bank, Lon-don, in the origination team.

Ada gained her undergraduate degree is in Econom-ics, from the University of Hull (First class honours) and postgraduate, Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree in Economics and Finance, from the Warwick Business School, both in the United Kingdom.

In pursuit of her passion for youth development, Ada founded SHAPE (Support-Harness-Aspire-Propagate-Evolve), a non-profit organization focused on adolescent girls that seeks to inspire and motivate them to become visionaries in the community, with an intervening focus on influencing positive developments on the African continent. She is also on the Board of The IMPACT Foundation, a non-profit initiative that empowers Nigerian youths to maximize their educational and professional experiences to be change drivers in the community.

adeFunke Adeyemi

Head of Legal and Company Secretary of Virgin Nigeria airways

Funke Adeyemi is the Head of Legal and Company Secretary of Virgin Nigeria. Prior to joining Virgin Nige-ria, Funke worked for the

law firm of F.O. Akinrele and Co, one of the leading law firms in Nigeria, as a Senior Associate until July 2005. She joined Virgin Nigeria in August 2005 as Legal Ser-vices Manager before her promotion to the position of Head of Legal and Company Secretary in January 2006.

One of the main attractions in her role is the variety the job provides. When not busy preparing board papers and organizing board meetings, she is either preparing and negotiating complex agreements or ensuring that the Company complies with its regulatory obligations in a highly regulated industry. Other aspects of her role include business support to drive and monitor the overall strategy of the Company, working with internal and external stakeholders in the business and ensuring the Company’s compliance with corporate governance principles.

Passionate about everything she does, she exhibits good leadership qualities by working equally well on her own as well as with others as a team player.

Funke obtained her Master of Laws in International Commercial Law from University of Cambridge in 2001 and read law at University of Lagos. She is a Barrister and Solicitor of the Nigerian Supreme Court.

Funke is a member of the Industry Affairs Committee of IATA, the global organisation for inter-airline co-operation. By her appointment, Funke joins the group of 20 members appointed by the Director General of IATA to advise the Board of Governors, the Director General and other relevant IATA bodies on the regula-tory aspects of commercial and industry affairs and aero political matters affecting international passenger air transport. She will also assist in identifying and develop-ing industry policies and positions, supervising policy implementation and promoting policy campaigns.

Funke is the current Secretary of the Oxford and Cambridge Alumni Association of Nigeria. She is also a Fellow of the Cambridge Commonwealth Society and

recipient of the Cambridge Commonwealth Scholarship Award.

In her spare time, Funke loves to dance Salsa, read, travel and keep active by participating in a variety of sports.

Dr. Akudo Anyanwu Ikemba

CEO, Friends of the Global Fund Africa

Dr. Akudo Anyanwu Ikemba is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Friends Africa (Friends of the Global Fund Africa).

For three (3) years, she served as Technical Advisor for Global Fund Projects in Nigeria, under Columbia University’s Access Project. In this role she provided technical assistance to countries to enable them access and manage the Global Fund to Fight AIDS TB Malaria (GFATM) and was successful in securing $480 Million in funding for Nigeria from the Global Fund. She has worked for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia and as an Associate Scientist with Life Technologies in Palo Alto, California. She has also worked as a lecturer at Tufts University School of Medicine and has done extensive molecular biology research at Tufts University and Katholique University, Belgium on DNA analysis of Cryptosporium parvum and the motilin protein respectively. She holds a Doctorate degree in medicine from Tufts University, a Masters degree in International Public Health from Harvard University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Molecular Biology from Lehigh University. She has also done post graduate studies at the University of London and the London Hospital for Tropical Diseases. Her interests are in infectious diseases, economic develop-ment and in public-private partnerships for health in developing countries. She is deeply affected by Africa’s astoundingly poor health indicators and the low quality of health systems and infrastructure. Her life goal is to play a pivotal leadership role in improving Africa’s health status and development as a whole.

Amina Mohammed-Baloni

Project Officer, UNICEF Nigeria


Ayodele Adenuga

CFO, Primrose Develop-ment Company (PDC), Lagos Nigeria

Ayodele (Ayo) Adenuga is a senior manager and chief financial officer of Primrose Development Com-pany (PDC), a residential

and commercial real estate development company, headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. PDC evolved from Primrose Properties Investment Limited.

Ayo, a dynamic entrepreneurial executive has ten years of broad based auditing and accounting experience with Governmental institutions and Fortune 500 companies. Ayo has gained extensive experience leading firm-wide projects, managing diverse employees, and consulting with clients as an accounting manager and audit supervi-sor with KPMG, and two publicly traded companies in the Real Estate Ownership and Operations Industry: Sunrise Senior Living and Crestline Capital. Ayo began her career as a staff auditor with Raffa & Associates, PC in Washington, DC

Prior to PDC, Ayo co-founded and operated, for two years, Avania Company, LLC a Real Estate Investment and Consulting Firm based in Washington, DC. Her Global client rooster included: KREG Companies, Legacy Realties Nigeria Limited, Strategic Energy Nigeria Limited, Merristar Corporation, and Black Entertainment Television (BET).

Ayo sits on the board of Leafy House, Inc. She is a member of the African American Real Estate Profes-sionals, the Nigerian Business Forum, Maryland Society of CPA’s and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Azuka Francisca Ifeoma Ogujiuba

Senior Correspon-dent, This Day

Azuka Francisca Ifeoma Ogujiuba holds a masters degree in Mass Communi-cation from the Univer-sity of Lagos. She joined

Leaders and Company limited, publishers of Thisday Newspaper in 1997 and has carved a niche on the Life & Style desk. Ogujiuba has distinguished herself as a leading Style writer in Nigeria. Her 10- year stint with Thisday Newspaper has been eventful and rewarding. She is a recipient of several awards, including the St. Moritz Style Writer Awards, which she eventually won in (2004) after emerging 2nd runner up and 3rd runner up to the title in a row. Aside this, she is widely traveled and has attended several international conferences, as well as high profile literary and style events, such as the Yari Yari Pamberi Woman Writers Conference at New York University, U.S.A, Cannes Film Festival in France, and Berlin Film Festival in Germany. During the journey of her growth as a young girl, she has always supported the course of the women folk. Some of these women has touched her life in different ways, her mother, is one of the most contented human being she has ever met in her life. Late May Ellen-Ezekiel, Betty Irabor, Bola Attah, Mother Theresa, Hillary Clinton and Ruth Osime, who

has helped me find my niche in the industry. For one who has traveled extensively and across cultures and who, in the line of duty, has interacted with many profes-sionals and dignitaries, which include past and present leaders, it is no wonder that she is a dept at handing high style profile interviews and A-list events. Azuka Ogu-jiuba is currently a senior correspondent with Thisday newspaper and is also a poet. She lives in Lagos.

Bola Atta

Editor, True Love Magazine West Africa

Bola Atta’s career in the entertainment industry has spanned a period of 10 years with a record of suc-cesses that have made silent impacts in the industry.

A graduate of economics, with an M.B.A majoring in finance, she started her career working in the banking in-dustry but soon came to realize that her creative talents were being wasted.

She left the banking industry and at a very young age, dared to start publishing her own women’s glossy, Flair magazine, in 1997. This was possibly the first magazine of that nature to have ever hit the Nigerian stands. Un-fortunately, due to infrastructural and financial hitches, the magazine only survived for 2 years but is still being frequently used as a reference today.

She joined the Mnet team in 1998 and began scouting for models for the Face of Africa competition all over the West African sub region. She managed the produc-tion for the regional finals of the competition in 1999. Whilst working with Mnet as Programme Manager for West Africa, she began producing for the investigative programme Carte Blanche, and it was after she did the production of Nollywood in 2001 that the idea came to her about a movie channel on Mnet designed on Nollywood. She developed and implemented the Africa Magic channel that was launched in 2003 and which has since become a phenomenal success.

Atta moved on to return to her love of magazines and became the editor of True love magazine in 2004. She has managed to lead the magazine to become the top women’s publication in Nigeria today. True Love magazine has opened up many facets of the media and entertainment industry like never before. trained writers to research and write stories according to international standards; discovered and made famous many top fash-ion designers today; The magazine has developed

the skills of many talented photographers and began insisting on crediting them for their work, a concept which has now been adapted throughout the industry; hair and make up artists, stylists have also benefited enormously from the training and exposure that True Love magazine insists on giving to all its suppliers.

Atta believes strongly in empowering women and this she has been able to successfully do through the pages of True Love magazine.

Bolanle

Austen-Peters

Managing Director, Terra Kulture

She attended International School Ibadan, the Uni-versity of Lagos where she studied Law and the Lon-

continued on page 7

don School of Economics where she obtained a Masters Degree in International Human Rights Law.

