By the time the roll-call for outstanding Nigerian women chief executives is made, these women would stand should-high. From architecture to event planning to consulting, these Nigerian women would make any country go green with envy.
Olajumoke Adenowo
She is a motivational speaker, a radio host and a speaker in many conferences around the world.
Adenowo is a Principal Partner of AD Consulting, an architectural design, and building firm.
She was featured in the world’s foremost architectural journal, Architectural Record and, holds many honorary degrees.
Adenowo is a thought leader in her field. She is a speaker of choice at conferences on the Arts and Architecture, gender issues, women’s empowerment. She is noted for her ability to speak on Architecturewith passion and clarity that is infectious to wide audiences. She has been featured in CNN, Fortune International, and many other global publications.
Born to two professors, a Professor of History and a Professor of Criminology, Olajumoke has always been precocious. She was admitted at the age of 14 to study Architecture at the University of Ife.
Her approach to Architecture was nurtured growing up and studying for decades on a campus designed byaward-winning Bauhaus trained by Arieh Sharon between 1962-1972. Arieh Sharon was one of Israel’s top Architects who worked on numerous award-winning projects in Israel directly with David Ben Gurion as Director and Chief Architect of the Israeli National Planning Authority.
She started her Architecture and Interior Architecture firm, AD Consulting Nigeria’s pioneer interiorarchitecture firm.
AD is Nigeria’s most awarded Architectural firm and her works are considered seminal trendsetters.
Olajumoke expresses her innate design abilities beyond the building envelope and this has led to AD carrying out Interior architecture and brand environment commissions including detailed furniture designs and fabrication for the world’s strongest brands such as Coca-Cola International and L’Oreal.
Biola Alabi, Founder and Managing Partner, Biola Alabi Media
She struts her stuff in the Media, one of the few Nigerian women to do so in a spacethought to be dominated by men.
Her company is a content development company cutting across telecommunications, broadcast and digital media.
Named Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and 20 Youngest Power Women in Africa by Forbes, and CNBC Africa’s AABLA West African Business Woman of the Year (2013) and Yale World Fellow, Alabi sits atop a media company that is the brainchild of some of the most successful television shows in Nigeria, like Big Brother Africa, All-Stars Amplified, and StarGames.
Her role in M-Net Africa, where she spent five years as Managing Director, resulted in the increase of Portfolios for the television channel in the continent which included ranging of AfricaMagic channels.
Biola Alabi is a graduate of Public and Community Health from the University of Cincinnati, United States of America.
FUNKE BUCKNOR-OBRUTHE, CEO, ZAPPHIRE EVENTS
She loves organising events. She has successfully organised high-profile events and is leading the pack in the industry.
Zaphire Events have been in existence for the past 15 years and that kind of makes Funke a veteran in the business.
She worked with a PR firm, TIE Communications before branching off to start Zaphaire.
“What I love most about my business is seeing my thoughts actualize, when I think about an event and execute the event just like I pictured it and also seeing the client happy and grateful for a job well done,” She told Whoot magazine in an interview.
She is a graduate of the University of Lagos.
MO ABUDU, EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN & CEO, EBONYLIFE TV
Nick-named the Oprah Winfrey of Africa, Mosunmola Abudu or Mo Abudu as she is popularly known owns one of the most successful television channels, EbonyLife TV.
This talk show icon began her career as a recruitment consultant in the UK. She worked for Esso Exploration & Production Nigeria Limited, Now ExxonMobil, as head of Human Resources and Training Unit.
She started a specialist human resources development company, Vic Lawrence & Associates Limited (VLA) in 2000.
Mo Abudu started EbonyLife TV in 2006 and has since gone on to produce blockbuster movies like The Wedding Party 1 & 2 and Fifty. She is the Executive Producer and host of the renowned talk show, Moments with Mo.
NIMI AKINKUGBE, CEO, BESTMAN GAMES
She has the monopoly of games in Nigeria because she brought the Monopoly games to the country
A former banker with over 20 years experience, she worked with IBTC Bank, now Stanbic IBTC as a general manager of Client Services where she spent 20 years.
A director of The Play Pen Child Development Centre, Akinkugbe has written several articles in many Nigerian newspapers.
She grew up in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, and attended the International School of Tanganyika, and later Limuru Girls School, Limuru, Kenya. She did her O’Levels at the International School, Ibadan.
She holds a Bachelors Degree from The London School of Economics (LSE) and an MBA from Lagos Business School (IESE).
Ibidun Ajayi-IGHODALO, CEO, ELIZABETH R
This ex-beauty queen is the wife of one of Nigeria’s most sought after pastors, Itua Ighodalo.
She owns one of the best events planning company in the country.
She also owns a foundation, The Ibidun Ighodalo Foundation (IIF), which focuses on minimizing the social impacts of childless couples.
“I have heard stories of in-laws calling the woman painful names. Those are hurtful things to say. There are names you don’t want to call a woman that is looking up to God [for a child],” she said recently.
“People may not want to be mean, but they don’t know that certain statements and body language hurt. When you are waiting on God, you can be sensitive to what people say or do and they might not know it will hurt or hit you. It is good to raise awareness and understanding about childless couples. Friends and relatives should be a bit more sensitive to women or couples who are waiting on the Lord,” she said.
She is blazing a trail in the hospitality industry.
Ronke ONADEKO, CEO, DELTR ENERGY
She is the Principal Consultant at DRNL Consult Limited, UK and Delt-R Company Limited, Nigeria.
Few Nigerian women hold the impressive record, Ronke Onadeko possesses.
From oil and gas to marketing, Onadeko is a regular analyst on the electricity situation in Nigeria.
She has acted as a consultant to Facility for Oil Sector Transparency and Accountability (FOSTER), an initiative of the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID).
She also acts as a consultant to Natixis, a French financial institution which recently forayed into the Nigerian oil and gas financing space.
