UNVEILING THE WIMBIZ WOMEN: PROFILE OF THE CELEBRATED CORPORATE AMAZONS

BOLA ADESOLA
Adesola is the Managing Director, CEO, of Standard Chatered Bank, prior to taking up this role, she was Executive Director, Corporate Banking at First Bank of Nigeria Plc. Before that, she was, for six years, the Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of Kakawa Discount House Limited, a financial services institution. An Alumnus of the Harvard Business School, Adesola was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1985, and has over 20 years of banking experience with exposure both in local and international financial markets, nine of which she spent in Citibank Nigeria. Adesola is an honorary member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, Nigeria and has served in various capacities in the development of the Nigerian Money Market, the Interbank Settlement Systems and the Discount house sub-sector. She is a former Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of Women in Management and Business (WIMBIZ). She is a member of the Advisory Board of Genevieve Magazine, and a member of the Editorial Board, Rubies Magazine. Adesola is married and blessed with a set of female twins.



FUNMI ROBERTS

Roberts who holds a Masters degree in Law was called to the Nigerian Bar as a Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria 20 years ago. After a three-year stint as a Lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ibadan, she set up her own Chambers. She is also a Registered Mediator and Arbitrator. Roberts serves on several Boards and Committees of the Nigerian Bar Association including being a member of the National Executive Council of the Nigerian Bar Association, a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK) and an Accredited Mediator of the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (UK). She is also a member of the London Court of Arbitration and International Bar Association. Apart from serving on the board of several Non-Governmental Organizations, Roberts has attended many International Conferences and represented Nigeria at the African Union/Civil Society Conferences. She is also a part time Consultant with the African Union CSSDCA Unit. She is married and blessed with four sons.




IBUKUN AWOSIKA

Awosika holds a B.sc in Chemistry from University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), an MBA from IESE Business School, Barcelona, Spain and is an alumna of the Lagos Business School Chief Executive Programme. She is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Chair Centre, Sokoa Chair Centre Limited and TCC Security Systems which are manufacturers and marketers of office furniture, office seating and Banking Security Systems in Nigeria and the West African market. Awosika is a board member of Women in Management and Business (WIMBIZ) and Convention on Business Integrity and founder of Christian Missionary Funds. She also serves as a Pastor at the Fountain of Life Church and hosts a popular TV programme, Business His Way. She is the Chairperson and promoter of After School Graduate Development Centre (AGDC), a social enterprise set up to address employability and enterprise development amongst young Nigerians. Awosika is a fellow of the Aspen Global Leadership Network and is a multiple award-winning entrepreneur; the promoter of Furniture Manufacturers Mart, SCC ALGON and the Furniture Village Cluster, a joint venture with the Ogun State Government to provide infrastructure, skills and support to a cluster of SME firms with similar raw material requirements. She sits on a number of boards including Cadbury Nigeria Plc, First Bank Nigeria Plc, FBN Life Assurance and is member of Lagos State University's Governing Council.





ADEOLA AZEEZ

Adeola Azeez is a seasoned banker with over 20 years of professional experience, more than half of which has been as Deputy Country Representative/Deputy Managing Director of Deutsche Bank Nigeria, the leading client-centric global universal bank with approximately 30 million customer accounts and activities in more than 70 countries and jurisdictions.

In her role as Deputy Managing Director of Deutsche Bank Nigeria, Azeez oversees the banks business operations in the region, including managing liaisons between Deutsche Bank offshore and its client base of Nigerian banks. She has successfully guided the local financial institutional clients across the spectrum of international financial services and the myriad of challenges of correspondent banking.
Azeez is the pioneer of the current system of Correspondent Banking in Nigeria, which she has been developing since she joined Deutsche and its predecessor companies, Bankers Trust Company, New York, in 1989. Through her efforts, boldness, and sheer determination to see Nigerian businesses capitalise on the burgeoning economic potential to attract foreign investments, thereby increasing opportunities for economic growth, she has forged ahead to build one of the largest correspondent bank networks in Nigeria and a powerful industry presence. In addition, her generosity of spirit has made her a fundamental asset in the Nigerian Banking Industry, as she freely shares her knowledge with fellow bankers conducting both formal and informal capacity building and mentoring almost all the young people she meets.
Azeez' passion for socio-economic development in Nigeria, became focused on women in particular, when in 2002, she became one of the founding members of WIMBIZ.
In 2011, Azeez was elected as the Chairperson of WIMBIZ. Even in this non-Executive capacity, her personal mantra "keep moving, keep pushing; you only get out of life what you put into it" was clearly evident. Notable among her many achievements as WIMBIZ Chair are the: raised profile and membership of the organization, especially among young ladies and other previously under-represented women in the Northern States of Nigeria; engagement of Vital Voices, a US based NGO established by Hilary Clinton, as a funding agency to assist WIMBIZ women in particular and Nigerian women in general to position their businesses for international trade; privilege for WIMBIZ to partner with the Federal Ministry of Finance on the YouWiN! Women 2012/13 Programme; internal redesign of the organisation to enable greater efficiency, sustainability and visibility of the brand to become a household name.
Azeez has a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Lagos and an LLB. in Law from the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom. She is a board member of the Pauline's Cancer Awareness Foundation and also of WIMBIZ.
Azeez is married to Biodun with three children.