She practiced as a Lawyer with Afe Babalola & Co (1992-1994) after which she worked with the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland. She then worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Switzer-land and Ethiopia (1996-1998) responsible for assessing Country Reports and resettlement of refugees in other countries. She joined the United Nations Development Programme in Namibia and was part of a team respon-sible for formulating Namibia’s poverty alleviation plan and Human Rights projects. (1998-2000) Between 2000- 2003 she returned to Nigeria as a Consultant to the United Nations Development Programme, Lagos, responsible for monitoring and evaluating the programmes in Nigeria, worked with Ajumogobia and Okeke a law firm in Lagos and as a Company Secretary for an indigenous Petroleum trading Company before founding Terra Kulture in August, 2003.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Author, Purple Hibis-cus & Half of a Yellow Sun

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (born September 15, 1977) is an acclaimed Nigerian writer. She hails

from Abba town in Anambra State, South East Nigeria.

She was born in the town of Enugu but grew up in the university town of Nsukka in south-eastern Nigeria, where the University of Nigeria is situated. While she was growing up, her father was a professor of statistics at the University, and her mother was also employed there as the university registrar. At the age of 19, she left Nigeria and moved to the United States. After studying at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Chimamanda transferred to Eastern Connecticut State University to live closer to her sister; who had a medical practice in Coventry (now in Mansfield, Ct), and to continue studying communications and political science. She got her university degree from Eastern, where she graduated summa cum laude in 2001. She recently completed a master’s degree in creative writing at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. She is now pursuing an MA in African Studies at Yale University.

Her first novel, Purple Hibiscus, was published in 2003. Her second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun, named for the flag of the short-lived Biafran nation, is set before and during the Biafran War. It was published by Knopf/Anchor in 2006 and was awarded the 2007 Orange Prize for Fiction.

Chioma Sideso

Managing Director, ADIC Insurance

Chioma Sideso was born on the 3rd of September, 1972 in Lagos, Nigeria into the family of Professor & Mrs. J.O Irukwu, SAN.

Chioma Sideso is the Man-aging Director of ADIC Insurance; she is a Law graduate

BIOS CONTD.

PA G E 7 - G L O B A L TO P 4 0 U N D E R 4 0

from University of Kent at Canterbury, England. She also holds an MBA from the University of Leicester, England and conducted extensive Management Re-search at the University of Bath, England, the Chartered Institute of Marketing Diploma (England) and DIP Cll from the Chartered Institute of Insurance London.

She has over twelve years of experience and has worked in the financial service sector with several Insurance Companies such as Assicurazioni Generali, the Jardine Lloyd Thomson Group and other Multinationals includ-ing Barclays Bank PLC and Marks and Spencer PLC.

Chrystabel Davis

CEO/ Founder, Sierra Visions

As the president of Sierra Visions Inc. (www.sierravi-sions.org ), Ms. Chrystabel Davis is actively involved in reversing the effects of civil war, conflict diamonds,

poverty, and brain drain. Her organization provides innovative educational resources, professional training, career development guidance and/or job placements for at-risk women, youth, and adults in both rural and urban areas in West Africa. She empowers her community to change their lives through education, leadership, vision, and action. In order to achieve and sustain economic development and social reform in Sierra Leone, and ul-timately West Africa, Ms. Davis developed and currently executes a Five-TTM model strategy which focuses on strengthening five core initiatives and industries - educaTion, Technology, youTh, healTh, and shelTer. She has spearheaded several educational, telecom-munications, and capacity building initiatives such as the formation of the Sierra Leone Chapter of Internet Society (www.isocsl.org) of which she is the Interim Chair, the TR’SURE (Train-Sustain-Retain) Training program which Reverses the Brain Drain in Nigeria and Sierra Leone, the Africa Leadership Academy Sierra Leone Chapter. Most recently was appointed by His Excellency the President Ernest Bai Koroma as one of the Board of Directors of the Office of Diaspora Affairs (www.anewsierraleone.org) within the Office of the President, a historical first in the West African Region. Ms. Davis has several years of public and private sector experience, mostly spent as a Managing Consultant and Senior IT Specialist at leading edge firms including IBM Corporation, Pricewaterhousecoopers, and United Bank for Africa, etc. She has expertise in project management, information technology and strategy, and international development. Her areas of expertise include develop-ment of interactive data-driven web and database applications, training, and systems design and develop-ment. She earned a Master of Science in Information and Telecommunications Systems from Johns Hopkins University, and a Bachelor of Science, cum laude in Computer and Information Science from University of Maryland, United States of America.

BIOS CONTD.EMILIA E. ASIM – ITA

PR/Marketing, Director, RedSTRAT (Organizers of Future Awards)

Ms. Asim – Ita Emilia is an undergraduate of Mass Communications from the University of Lagos. She

attended Treasureland Nursery and Primary school in Surulere and Methodist Girls’ High School, Yaba where she finished both times as the Senior Prefect.

She is currently also the PR/Marketing Director for RedSTRAT, a Strategic Media and Change Communica-tions Organization and organizers of “The Future…” Awards; and is a writer/columnist. She is also presents Patito’s Guys [the youth version of Patito’s Gang – a syndicated talk show on TV stations around Nigeria], Rubbing Minds Live on Channels TV and Young and Nigerian.

In 2003, fresh from high school, Emilia started Youth-talk in response to her deep passion for an authentic voice for young people as a tool for empowerment, adolescent reproductive health and sexuality education. She soon became the youngest regular TV presenter in the country at that time, powering interesting campaigns for young people and interviewing those who make decisions that affect Nigerian Youths.

With an aim to provide authentic information on all youth-related issues in Nigeria and also provide young Nigerians with a platform to speak FREELY about issues that confront them everyday, Youthtalk is transmitted to about at least 2 million young people who tune into the show every week as well as adults alike becoming a reference point on youth issues in Nigeria. The initiative has actively engaged five major volunteers who feature as panelists – on analysis shows as well as also stand in when the presenter’s not available.

Also, she has worked as a facilitator and panelist panels on youth-related issues and speaks to many young people on different platforms. She has served as facilitator, APTECH/Cisco Women Empowerment IT Seminar series, also in the Skills Workshop of the Youth Leadership Initiative, LEAP Africa and a Project De-fense Panelist for UNITeS Nigeria inspiring lots of other young people into starting projects in advocacy and the media. In 2006, she was chosen as the West African Representative to the Helen Kim Memorial Scholar-ship [HKMS] Programme of the World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Women [WFMUCW] in Jeju and Seoul, South Korea for three weeks.

Emilia started her TV career with the ‘Read a book’ segment on Mind Your Grammar (NTA), and now she now presents, ‘Youth Talk’ on NTA 2 Channel 5, Lagos as well as sounds.com on EKO FM. In 2005, Emilia worked with Common Ground Productions as Associate Producer and Writer for The Academy – a Docu-Reality TV series in August and September 2005, which presently shows on the NTA Network. But before all this, she served with Rescue and Holdback Ministries as a Volunteer Counselor in 2004 and also had a stint with South Globe Nigeria Limited as the Secretary to the Executive Director in 2003.

She has written for The Guardian, HOT, Takaii, Dove Media Billboards, What’s New Magazine and Bubbles amongst others and was the Editor of SLEEK Magazine in 2006. Coupled with these, she is a producer-at-large of Patito’s Guys, Events Consultant to African Profiles Magazine and is presently working on two books that she intends to publish together. Emilia holds several

leadership positions in diverse young people’s and adult groups for her outstanding qualities and talent.

In 2007, she clinched the highly coveted LEAP Africa youth leadership awards and was earlier chosen amongst the 101 young African leaders to attend the African business leaders forum in Ghana.

Eunice Omole

Managing Part-ner, New Fron-tiers Investment Management, CHINA

Eunice I. Omole is Managing Partner of New Frontiers Invest-ment Management, a California-based

real estate firm dedicated to providing full service, cross-border real estate investment and consulting services to both US investors and Chinese developers. Ms. Omole is primarily responsible for leading and coordinating investor relations and fundraising activities. Currently she is raising funds for the firm’s opportunity fund, New Frontier China Residential, focused on residential developments in China.

Prior to joining New Frontiers, Ms. Omole was involved in a variety of real estate transactions, valued at over $100 billion and encompassing all property types throughout the United States, China, England and Nigeria. She began her career in real estate as a licensed New Jersey realtor with Weichert Realtors, a national real estate and brokerage firm. Most notably, Ms. Omole worked in Shanghai, China for CB Richard Ellis, a global leader in real estate services to provide market research, trade and tenant mix planning, and leasing strategy for multi-national clients.

