Fola Adeola, OFR; MNI;
Tokunbo Talabi
Bolaji Agbede
Juliet Ehimuan
Seni Sulyman
Yinka Sanni
Olusola Adeola
Seyi Bella
Prof. Obadare Peter
Adenike Adeyemi
Adebambo Adebowale
Amaka Nwaokolo
Founder and Chairman, FATE Foundation
Fola Adeola, OFR; MNI;
Fola Adeola is the Chairman of FATE Foundation. He founded the organization in 2000, following a one-year sabbatical at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies in Kuru, Jos, Nigeria, where he carried out research on economic development and job creation policies. He is also the Chairman of Main One Cable Company Limited, owner-managers of the first open access submarine cable in West Africa. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the International Crises Group.
Prior to these, Fola was the founder and first Managing Director of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc. He ran the bank from inception in 1990 to July 2002, during which period he firmly established the institution as a strong and credible bank. Guaranty Trust Bank has grown to become one of Nigeria’s largest and most profitable companies. The bank has also expanded beyond Nigeria to other neighboring African countries in The Gambia, Sierra Leone and Ghana. The bank became listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 1996.
In the public sector, Fola had served as the first Chairman of the National Pension Commission in Nigeria, which was established, following the promulgation into law, of the Pension Reform Bill, principally authored by him. Fola Adeola has served, and is still serving, at national and international levels, on various committees and corporate boards. He also served as member of the National Honours Committee, member of the Solid Mineral Committee (both federally constituted), member of council, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, and member of the Global Advisory Committee on Philantropy of the World Economic Forum. He had served as a Commissioner on the Commission for Africa, prelude to the 2005 G8 meeting in Gleneagles, UK.
Fola was nationally decorated as Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) by the Nigerian president in 2002.
Fola obtained a Diploma in Accounting from Yaba College of Technology in 1975 and became a Chartered Accountant in 1980 following his training with Deloitte, Haskins and Sells and D.O. Dafinone & Company (both Chartered Accountants). He has received professional development training at notable institutions worldwide including, Harvard Business School, INSEAD, and the International Institute for Management Development.
Secretary to the State Government, Ogun State
Tokunbo Talabi
Prior to founding Superflux, Tokunbo served and headed various positions in Guaranty Trust Bank Plc. such as Corporate Banking, Retail Banking, Corporate Services and Banking Operations. He is a prominent knowledge contributor and serves on the board of several companies and committees. Tokunbo has been involved in various developmental programmes in Nigeria such as The Presidential Weekly Business Forum, Clearing House System Automation Committee, Committee on National Cash Sorting Consortium Scheme, National Smart Card project etc.
He is a mentor at FATE Foundation and a very active philanthropist with special focus in educational upliftment.
Acting Group CEO, Access Bank Corporation
Bolaji Agbede
Bolaji is a Director and the Chairman of the Governance Committee. She is a well-experienced professional with over 20 years’ experience in the financial sector. She joined Access Bank Plc in 2003 and currently serves as the Head, Group Human Resources where she leads the Bank’s reputable human capital. She is renowned for her unrivalled passion, strong leadership qualities, enthusiasm for learning and change,as well as flair for driving excellence through employees.
She serves on the Board of several credible non-governmental organizations including ROWAA Widows Initiative and Propel Grad, amongst others. She also lends herself as a speaker/facilitator at trainings, workshops, seminars and conferences focused on women economic empowerment and career development.
Bolaji holds a BSc in Mathematics & Statistics from University of Lagos and an MBA degree from Cranfield School of Management, United Kingdom.She has also received various Top Management trainings at several leading institutions including Harvard Business School, Kellogg School of Management, Ross School of Business, IMD and London Business School.
Founder, Beyond Limits
Juliet Ehimuan
Juliet Ehimuan is a DIrector and Chairman of the Programs Committee. Juliet Ehimuan, named by Forbes as one of the top 20 power women in Africa, and by the London Business School as one of 30 people changing the world is Director leading Google’s business strategy in West Africa and Next Billion Users initiative in Africa. Under her leadership, the Google team has made significant impact on local content development, infrastructure deployment, and digital capacity building; receiving an award for most outstanding contribution to local content development from NIMES and the NCC.
Juliet has actively contributed to developing national strategies including Nigeria’s broadband plan in 2013, and ICT incubation strategy in 2012. Recent investments include commitment to provide free digital skills training to 10 million youth in Africa, training for 100K developers and an Africa Scholarships program for current and aspiring developers including support for female developers through developer groups and a women techmakers event; funding and mentoring of technology startups in Africa through a launch pad Accelerator program, and a Google Impact Challenge providing $20Million in funding to nonprofits advancing the course of education and economic prosperity in Africa.