IFEYINWA IGHODALO
 Ighodalo holds B.Sc. in Accountancy from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Upon realizing her passion for interiors, in 1987, she established Design Options Ltd., a prestigious interior decorating and furniture manufacturing outfit. Since inception, Design Options has grown to become and is now widely recognized as one of the country's very best in its area of expertise, in recognition of which it was honoured with the 2004 St. Moritz Style Award for Interior Design. Ighodalo is a volunteer mentor for the mentorship programme of Fate Foundation. She is married to Asue Ighodalo and they are blessed with a beautiful daughter.


JULIA OKU-JACKS
Oku-Jacks is a first class honours graduate of English and Literary Studies from the University of Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria, She obtained  her Masters degree in Development/Area Studies, with emphasis on African American/Afro-Caribbean Studies, from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Her diverse and rich professional career spans academia, marketing communications and philanthropy. From 1982-1987, she taught undergraduate and graduate courses in African American and Caribbean literature in the University of Calabar, and made a career shift in 1987 to work in Advertising. This was a move which segued into private enterprise when in 1990, she along with two partners formed an advertising agency which became a foremost marketing communications agency in Nigeria and is currently known as SO& U Saatchi & Saatchi. She was the founding Executive Director and Creative Director of the organization from 1990 to 2003. In her time in advertising, Oku-Jacks was recognized as a leading, groundbreaking copy writer, a strategic thinker, she initiated, designed and operationalised much of the organizations capacity development programs as well as its corporate social responsibility efforts. More importantly, Oku-Jacks gave much acclaimed focus and energy to the creative direction of the agency. She served for several years on the training committee of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) and ran its acclaimed Creative Training and Writing Courses for five consecutive years.





MAIRO BASHIR

Bashir is the Managing Director of Creditcorp Limited, a financial consulting firm in Lagos. A 1983 graduate of Business Administration from ABU, Zaria, she holds an MBA from UNIJOS. Bashir worked in banking and finance for over 15 years and was Executive Director, Corporate Services a United Bank for Africa Plc. She has two children.



Morin Desalu
Morin Desalu earned the degree Master of Business Administration from the University of Sheffield and proceeded to work at Lloyds' of London as an Aviation Placing Broker for Jardine Insurance Brokers. She is a Chartered Insurance Practitioner and manages Risk Watch Insurance Brokers Limited in Lagos.
Morin is an Alumnus of the prestigious Lagos Business School having attended the Chief Executives Program in 1998. She is Volunteer for the Mentorship Program of the Fate Foundation; a Trustee of The Samaritan's Wallet and a member of the Board of EFINA (Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access).
Morin is a Reader and a Writer, a Music Lover and keen Golfer. She is a strong Christian, married to Adewunmi and together they have 5 sons and 2 daughters


OMOBOLA JOHNSON

Omobola Johnson is the Hon. Minister of Information Technology. She was the former Chairperson and Country Director of Accenture Nigeria and became the first woman to hold both positions. She holds a Bachelors Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Manchester and a Masters degree in Digital Electronics from Kings College, London. She joined Accenture, then Anderson Consulting in 1985. In the about two decades she was at Accenture , she progressed through various roles and was a Director and the Head of Financial Services operating group in Nigeria before her appointment as the Country Director in December 2004. A WIMBIZ mentor and the first Chairperson her interests include reading, traveling and golf. She is married to Seyi Johnson and they are blessed with three children.




Toyin Olawoye

Toyin currently works with Shell International Exploration and Production B.V. as Upstream Commercial Finance Manager. Her career spans 23 years in Oil & Gas, Finance and Banking. She has worked 13 years with the Shell Group in different Finance roles, most of which has been with Shell Nigeria. She obtained a B.Sc. from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria and an MBA from Columbia University, New York, USA. Toyin is an avid reader. She also enjoys the Arts, travelling and working with youths in discerning their potential. She is a patron of Rainbow Book Club Nigeria as well as a trustee and a founding working committee member of Women in Management and Business (WIMBIZ).







YEWANDE ZACCHEAUS
Yewande graduated in Law from University of Lagos 1982 and thereafter obtained an LL.M from Cambridge University, England in 1984. She began her career as a legal officer in the Nigerian-American Merchant Bank and after a brief stint in private practice joined Ecobank Nigeria plc in 1989 as the pioneer Company Secretary and Legal Adviser. She resigned in 2002 at Deputy General Manager Level, to establish her own business, Eventful Limited, an events management company. Eventful has established itself as the pacesetter and market leader in corporate and retail events as well as venue management. An alumnus of the Lagos Business School, Yewande sits on the Board of Women in Management and Business (WIMBIZ) and was recently appointed to the Board of Fortress Microfinance Bank and Corporate Leisure Limited and Zacchi & Chrome Limited. Yewande is the author of three inspirational books - "God's Waiting Room 1, 2 & 3" which were written as a result of her personal testimony, to encourage women experiencing delay in childbearing. Yewande recently received an award from the foremost lifestyle magazine TW for her contribution to the events industry in Nigeria. She is also the 2011 recipient of the prestigious International Women's Entrepreneurship Challenge Award, an initiative of the Chambers of Comemrce of Manhattan, Barcelona and the foundation of Indian Chambers of Commerce. Yewande is happily married to Teni Zaccheaus and they are blessed with two children.