Ms. Omole does not measure success by wealth, career status or power. With the passing of each milestone, she reevaluates whether she is doing all she can to help other people. She feels most successful when she has meaning-fully impacted others, and takes comfort in knowing that her impact will last. Her charity work at the East Harlem Tutorial Program in New York City illustrates how much she enjoys spending time with children, tutoring them in math and science, and offering them advice. Passion-ate about and committed to change, Eunice lobbied for the development of a charity committee at her company, and serves as a lifetime member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., a public service organization.

Her willingness to confront prickly challenges means that she challenges her comfort level in an effort to grow both professionally and personally.

Ms. Omole received a Bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Virginia and a Master’s degree in real estate from Cornell University. Concentrating in finance, she is currently an M.B.A. candidate at Cornell University’s Johnson School of Management. Ms. Omole has received several academic and leadership awards, including a 2005-2007 Tuition Fellowship Award for Cornell University’s Real Estate program, the 2003 National Leadership Award and 2003 Business Woman of the Year award for her leadership skills and commitment to conservative business principals, and an appointment as an honorary chairman on the Busi-ness Advisory Council. Most recently she was second runner-up in the 2007 Miss Nigeria in America (MNIA- a non-profit organization that was founded as a result of the need to promote education and to seek global advancement of Nigerian Women) Beauty Pageant, and was awarded the best platform essay.

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Fadekemi Akinfaderin

Executive Director, Education as a Vaccine against AIDS

Fadekemi Akinfaderin re-ceived a B.A. from Wesley-an University, Connecticut, as a double-major in Chem-istry and Molecular Biol-

ogy/Biochemistry. She holds a Masters in Public Health from the Population and Family Health Department at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia Univer-sity, New York. Fadekemi is a co-founder and Executive Director of Education as a Vaccine against AIDS (EVA). EVA is one of Nigeria’s leading a non-profit organiza-tion based in Abuja, established to provide systems and structures for young people to make responsible deci-sions about their development through the provisions of HIV/AIDS and reproductive health information/education, services and advocacy initiatives. Under her directorship, EVA has increased its geographic spread to include three states in the northern Nigeria, in addition to a significant increase in the organization donor based as well as funding portfolio. Aside from her capacity in EVA, Fadekemi has served in an advisory role and has contributed to the development of HIV/AIDS and ado-lescent reproductive/sexual health policies in Nigeria. She has been engaged as a consultant for several inter-national/local agencies including Voluntary Services Overseas, Sight Saver’s International and Action AID International, Nigeria and has worked as a Research Assistant to the United Nations Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa. Fadekemi has also worked extensively on the scientific aspects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in international settings, which includes her bio-medical HIV/AIDS research study at the University of Transkei, Umtata, South Africa. She has received several awards including the Echoing Green Foundation fellowship; National Institute of Health (NIH) research fellowship, Wadzell Institute Architect of the Future and Compton Foundation Population fellowship.

Fola Laoye

CEO, Hygeia Nigeria Limited

Mrs. Fola Laoye was born 27th May, 1970. She holds a Bachelors Degree in Accounting from the University of Lagos, Nigeria and a

Masters of Business Administration from Harvard Busi-ness School, Cambridge, USA. She is also an Associate Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria. Fola has had fifteen years of business experience, both locally and internationally, having trained with Ernst and Young, Lagos and Price Water House Coopers in London. She is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Hygeia Nigeria Limited, promoters of Hygeia HMO, the foremost health mainte-nance organization in Nigeria and the Lagoon Hospitals group. While with Hygeia, she has been responsible for the start up and growth of the Hygeia HMO business and the Hygeia Community Health Plan as well as the roll-out of two ultra-modern medical facilities in Lagos. She also lectures part-time at the Lagos Business School (Pan-African University) in the area of Strategy and Business Policy.

Folake Ayoola

Corporate Attorney, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, USA

Folake Kikelomo Ayoola, Esq. (“Ms Ayoola”), who is 30 years old, is already an accomplished corporate attorney with Simpson

Thacher & Bartlett LLP, a global and elite law firm headquartered in New York City (“Simpson Thacher”). Simpson Thacher is, amongst other distinctions, the pre-miere private equity law firm in the world with clients such as The Blackstone Group (“Black Stone”) and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. (“KKR”). Prior to joining Simpson Thacher, Ms Ayoola was with the pre-miere Texas-based law firm of Baker Botts L.L.P. (“Baker Botts”). Baker Botts is the premiere oil and gas law firm in the world with clients such as Halliburton, Center-point and ConocoPhillips. Ms Ayoola’s practice focuses on securities offerings, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate and securities matters. She handles a wide variety of transactions, and advises clients on securities compliance issues, including Exchange Act reporting.

Ms. Ayoola frequently serves as counsel for both under-writers and issuers in public and private offerings of debt and equity securities. The clients she represents include large investment banking firms, private equity firms, as well as companies and master limited partnerships in the energy industry. Since her admission to the New York bar in 2001, Ms Ayoola has represented prominent companies and firms such as Blackstone, KKR, Dollar General Corporation, Citigroup Capital Markets Inc., Lehman Brothers Inc., Spectra Energy Corp, Raymond James, MV Partners, LLC, Northernstar Natural Gas Inc., Morgan Stanley and Co. Incorporated, JP Morgan Securities Inc., ConocoPhillips, Bristow Group, Inc., NCI Buildings System Inc., Mariner Energy, Inc., Pumpco Services Inc. to mention but a few.

Ms Ayoola attended Columbia University School of Law (“Columbia”) where she obtained her J.D. and LL.M in 2004 and 2002, respectively. At Columbia she was, amongst other distinctions, a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and a Parker School Certificate for Achieve-ment in International & Comparative Law Awardee. She graduated from the University College London, Uni-versity of London in 2000 with an upper class honors (magna cum laude) LL.B degree. In connection with her profession, Ms Ayoola is a member of the American Bar Association, New York State Bar Association, Houston Bar Association, Houston Young Lawyers Association and Nigerian Lawyers Association. In addition to the New York bar admission, she has been admitted to the Texas State Bar since 2004.

Ms Ayoola serves the community through her involve-ment with various organizations: she is the President of African Professional Organization in Houston, a mentor for the Dress for Success Houston Woman to Woman Mentoring Program, a former Director of The Endeavor for Hope Foundation, a U.S. based charitable organiza-tion, and is the Secretary of the Nigerian Lawyers Association based in New York. She enjoys international economics and politics, traveling, chess, fundraising for charities, teaching children’s church, swimming and movies.

Folake Folarin-Coker

Fashion Designer, Tiffany Amber

Folake Folarin-Coker’s return to Nigeria in 1997 after years of study in Europe heralded the coming of a new definition of style and elegance. Within the short span of nine years, her label Tiffany Amber has become one of the most popular fashion labels in Nigeria, winning several awards and participated in over 40 fashion shows within and outside the country.

A graduate of law with a masters degree in petroleum law, she turned her passion and flair for fashion into a label that is identified with quality and a timeless elegance. Undoubtedly, her cosmopolitan background and exposure to people from diverse cultures has greatly influenced her sense of style and her ability to design for women of different tastes, shapes and style. This versatility has endeared the label to major players in the Nigerian economy, who have at one point or the other showcased Tiffany Amber designs during different func-tions for example, a runway show for British Airways celebrating their 70th anniversary, nokia face of Africa, Genevieve Pink Ball, MTN Style, Econet, Thisday Style, True Love and more.

With four stores, three located in Lagos and one in Abuja, Folake Folarin-Coker has brought to Nigeria a worldwide first class shopping experience that is available in any one of her beautifully decorated and well attended stores. Her clothing is a practical example of what Yves St Laurent meant when he said “Fashion comes and goes but style is forever. It bestows upon the wearer and elegance and grace that is timeless and survives the different trends that come and go over the year.”

The label is not limited to the clothing but extends to jewelry, leather goods and accessories...... With a philosophy of simplicity, comfort and-elegance, Tiffany Amber has proven time and again that style is not some-thing that foreign designers have a monopoly of and that it is possible to meet world class standards here in Nigeria. Recently Folake Folarin-Coker launched a new label FOLAKEFOLARIN.