She has over 20 years’ experience primarily in technology, oil and gas, and new media industries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Juliet holds an Executive MBA from the London Business School, a Postgraduate degree in Computer Science from the University of Cambridge; and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. She is a recipient of the London Business School Global Women’s Scholarship, and at Cambridge University was awarded Selwyn College Scholar and Malaysian Commonwealth Scholar. She is a Fellow of the Cambridge Commonwealth Society.
She was featured in the BBC Africa Power Women series in 2016, awarded IT Personality of the Year in 2012 by the Nigeria Computer Society, Digital Personality of the year 2016 by Marketing World; and received a 2015 Titans of Technology award from TechnologyAfrica. Juliet is also the founder of the Beyond Limits Africa Initiative, providing leadership and personal effectiveness to build capacity particularly among women. The program kicked off in 2016 with a self-leadership boot camp for young women featured in the BBC Power Women Interview.
Co-founder and CEO, Talstack
Seni Sulyman
Seni Sulyman is a Director and Member of the Programs Committee. He was the immediate past Vice President of Global Operations at Andela, a venture-backed company that builds high-performing engineering teams with Africa’s most talented software engineers. Seni was responsible for Andela’s delivery operations function and oversees Andela’s Africa operations across Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Rwanda and Egypt. Seni was previously Country Director of Andela Nigeria. Under his leadership, Andela achieved several milestones including building and scaling a high performing cross-functional team, growing the organization by over 400% in two years, receiving the US secretary of state Award for Corporate Excellence, and creating an excellent culture that projected Andela Nigeria to #1 Best place to work in Nigeria and Africa.
Before Andela, Seni built and operated a new business jet airline serving Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt at Bristow Group, with an industry-leading 98% on-time-departure record. His prior career spans across roles at Bain & Company in Chicago, where he helped a CPG company identify half a billion dollars in cost savings; at HP in Silicon Valley, where he developed a strategy to grow the revenues of the multi-billion-dollar technology services division; at Cardinal Stone in Lagos, where he identified efficiencies in the operations of an oil and gas marine logistics company; and at Konga in Lagos, where he worked on several strategic projects during Konga’s early growth.
Seni is passionate about building an ecosystem of exemplary African businesses and leaders. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Northwestern University.
Chief Executive (African Region), Standard Bank Group
Yinka Sanni
Yinka Sanni is a Director and Chairman of the Finance and Fundraising Committee . He is the Chief Executive, West Africa for the Standard Bank Group. Prior to his assuming this role, he was the Chief Executive of Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC, a member of the Standard Bank Group, Africa’s largest bank by assets and also doubles as the Chief Executive, Standard Bank West Africa. Prior to assuming this role, he was the Chief Executive of Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC. Until his appointment as Chief Executive of Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC, he was the Deputy Chief Executive of Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC (February 2011- Nov 2012). He was also the Executive Director & Head of Corporate & Investment Banking for Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC prior to his appointment as the Deputy Chief Executive of the Bank. Yinka was the pioneer Chief Executive of Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers Limited (July 2004 – December 2008). He was also the pioneer Chief Executive of Stanbic IBTC Asset Management Limited between 1995 and 2004 a company he grew from start up to Nigeria’s leading independent asset management and stockbroking firm.
He has a wealth of experience spanning close to three decades in Financing, Capital Raising, M&A and Privatization Advisory. He has a broad-based knowledge of various areas of business having attended several programs and trainings including Blue Ocean Strategy Programme, Insead, Fontainebleau, France; Upstream Oil & Gas Acquisition and Divestment, Euromoney Energy Training, London; Sustainability Training at Central Bank of Nigeria; FITC Directors Continuous Education Program; Directors’ Consortium, Stanford Graduate School of Business; and Essential IT for Non-IT Executives, MIT Sloan.
Yinka holds a Bachelors degree in Agricultural Economics from The University of Nigeria, Nsukka where he emerged as the best graduating student of the Faculty in 1987. He subsequently obtained an MBA from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. He has also undertaken the Harvard Business School, Boston, Advanced Management Program (AMP), and the Global CEO Program (GCP) at Ceibs, Wharton and IESE Business School. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers of Nigeria.
Executive Director, Designing Futures
Olusola Adeola
Sola has over 14 years’ work experience as a strategy and organization development consultant working across the private sector, the public sector and the development sector. She has both local and global work experience in institutions such as Accenture, the Clinton Foundation, Dalberg and ESSPIN (a UKaid Initiative in Nigeria). In the non-profit sector, Sola has pioneered in a number of fields, from a start-up political party (Kowa Party) to Nigeria’s first innovation hub as the Coordinator of the FATE Institute for Venture Design (IVD), an initiative between Stanford’s Centre for Design Research (CDR) and FATE Foundation. Sola recently worked as the Executive Secretary of Freedom Foundation and subsequently, the Head of Corporate Strategy for LAT Cleveson Group (www.latcleveson.com), a diversified conglomerate with subsidiaries in maritime, agriculture and retail.