Funmi Ogbue

HR Director, British American Tobacco Nigeria

Funmi Iyanda

CEO, New Dawn/Queen Producton

Funmi Iyanda is a multi award winning broadcaster, journalist, columnist and blogger. She produces and hosts Nigeria’s most popular and authoritative talk show

NEW DAWN with Funmi aired on the national net-work. With over a decade long media experience Funmi is a strong voice and advocate for women and children.

continued on page 13

Ada Osakwe, TUNISIA

Oyiza Adaba, USA

Lebari Ukpong, UK

Folake Ayoola, USA

Lola Ogunnaike, USA

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, USA

GLOBAL TOP 40FINALISTS:

PA G E 1 1 - G L O B A L TO P 4 0 U N D E R 4 0

Titilayo Akinsanmi, SOUTH AFRICA

Omolara Thomas, MALAWI

Eunice Omole, CHINA

Dr. Akudo Anyanwu-Ikemba, NIGERIA

Osayi Alile-Oruene, NIGERIA

Ronke Onadeko Osayande, NIGERIA

Stella Damasus, NIGERIA

Yewande Sadiku, NIGERIA

TY Bello, NIGERIA

Emilia Asim-Ita, NIGERIA

Lola Akinleye, NIGERIA

Mary Akpobome, NIGERIA

Mina Ogbanga, NIGERIA

Ndidi Nwuneli, NIGERIA

Nkiru Olumide-Ojo, NIGERIA

Omokehinde Ojomuyide, NIGERIA

Fadekemi Akinfaderin, NIGERIA

Funmi Iyanda, NIGERIA

Hafsat Abiola Costello, CHINA-AFRICA FORUM

Fola Laoye, NIGERIA

Adefunke Adeyemi, NIGERIA

Ayodele Adenuga, NIGERIA

Azuka Ogujiuba, NIGERIA

Bolanle Austen-Peters, NIGERIA

Chioma Sideso, NIGERIA

Chrystabel Davis, NIGERIA

Bola Atta, NIGERIA

Amina Mohammed-Balon, NIGERIA

Joke Giwa, NIGERIA

Tara Fela-Durotoye, NIGERIA

Folake Folarin Coker, NIGERIA

Funmi Ogbue, NIGERIA

Kemi DaSilva-Ibru, NIGERIA

Kudi Igbene, NIGERIA

G L O B A L TO P 4 0 U N D E R 4 0 - PA G E 1 2


An innovator in her sphere Funmi has won tremendous recognition for her work in the media, enterprise, advo-cacy as well as for her humanitarian and philanthropic interventions. Her show is Nigeria’s conscience and a pointer to Nigeria’s possible future.

She had her primary and secondary school education in Lagos. She has a degree in Geography from the Univer-sity of Ibadan

She started her career from 1994 as a Marketing and Protocol officer: Nigerian Football Association and later as a Freelance reporter/producer: Worldwide Sports Limited. Funmi was also Concept and content manager: Worldwide Travel and Tours Limited from 1997-1999 and in the course of this was Producer: Good Morning Nigeria. Some of her positions showing her career growth include: Reporter; Road To Glory (documen-tary on the 1996 nation’s cup); Reporter/researcher /diarist All African Games Harare ’95; freelance Journal-ist/columnist: Independent Communications Nigeria Limited; presenter Producer MITV LIVE; presenter/Producer NEW DAWN on 10; reporter/columnist 1998 FIFA WORLD CUP; planning and Logistics Officer Lagos State Inauguration group 1999; Admin Officer/columnist Lagos Team 2000 Olympic games Sydney Australia; Reporter/Columnist 2004 Olympic Games Athens.

Funmi has been presenter and producer NEW DAWN with Funmi since 2003 till date and serves as a director, Queens productions and Ventures and Managing Diretor: Funmi Iyanda Productions from 2004- till date. Funmi has worked in the media industry for the past 12 years and has produced, directed and presented a number of shows which include.

She is the initiator and executor the “Change-A-Life” programme and foundation that has since its inception provided educational scholarships to over 250 young children and youth, interventions in healthcare to needy members of society at no cost to beneficiaries and youth mentoring programs as well as documentaries.

She has enjoyed some fellowships such as Vital Voices Global Leadership Initiative; Forum for Communica-tion and Society 2006 (Aspen Institute, Colorado, USA); African Leadership Initiative of the Aspen In-stitute, Colorado, USA. She was the Youngest and only female member of the 1999 inauguration committee for the incoming Lagos State Government. Funmi is work-ing with the Lagos State Government to institutionalize the Change-A-Life scholarship; She is also working with the Lagos State House to put stiffer penalties for child offenders and she is the back bone of the Chain of Hope rape crisis center which is being put up in conjunction with the Lagos State Government and other NGOs.

Funmi has received several awards such as :The Nigerian Media Merit Award; Global Inventors and Innovation award; Women Writers of Nigeria (WRITA) Women Glass Ceiling Crasher; Nigerian Female Inventor and Innovator of the year Awards 2003 and Advocate of Nigerian Children, amongst others.

BIOS CONTD.She serves as a board member on the Action Aid Inter-national Nigeria and Positive Impact Youth Network.

Ms. Iyanda, 36, is single and mother to 6 year old Morenike.

Hafsat Abiola-Costello

Activist & Founder, Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND)

Hafsat Abiola is a human and civil rights cam-paigner. She is founder of the Kudirat Initiative for

Democracy (KIND), which seeks to strengthen civil society and promote democracy in Nigeria. She is the daughter of the late Chief Moshood Abiola, President Elect of Nigeria who died in prison in 1995. Honours received by Ms. Abiola include the Youth Peace and Justice Award from the Cambridge Peace Commission in 1997, the State of the World Forum Changemaker Award in 1998, the Association for Women in Develop-ment’s “Woman to Watch for” Award in 1999, the World Economic Forum’s Global Leader of Tomorrow Award in 2000, and the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Global Award in 2001.

Joke Giwa

Africa Regional Head, MoneyGram

Kemi DaSilva-Ibru

Medical Doctor, Lagos State Teaching Hospital

Kudi Igbene

Marketing Director, Virgin Atlantic

LEBARI EDO-UKPONG

Director, Nigeria Office, London Metropolitan University, UK

Mrs Lebari Edo-Ukpong was born in Port Harcourt in 1968. She attended Federal Government Girls

College, Calabar. Lebari is a graduate of Law from University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1991. She also has a Professional Diploma in Management from Open University UK, Advance Certificate in International Trade and Advance Certificate in Trade Development & Promotion and is a member of the Institute of Export, UK.

Lebari practised commercial law for three (3 )years then joined the British Deputy High Commission, Lagos in 1996 where she worked for ten (10) years as a Trade Development Manager, developing Britain’s economic interest in Nigeria. At the High Commission

she was at various times responsible for the oil and gas, telecommunication, education, food and drink sectors. Her responsibility entailed advising British and Nigerian business men on opportunities in the two countries and assisting UK companies develop their business in Ni-geria. Lebari made several presentations and held clinic sessions at various seminars and exhibitions in Nigeria, UK, Egypt, Cannes, UAE not only to businessmen but UK and Nigerian government officials.

Lebari Edo-Ukpong is currently the country Director of London Metropolitan University Nigeria Office, is a member of the Board of Trustees of Crossfields Private Primary School Lagos and on the Board of Directors of two companies. Lebari is married to Mr Edo Ukpong and has three children.

Lola Akinleye

Head, Corporate Fi-nance & Advisory

Zenith Capital

Lola heads the Corporate Finance and Advisory team at Zenith Capital, the investment banking subsid-iary of Zenith Bank Plc –

Nigeria’s largest company by market capitalization. Lola has been involved in numerous landmark transactions and she has a passion for infrastructure finance given the enormous productivity and development impact on economies as a whole. Through creative financial advice, Lola has helped to structure and raise financing for clients in a variety of sectors - she has advised the concessionaire on the first public-private-partnership (“PPP”) on toll roads in Nigeria and is currently leading the Zenith Capital advisory team on the first privately built airport in Nigeria, as well as advising on the ac-quisition and turnaround of one of the country’s largest power generation plants.

She began her career at General Electric in London, subsequently working at GE Capital, before moving to JP Morgan. She returned to Nigeria in 2002 with Asset & Resource Management Company, a specialist cor-porate finance and advisory firm before joining Zenith Capital in 2007. Lola holds a BA in Economics and an MA in Information Technology from the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom.

Lola Ogunnaike

Entertainment Reporter, CNN, USA

Lola Ogunnaike is the entertainment correspon-dent for CNN’s flagship morning news program, American Morning. Based in New York, Ogunnaike

joined CNN in May 2007 and reports on pop culture and entertainment news as part of American Morning’s daily news coverage.

Ogunnaike has been covering entertainment news since 1999. Prior to joining CNN, Ogunnaike was the top cul-ture reporter for The New York Times and spearheaded its entertainment coverage, writing profiles of celebrities like Jennifer Lopez, Oprah Winfrey and Sting for the paper’s “Arts and Leisure” section.

Before that, she was a features reporter at the New York Daily News, where she covered breaking news on celebrities and entertainment for “NOW,” the paper’s entertainment section, and for the Rush and Molloy




column. Previously, Ogunnaike was a contributing writer for Vibe magazine, where she was responsible for monthly music features and cover stories. She has also had her work published in Rolling Stone, New York, Glamour, Details, Nylon, the New York Observer and V Magazine.

On air, Ogunnaike has also made regular guest appear-ances on NBC’s Today Show, MTV and VH1. In May 2007, she was named one of Ebony magazine’s “150 Most Influential Blacks in America.”

Ogunnaike received her master’s in fine arts degree in journalism from New York University and a bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of Virginia.

MARY ATUNYOTA-AKPOBOME

SVP, Bank PHB

A product of the Orches-trating Winning Perfor-mance (OWP) programme of the prestigious IMD, Laussane, Switzerland, Mrs. Mary Atunyota-Akpobome started her seventeen-year banking career in Citizens

International Bank where she spent eight years carving a niche in Customer Services, Customer Care, and Relationship Management.

A graduate of Theatre Arts (B.SC.) from the University of Benin, Mrs. Mary Atunyota-Akpobome joined the former Platinum Bank Limited in 2000 as a Relationship Manager in the Personal Banking Group. Due to her superlative business results, Mrs. Atunyota-Akpobome was appointed the first Branch Business Manager of Platinum Bank’s Victoria Island 2 Branch where she won the MD/CEO’s award for Most Outstanding Bank. In 2003, she was promoted to the position of Assistant Vice President and appointed the Regional Director of Lagos Island Region.

Presently, Mary Atunyota-Akpobome is a Senior Vice President responsible for the Commercial Banking Busi-ness in the Lagos Island Business Area. A superlative and creative business developer and relationship manager, Mary inspires all her reports to their highest potential. She holds a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Lagos.

In addition to being a sports enthusiast, – Mary plays tennis and basketball for leisure – Mary is deeply pas-sionate about bettering the lives of the needy. This is a passion that has driven her to start a charity together with some of her colleagues in Bank PHB. The reg-istered charity, Ladies for the Needy, has for the past three years brought comfort to the lives of orphans and disadvantaged children in Lagos specifically the Arrow of God Orphanage and Heart of Gold Hospice. Mary Atunyota-Akpobome is the President of the Ladies for the Needy.

Mary is married with children to ace-comedian and compere, Atunyota Akpobome, a.k.a. Alibaba.

Mina Margaret Ogbanga

Country Director, Center for Develop-ment Support Initia-tives (CEDSI)

Mina Margaret Ogbanga, 33 an intense Develop-ment Activist, is the

Founder/CEO of the Center for Development Support Initiatives(CEDSI Nigeria) a leading multi award win-ning Development institution geared towards promot-ing good governance and sustainable development in rural communities. She started her career in 1987as a Project officer/Volunteer Youth for Change, PATEG Foundation and then the Project manager for the USAID funded OVC project by Africare amongst ohers.

Mina, a Post Graduate Alumni of the Cambridge Uni-versity, United Kingdom and a licensed member of the London Open College Network is the current Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM)/Globacom ‘Young Manager of the Year’ and the first woman in 31 years to be accorded such an Honor!.

Her foundation as a Graduate of the College of Medi-cal Sciences prepared her for her current huge task of enhancing lives in rural communities. Currently an Msc/ and proposed PHD scholar of Community Development studies, she has intensely pioneered rural transformation in hundreds of communities and has stayed committed to her focus of ‘building partnership and empowering communities to be active develop-ment partners so as to own and sustain infrastructural and related development. Her efforts have accorded her numerous local, National and International awards.

Mina remains a role model for men, women and youths alike in the challenging terrain of the Niger delta region and beyond who see her activities as giving hope for the future in strategic innovative ways. She is a member of numerous professional bodies, Boards, for example, a member of the Board of Trustee of the Rivers Commu-nity Development Foundation appointed by the World Bank Washington Dc amongst others committed to bridging the development divide through also providing access to basic amenities.

Her vast over 10 years experience and expertise in Partnership building, mediation and rural development has enriched her role as an independent Consultant to numerous bilateral agencies, for example, the British Council, European Union, multilateral and corporate bodies, CSOs, Government and numerous others whose projects and programs have been enriched by her inputs. A Chartered mediator and conciliator, Mina believes that ‘Peace is not possible anywhere if it is not built everywhere’.

An Author and perpetual optimist, Mina believes the world can better when the youths are opportune to grow and a value in an enabling environment. A multiple award winner and author,Mina believes that meeting the basic needs of the vulnerable would promote peace and ensure a violence free society as well as ensure projects and programs are sustainable and owned by target. Fighting the just cause to achieving the Millenium Development Goal in rural communities has remained her focus.

She is married with 5 Children.

Ndidi Nwuneli

Founder/CEO, L.E.A.P. Africa.

Ndidi is the Founder/C.E.O of LEAP Africa, a non profit organization, which is committed to inspiring, empowering and equipping a new cadre

of African leaders. LEAP provides leadership training programmes and coaching services for business owners, social entrepreneurs, the youth and the public sector. It is committed to equipping these critical stakeholders with the skills, tools and support that they require to serve as change agents. LEAP also provides small grants to enable our youth participants commence change projects in their communities and holds the Annual Ni-gerian Youth Leadership Awards. In addition to its core Youth and Business Leadership Programmes offered in eight Nigerian cities, LEAP is engaged in the Africa Leadership Initiative’s West Africa Programme, and the Africa Leadership Institute’s Nigeria 2025 Initiative. LEAP has also pioneered training programmes on ethics and succession planning in Nigeria. LEAP’s first book titled: “Defying the Odds - Case Studies of Nigerian Organizations that have Survived Generations” was published in April 2006. Its second book titled: “Get on Board: a Practical Guide for Establishing and Sustaining High-Impact Boards of Directors in Nigeria” will be released in May 2007.

Ndidi is also the founder of NIA (Ndu - Life, Ike- Strength, Akunuba - Wealth), a nonprofit organization committed to empowering female university students in Southeastern Nigeria to achieve their highest potential in life. Prior to establishing LEAP and NIA, she was the pioneer Executive Director of FATE Foundation Nige-ria, a nonprofit organization which promotes entrepre-neurship and business development. She also worked as a Management Consultant with the Bridgespan Group and with McKinsey & Company. During her time with McKinsey, she served the nonprofit sector and fortune 500 companies in the packaged goods, retail, pharma-ceutical and insurance industries in Chicago, New York and South Africa. Ndidi has also worked as a Consultant with the World Bank, IFC, DFID, Ford Foundation’s West Africa Office and the Center for Middle East Competitive Strategy in Palestine and Israel. In addition, she has served on Presidential Commissions in Nigeria, and as an adviser to the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Youth Development.

Ndidi holds a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School. During her time at HBS, she initiated the Annual Africa Business Conference. Ndidi received her undergraduate degree with honors in Multinational and Strategic Management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Ndidi serves as a Director for a range of nonprofit orga-nizations in the United States and in Africa, including the Chike Okoli Foundation, the Aart of Life Founda-tion and Tax Assistance. In addition, she is the facilitator for the Nigerian Economic Summit Group’s Policy Commission on Governance and Institutions.

Ndidi has received numerous honors and awards. She was recognized as a Global Leader of Tomorrow and Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. She received a National Honor, Member of the Federal Republic, from the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2004 and was


Nkiru enjoys writing, talking, traveling and attending comedy festivals.

Nkiru Olumide-Ojo is a member of the Nigerian Insti-tute of Public Relations [NIPR] and Member of the UK Chattered Institute of Marketing United Kingdom. She holds a Post Graduate diploma in management, and a Bachelor of Science in Biological sciences. She is happily married to Olumide and blessed with two children.

Omokehinde Ayobami Ojomuyide

Manager E-Business, GTBank Plc

Born 31 years ago on Christmas day, OmoK; as she is known by close friends, started her career as a Corporate Affairs

Officer at Premier specialist Hospital before joining the Econet Wireless Nigeria, in July 2001 as a Call Centre representative. She rose to become an Acting Call Cen-tre Manager before joining Guaranty Trust Bank plc as Deputy Manager (Contact Centre) in May 2006.

Presently, she is the Product Development and Card Services Manager of the bank’s e-business group with responsibility for managing the marketing aspect of all Debit and Credit cards in GTBank’s portfolio and also the conceptualization and development of new card products

Prior to this role, her specialization had been in the Cus-tomer Service field, particular emphasis being on the Call/Contact Centre industry. As one of the first Call center practitioners in Nigeria, She had the privilege of working in the Econet/Vmobile Call centre and co-managing the Guaranty Trust Bank’s Contact Centre( GTConnect).

OmoK holds a B.Sc degree in Psychology from the University of Ibadan, and an M.B.A. form Lagos Busi-ness School. Her guiding principle is “Never give up! For with God nothing shall be impossible”. This is not surprising considering the fact that OmoK is deeply religious.

Ten years from now, she sees herself as a consultant in area of specialization and an asset to humanity.

Omolara Thomas

MD, Pediatric AIDS Corps Physician - Malawi, Baylor College

Omolara Thomas was born in 1981 and raised in Brooklyn, New York to Nigerian immigrant parents

from Lagos, Nigeria. Her family moved to Queens, New York where she attended Townsend Harris High School and was accepted into Sophie Davis School of Biomedi-cal Sciences, a 7 year B.S/ M.D. program, on the City College Campus in Harlem, New York. After graduating magna cum laude, she completed her final two years of medical school at New York University School of Medi-cine, earning her medical doctorate. She has focused her career to treating those who are underserved. This was reinforced by her years at Sophie Davis, where she had the chance to work with children from low income backgrounds. At NYU, she trained at Bellevue Hospital, known for its care of poor, uninsured and/or immigrant populations.

recognized as the Young Manager of the Year 2005 by THISDAY Newspapers.

Ndidi speaks widely on the issues of leadership, entre-preneurship, youth employment and ethics. In addition, her articles on these topics have been published in local and international journals and magazines. Her first book - “Walking for God in the Marketplace”, was released in December 2005.

Ndidi is married to Mr. Mezuo Nwuneli and they have a son and a daughter, Udenna and Amara.

Nkiru Olumide-Ojo

Head, Corporate Affairs, Virgin Nigeria Airways

Nkiru Olumide-Ojo has been in the Public relations and marketing profession for about ten (10) years; most of which has been

spent working in different positions and companies within the Virgin Group.

She joined the Communications industry as a Copy/Client Service Executive and rose to Head of Marketing in Virgin Atlantic and is currently the Manager in charge of Public Relations and Marketing at Virgin Nigeria.

Before joining the Virgin Group, she had worked in CMC Connect - the foremost Public Relations Practi-tioners in Nigeria - as a Senior Client Service Executive. In this position, Nkiru worked extensively on various leading brands which included Coca-Cola, United Parcel Service (UPS), and World Space digital satellite system amongst others.

Her introduction to the exciting world of the Virgin brand as Marketing Executive and subsequently Head of Marketing in Virgin Atlantic gave Nkiru the opportu-nity to set up the marketing and public relations unit of the airline in Nigeria and introduce the Virgin Atlantic brand to Nigeria.

Nkiru also had the responsibility of initiating policies, strategies and programmes in Virgin Atlantic, and executing them for the overall interest and management of the reputation of the company.

From the two man unit she manned, she was able to manage high profile events like the visits of Sir Richard Branson, which is usually a media circus, as well as the launch of another new route within Nigeria and other exciting new projects thus placing the marketing depart-ment in a position to provide an effective corporate umbrella for Virgin Atlantic.

Among the special skills of Nkiru Olumide-Ojo is her stakeholder engagement capabilities and her ability to interface the Company’s corporate communication plan into its overall strategy and harnessing these to deliver on the company’s corporate vision, mission and objectives. In addition, Nkiru considers effective media relations to be a must competence in the Nigerian environment where the media functions as the de facto parliament.

She then moved to Boston, Massachusetts to complete her pediatrics residency at the Boston Combined Residency Program. She not only trained at Children’s Hospital Boston (Harvard University affiliated) but also had her primary care clinic at Boston Medical Center (Boston University affiliated), which for decades has been the city hospital of Boston also dedicated to treating all individuals regardless of socio-economic background. These experiences have all reinforced her drive to work with those individuals who have long been known to have poor access to health care, namely minor-ity populations and immigrant population

Throughout all of this time, Dr. Thomas has had the opportunity to practice in the international health field in Kenya, Cuba, Lesotho as well as Massey Street Chil-drens Hospital based in Lagos Island, Nigeria. She has her drive to primarily focus her career in Sub- Saharan Africa, with a focus on increasing access to health care for children, particularly for diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

As of June 2007, Dr. Thomas was offered a position to work in Malawi with Baylor International Pediat-ric AIDS Initiative, affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. This organization consists of a network of clinics focused on providing treatment and care to children with HIV/AIDS throughout sub Sa-haran Africa. Since starting her job position in Malawi, she has been providing primary care to HIV infected children in Lilongwe, Malawi. Most recently, she has had the opportunity to leave the urbanized capital and become mostly involved now in outreach services in the rural northern region of Malawi, where there are no pediatricians. Here, she has been able to provide clinical mentorship at health centers on an ongoing basis and actually facilitate the creation of independent pediatric HIV care programs at clinics which were previously only offering services to adults.

As for the future, Dr. Thomas is hoping to attain a master’s degree in public health, with a focus on global health, particularly in the field of program evaluation and development. With this training, she hopes to travel back to Lagos, Nigeria and work to strengthen existing healthcare services as well as assist in creation of new programs to facilitated healthcare access for Nigerian children.

Osayi Alile Oruene

Executive Director, FATE Foundation

Osayi Alile Oruene (Mrs.) is the Executive Director of FATE Foundation, a private sector led, non profit initia-tive created with the vision to equip enterprising Ni-

gerian youths with skills, tools, networks and financing which can be used to create successful businesses that will in turn offer gainful employment to the economy.

She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology from the University of Lagos, and a Master’s degree in Public Administration Pi Alpha from Rutgers University, New Jersey, United States of America.

She has attended a number of courses bordering on leadership, societal development and empowerment, Business development and management.

She started her career in Guaranty Trust Bank(GTB) where she proceeded to Ivie securities as an Administra-tive Assistant after which she attended the Community University Consortium for Regional Environmental Justice (CUCREJ) in New Jersey, USA.


BIOS CONTD.continued from page 14


Her presence at the CUCREJ as a Research Assistant led to the evaluation and development of a strategic framework for addressing fundamental environmental issues in New Jersey. She also analyzed the impact of organizations and their CSR awareness on environ-mental issues and went ahead to design approaches for companies to operate successfully while sustaining developing communities.

This experience added to her natural passion for charity, social and environmental development and led her to the Junior Achievement of Nigeria as an executive, where she coordinated and implemented several stra-tegic and existing projects. She assisted in successfully launching Junior Achievement of Nigeria ( JAN) in Nigeria and also acted as a liaison officer between JAN and other NGOs.

A seasoned manager with a track record of outstanding performance in community, economic and social devel-opment achieved through collaboration with socially responsible businesses and individuals. Osayi rose to the post of vice-president at JAN before joining FATE Foundation in 2004.

Before being appointed Executive Director, she worked at FATE Foundation as the Programmes Manager, where she bore the responsibility of coordinating the Training and Research Units for the excellent delivery of the Foundation’s training programmes as well as manag-ing the Foundation’s relationship with both local and international donor organizations.

Osayi anchors the delivery of FATE’s mission through strategic direction, implementation and overall coordi-nation for the Foundation’s activities.

As the Executive Director of FATE Foundation, Osayi has successfully placed FATE Foundation as the highest ranking non-profit organization in Nigeria, her structur-al development plan saw FATE Foundation quadruple its revenue base, add more able hands both on the board and staff level. Her interest in working with non-profit organisations stems from a personal commitment to the socio-economic development of the country through private sector-led interventions.

Osayi is a member of several professional organiza-tion including The International Women Society, The American Society of Public Administration, Women in Management and Business (WIMBIZ).

Her expertise has placed her in several organizations’ board including The Afterschool Graduate Devel-opment Centre (AGDC), Nigerian Youth Leaders Congress, and Network for Executives of Non-Profits in Nigeria which she founded to mention just a few.

Her giant strides has earned her lots of accolades, recently she was named as one of 250 Young Global Leaders for 2007 by the World Economic Forum.

She has been classified a role model for lots of young women across the country.

Osayi is married with a beautiful son.

Oyiza Adaba

Journalist, AIT, USA

Born and raised in Nigeria, Oyiza Adaba grew up in a family of media personali-ties. Her father, Tom Adaba, an honored journalist and a media icon, inspired her to pursue media as a career

field. As she traveled around Nigeria with her father, she had many opportunities to watch a “professional in action”. By the time she attended St. Louis College in Jos, she was well on the path to becoming a media pro-fessional herself. That path ultimately took Oyiza to the University of Jos where she earned a Bachelor Degree in Theater Arts and Media.

Following graduation, Oyiza moved to Lagos where she joined the Corporate Marketing and Public Relations Team for Multichoice Africa. After several successful ventures, she moved to the company’s Head Office in Johannesburg where she worked as the Key Markets Strategist, promoting digital satellite television through-out Africa and continued to learn about the essential elements of media management.

After some years in Johannesburg, Oyiza moved to the United States where she was asked to be the Interna-tional Correspondent for Africa Independent Televi-sion’s (AIT) U.S. Bureau. This position has taken Oyiza around the world, interviewing everyone from heads of state and celebrities to the everyday working man/woman. Oyiza is well known for her coverage of world news and events from an African perspective, creating reports relevant to audiences at home in Africa, as well as Europe, South America, Asia, the Middle East and the U.S. As the host and producer of AIT’s highly acclaimed program Sana’a, she captured rare and special moments with some of Africa’s true heroes.

Through her passion for photography and writing, Oyiza remains a regular contributor to various publica-tions, radio and television programs focused on the people and issues of Africa. She produces and moderates conversations on current topics such as the highly suc-cessful evening of public dialog on the play ‘Tings Dey Happen’, a Fulbright Scholar’s fascinating story about his experiences in Nigeria’s Niger Delta Region.

Oyiza’s passion and commitment moved her to create Africa-Related, a New York-based organization with a vision to enrich the world’s knowledge about Africa and Africans through various media programs and projects.

Says Oyiza, ‘Our under-representation and misrepresen-tation as a people, especially in the West, is my driving force for building Africa-Related’s position in the U.S. It is also my hope to use Africa-Related as a vehicle to inform people back home about life for Africans in the West.’

In 2008, Africa-Related will launch several television and web-based programs including “Conversations on Life with Oyiza©”, “Postcards from Oyiza©”, and the long-awaited column “Chance Encounters with Oyiza©”.

Ronke Onadeko-Osayande

drnl consult limited / BNP Paribas

Ronke Onadeko-Osayande is a seasoned business woman with extensive

experience in the area of oil and gas operations, trading and marketing, and management with strong skills in relationship building, strategy, business development and networking.

She developed her career as Managing Director/ Chief Executive of Delt-R Nigeria Limited, a company she founded and successfully grew from a mono-sector venture to a multi sector enterprise. Ronke has hands on experience working with international companies

in Nigeria, She has been instrumental in the oil and gas sector with multinationals such as Total International in London and Paris, Addax in Geneva, Abacan Resources, Calgary, Canada prior to her appointment as Special Ad-viser to BNP Paribas Corporate and Investment Banking “ECEP” (Energy, Commodities, Export and Project), Paris, France and BNP Paribas Asset Management UK.

She is an innovative, energetic and visionary leader on board of BNP Paribas with over 10 quality years of Busi-ness Development in oil and gas and also entrepreneur-ship; with experiences and exposure in the local and international scenes. She spent 6 years at First Fuels as General Manager, the first indigenous oil and gas trading and marketing firm in Nigeria. She was also part of the start up consulting team of Abacan Resources.

Ronke is an astute networker and negotiator; she has immense skills in identifying growth opportunities and a record of successes in project initiation, implementa-tion and management.

She has participated in various courses and programs in top rated business schools such as the Durham Busi-ness School and China-Europe International Business School, Shanghai, China where she recently graduated. She has attended numerous industry-related and per-sonal development courses in Nigeria and overseas.

She is an alumnus of the Lagos Business School, (The Pan African University);a member of the Energy Institute, UK. She is currently a member of the board of Red Star Express (RSE) Communications and is an active member of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group, to mention a few.

Some of her achievements to date include the highly prestigious Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowship award, 2006, the conferment on her of the 2003 Ch-evening Scholarship award by the British Council and also in 2003, Young person of the year award by Junior Chamber International 2003. She is a distinguished winner of the Young Entrepreneur Award of the annual Success Digest Enterprise Award in 1999, a columnist for the monthly success digest magazine writing on mar-keting issues titled strictly for entrepreneurs, a volunteer member of the Enterprise Development Service of the Pan African University, a mentor on the fate foundation program mentoring young aspiring entrepreneurs.

These all give credence into the depth of her contri-butions to community activities. She is currently a member, mentor, facilitator, member of both board of trustees and advisory boards of several other organiza-tions. Other organizations she is actively involved in are WABNET( West Africa Business Women’s’ Network) Junior Achievement, Nigerian Business Women’s Forum, African Missions of the Redeemed Christian Church of God and the Friendship Bible Fellowship.

Ronke Onadeko-Osayande is a devoted Christian and is married.

Stella Damasus Aboderin

Actress, Nollywood

Stella Damasus Aboderin is considered to be one of the most popular actresses in the Nigerian Movie Sector known as Nollywood. She has on several occasions




been involved in stage performances while combining this with other businesses most especially music, her first call. Stella has also stamped her immaculate author-ity on the musical scene as her vocal performances on and off stage is unrivalled. Her stage presence and finesse add flavour to every occasion she has being contracted to perform.

A bachelor’s degree holder in theatre arts (Second Class Upper). Stella is a woman with many talents; an actress, dancer, singer and business woman. She has been involved in ample movie productions some of which include; Real love, Market Sellers, Never Say Goodbye, Submission, Fugitive, Face of a liar, Queen of the rain Forest, Romantic Attraction, Engagement Night, Intruder, Breaking Point, Games Women Play, More than Sisters amongst others. She has also been involved in several stage plays some of which include; Obaseki, Asagidi, Olivertwist, Oba Oronranmuwon, What the steward said, her most recent, ‘Private Lies’ performed in Bonny, River States for LNG.

She used to be the Managing Director of defunct Syner-gy Band which is today known as THE GIG FACTOR, a purely entertainment and event consulting company which she started with the crop of multi-talented and professional music icons her conscientious but tireless hubby, Jaiyejeje left behind. The musical group whose commitment, dedication, perseverance and

faith in God have made them miles ahead their contem-poraries today is one of the unbeatable music groups in the social circuit in Nigeria.

She is the President/CEO of Gig Factor Entertainment Consultants a purely entertainment and events consult-ing firm which specializes in Sound Re-enforcement, Stage Designs and Lightings, Multi-Media Productions and all other Audio/visual productions.

“GIG FACTOR” is one of the top mainstream bands in the country. The band specializes in the rendition of cover versions of popular songs and is capable of cutting across all audiences.

Our clients span from corporate to individual vis-à-vis MTN, V-Mobile, Bates Cosse, First Bank, Union Bank, Zenith Bank, Diamond Bank, Standard Chartered, LNG, Chevron, Virgin Atlantic, Tequila, S,O&U, Eko Hotels & Suites, Oxford & Cambridge Association, Aisha Babaginda, `Keem Bello-Osagie, Dr. Eyimofe Atake, e.t.c.

Awards accredited to her include:

Best Actress – Real Awards, 2000

Recognition Award for Outstanding performance & Contribution to the Nigerian Film Industry – FAN, Washington DC, 2004

Life Recognition Award – DAMA, 2003

Best Actress – Nigerian Entertainment Awards, 2006 (Organised in America)

Wife to the late Jaiye jeje Aboderin[a multi-lingual & an all round practitioner within the entertainment industry] with two lovely daughters Isabel Ayomide Aboderin and Angelica Oluwatoni Aboderin. One of her ambitions is to be a humanitarian because… “I really hate to see people live in poverty or suffer”.

As a source of relaxation, she enjoys reading, watching movies and above all creating new concepts & designs.

Stella is a hard working, highly creative and dedicated team player, universally inclined, tactful and diplomatic, especially in analytical and problem solving skills.

Her Philosophy:” It is not about the years in your life but about the life in your years, how you are able to affect your generation positively.....your work will speak for you”

Tara Fela-Durotoye

CEO, House of TaRa

Titilayo Akinsanmi

Manager, Mindset, Global Teenagers Project, SOUTH AFRICA

Titi Akinsanmi is the joint program manager of the IICD

owned Global Teenager Project (GTP) www.global-teenger.org www.iicd.org globally, which brings together a virtual network of learners in both the developing and developed world building generations of information-literate, knowledge-oriented, culturally-aware individu-als via e-Learning. GTP reaches an average of 10,000 learners per annum.

Titi has experience spanning the private and public sector working in the broadcasting industry via Radio, Television, Print and in mobile telecommunications. Amongst other activities, she has been in the fore front of global, regional and national youth engagement in the World Summit on the Information Society in both phases 1 and 2. She continues her engagements with the ICT4D sector till date both within Nigeria and beyond.

She is currently serving on nomination of the UN Secretary General, on the Internet Governance Forum Advisory Group, in the Steering committee of United Nations Global Alliance for ICT for Development. Amongst others she is serving as jury member for the Stockholm Challenge and the World Summit Awards. She specializes in Information Communication Tech-nologies (ICTs) as it relates to Education, Youth and Gender in the development sector and has an avid inter-est in the emerging concept of virtual management. Titi is also a budding entrepreneur with a love of the stage.

TY Bello

Recording Artist, Greenland

TY is a multifaceted young woman. She is a Director of Link-a-child; an NGO dedicated to propagating information on orphanages in Nigeria and soliciting

sponsorship on their behalf.

After spending two years in the studio, TY Bello’s much awaited solo album- Greenland was finally done. TY was a member of one of Nigeria’s most celebrated urban gos-pel band- Kush. Through the songs in her new album, TY seeks to take fans through the journey of her life and the lessons she has learnt on that journey. TY spared no expense with Greenland. Each song on the album is the uninhibited expression of an artist in an otherwise inhibiting environment. From love, to family to nation, TY bore her soul in words that are bound to capture the hearts of all who listen. She wrote the title track for her countrymen to levitate from a place of despair to a place of hope.

Apart from music, TY is also an internationally ac-claimed portrait photographer. She stages an annual photography exhibition to raise funds for orphans across the country.

The colours, shades and textures which she captures in her photographs are expressed in her music as well.

Yewande Sadiku

Head of Investment Banking, IBTC

Yewande Sadiku, Nigerian, born 27 July 1972, has spent 12 years at IBTC Char-tered Bank Plc, Nigeria’s pre-eminent investment bank and a Euro money

Excellence Award winner. IBTC’s core competence is in the structuring of large and complex corporate finance transactions. The bank has built a strong track record in the Nigerian capital market.

Yewande has headed IBTC’s Corporate Finance Depart-ment since 2000 and works with a multi-disciplinary team to provide innovative financial solutions to clients’ needs, while ensuring strict compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. She originates structures and executes debt and equity issues, M&A and financial advisory assignments handled by IBTC and has handled various landmark assignments. I have been responsible for a variety of assignments for clients in virtually every sector of the Nigerian economy and have handled the packaging, analysis and execution of several landmark privatisation and financial advisory mandates, including the largest public issues, IPOs and State Government debt issue in the history of the Nigerian capital market.

Yewande is a regular facilitator at training sessions/workshops and is Chairperson of the Rules and Regula-tions Sub-Committee, which advises the Securities & Exchange Commission on the rules that guide the operation of the Nigerian capital market.

Yewande holds a B.Sc. in Industrial Chemistry from University of Benin, Nigeria and an MBA from Universi-ty of Warwick, England. She is married with 2 children.

BIOS CONTD.continued from page 16

RED CARPETSPONSORED BY:

... Empowering Africa


EXXON MOBILCONGRATULATES:

Dr. Affiong Elisabeth Ben-Edet

Dr. Affiong Elisabeth Ben-Edet (Dr. Affie) a Consultant Paediatrician joined the MOHD in September 2006 as a Senior Medical Officer based in Lagos. She is the first female Medical Doctor in MPN and first full time Paediatrician.

Her job functions include: Daily routine and emergency clinical care in Paediatrics, General medicine and Occupational health, Administrative functions in MCP, TB, Pandemic Flu, immunization Programs, Monthly clinic report, Training...

As an experienced Consultant Paediatrician, she had worked at Massey Street Children’s Hospital Lagos; the Dept. of Paediatrics in LUTH, UUTH, St. Nicholas Hospital Lagos, Wittybush General Hospital Haverfordwest UK, Singleton Hospital Swansea - UK, Shell Medical unit Lagos, Citizen Medical Centre Lagos...

Dr. Ben-Edet holds MBBCh, FMCPaed, and CCST in Paediatrics (UK).

She is a consultant Paediatrician. She is a Fellow of National Medical College of Paediatrics - Nigeria, Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and child Health - UK(FRCPCH),

Member Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, Member Paediatric Association of Nigeria.

Her personal interests include E-learning methods, Rapid Diagnostic Methods, Christian Medical Outreach Programs, listening to music and reading.

Anne Oluseyi Disu-Sule

Anne Oluseyi Disu-Sule is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN). She had her tertiary education at the Yaba College of Technology Lagos where she obtained her Higher National Diploma (HND) in 1988. She became an Associate of the Institute

of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria in 1992 and a Fellow of the Institute in 2003.

She began her professional career as an Accountant with Texaco Nigeria PLC now Chevron Oil Nigeria PLC in 1989. She had a brief banking career in the treasury department of the then Prudent Merchant Bank, now SKYE bank in 1992 but her exposure as an Accountant in Texaco Nigeria Limited had afforded her the opportunity to acquire the requisite exposure into Oil & Gas Accounting which positioned her for the move to Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited.

Seyi joined the Controllers department of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited on July 1, 1992. She has worked in the department for 15 years at various levels. She is currently the Manager, Joint Interest Accounting.

She oversees the Accounting, Cash Call related activities and Expenditure reporting for the Joint Ventures, Production Sharing Contracts and Operated by Others activities on various Oil Prospecting and Mining blocks on which the ExxonMobil companies partners with NNPC and other Oil companies (SNEPCO, Chevron, SASOL, NPDC, ConocoPhillips, Elf and Oxy).

Her experience in Accounting in the Controllers department is diverse and her career history spans various units within the department:

Manager, Joint Interest Accounting• ..................................................2007 to date

Manager, General Ledger • ..................................................................... 2004-2006

Senior Staff Accountant, Joint Interest Accounting• ........................ 2001-2003

Staff Accountant 2, Capex Reporting and AFE Monitoring• .......... 1999-2000

Staff Accountant 1, Opex Reporting & Planning co-ordination• ... 1996-1998

Accountant, General Ledger/Intercompany• ................................1992 - 1995

Seyi has consistently maintained high level performance in her professional career and assigned responsibilities. This is evident from her development and progression in the organization. The acquisition of key skills through various training programs at home and abroad contributed immensely to her performance and accomplishment of work goals.

She is married to Thompson Adeyemi Disu-Sule and blessed with 5 children.


January/February 2nd NiPRO, Global Top 40 Under 40 Nigerian Female Professionals Summit & Dinner Reception

February 23NiPRO South Africa Chapter Launch. Nigerian Professionals in South Africa “Rebranding Nigeria’s Image in SA”

February 15th NiPRO Annual Professional Mixer @ Harvard Business School Africa Conference

April 19th NiPRO 6th Anniversary Celebration & New Website Official Launch Event

Memorial Day, May 26th Class of 2008 Graduation Party. Welcoming the new graduating class into the Network.

Summer 2007 New Chapter Launches, BBQ Events, Cruises, Group Trips

Labor Day September 1st NiPRO Labor Day Weekend

October 1st NiPRO celebrates Nigeria’s Independence Day

November Financial Workshop Seminar, Thanksgiving Party Nov (26th)

November 15 NiPRO Annual Professional Mixer @ Wharton Africa Forum

December - End of Year Dinner / Party

Monthly Professional Networking Events; Last Thursday(s)

Monthly Lunch Meetings; Last Wednesday(s)

Bi Financial Workshop Seminars; Last Saturday(s)

NiPRO GLOBAL 2008 CALENDAR OF EVENTS

ACKNOWLEGEMENTS/THANKS

(In alphabetical order...)

Afribranding LLC

British American Tobacco

ExxonMobil Nigeria

NiPRO Nigeria Staff

Phoenix Visions

Question Mark Ent

Quorum

Sarolaj Light & Sound

True Love Magazine

UBA

Speakers:

Prof. Pat Utomi

Mrs. Seyi Afolabi

Entertainers:

Modele

Basorge

Summit Coordinators:

Ebuwa Agbonwaneten

Francisca Owumi

Omoyemi Akerele

Volunteers:

Tope Funmilayo

Tola Funmilayo

Maltida Oke

ORGANIZERS:

Tope Esan (New York, USA)Head, Global Marketing Top 40 Summitst. 917 541 8394 (US) | 0805-807-7518 (Nigeria)[email protected]

Martin Fayomi (Atlanta, USA)Head, Global Strategies Top 40 Summitst. 770 906 [email protected]

Ebuwa Martins Agbonwaneten (Lagos)Top 40 Event Coordinatort. 08084975204 / [email protected]

Fransisca Owumi (Lagos)Top 40 Event Project Managert. [email protected]

Chinedu Orekie (New Jersey, USA)SVP, Technologyt. 973 393 [email protected]

NiPRO Nigeria Officials

Victor Gotevbe (Lagos)GM, NiPRO Nigeriat. 0803 305 [email protected]

Morayo Akabashorun (Lagos)NiPRO WOMAN, Coordinatort. 0808 615 [email protected]

NiPRO International - MIPAD

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