Given her passion for education, Sola co-founded Designing Futures, an education platform to promote innovative solutions that would empower generations to ‘design their future’. In collaboration with Incubator Africa, she led the establishment of Imaginal Education Initiative, a network organization of Imaginal Education (www.imaginaleducation.com). She often collaborates on reform initiatives in the education sector and works as a freelance consultant. Sola has co-authored Civics Textbooks published by Kachifo Ltd, used in private primary and secondary schools in Nigeria.
Sola has a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service (BSFS) from Georgetown University and a Masters in Public Administration (MPA) from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), focused on Education Policy. She is also a Kauffman fellow (www.kauffmanfellows.org).
Partner, Banwo & Ighodalo
Seyi Bella
Seyi Bella is a Director and Member of the Communications & Advocacy Committee. She is a partner at Banwo & Ighodalo, one of the leading law firms in Nigeria. Seyi’s core areas of practice are Corporate and Project Finance, Private Equity, Mergers and Acquisitions and Fintech. In this regard, she has rendered legal advice to many corporates (including Nigerian companies and multinationals), international banks and financial institutions; and has been involved in some of the highest-profile transactions in corporate Nigeria. Although her practice focuses on secured lending and asset finance, the advice she provides to clients cuts across several sectors, including real estate, telecoms, power, oil and gas and shipping and trade.
In recognition of her professional work, Seyi Bella is consistently cited in respected legal directories and other professional publications such as IFLR1000 and Legal 500; and is presently ranked as a “Highly Regarded Leading Lawyer” by IFLR 1000. She has authored many articles in leading law publications.
Seyi is very passionate about good leadership, education and women empowerment and partners with several NGOS in furtherance of these values. She is occasionally invited to high schools and universities to speak to students about life and career choices. Seyi has an LLM from Harvard Law School and an LLB from the University of Lagos. When she’s not busy with legal work, mentoring younger lawyers or delivering presentations, you may catch Seyi enjoying a good movie or simply spending quality time with her family.
Chief Visionary Officer, Digital Encode
Prof. Obadare Peter
Obadare Peter Adewale is the Founder and the Chief Visionary officer (CVO) of Digital Encode Limited.
Peter is arguably the most “Credentialed” PAN-African Digital Trust Leader, CyberSecurity Strategist, GRC Thought Leader & Global Technopreneur. A Fellow British Computer Society (FBCS), Fellow Institute of Management Consultants (FIMC), Fellow Institute of Information Management (FIIM), Fellow Enterprise Security Risk Management (FESRM), Fellow Chartered Risk Manager (FCRM), Chartered Information Technology Professional (CITP-UK), Chartered Risk Manager (CRM-Nigeria), The First PECB Certified Data Protection Officer (CDPO) in Nigeria, The First PECB Lead Pentest Professional in Nigeria, First Global PECB Certified Digital Transformation Officer (CDTO), The First Ec-Council Licensed Penetration Tester (LPT) in Africa , First Ec-Council Certified Blockchain in Africa, Second COBIT 5 Certified Assessor in Africa, Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Qualified Security Assessor (PCI DSS QSA), Senior Fellow AI For Developing Countries Forum (AIFOD), Forbes Technology Council Official Member and Forbes Best of Africa – Outstanding Digital Trust Leader 2023 Awardee.
He is a seasoned Multi-Award Cybersecurity & GRC expert with over 61 (Sixty-One) international professional certifications to his credit, Master of Science in Cybersecurity, Liverpool Unversity, UK, was awarded Honorarary Doctorate Degree in Cybersecurity from Trinity International University of Ambassadors Atlanta Georgia, United State of America and First Professor of Practice – Cybersecurity at Miva Open University, Abuja, Nigeria. Peter is a well-recognized subject matter expert with numerous successful engagements to his credit in Africa and the world. His skills and experience spans Data Privacy, Data Protection, CyberSecurity, Information Security, Vulnerability Management, Penetration Testing, Computer Forensics, Business Continuity, I T Governance, Risk Management and Compliance.
He is a Cybersecurity Advisory Board Member for Lagos State Government, a Platinum Team Member of Open-Source Security Testing Methodology Manual (OSSTMM), as well a lifetime member of the Open Worldwide Application Security Project (OWASP).
He is an alumnus of FATE Foundation and US Department of State Exchange program.
He is also a distinguished alumnus of executive education at Harvard Business School, Harvard School of Government, MIT Sloan School of Management, MIT Professional Education and Oxford University – Said Business School.
Executive Director
Adenike Adeyemi
Adenike Adeyemi is a globally recognized social innovator, policy advocate, and transformative leader with over 23 years of professional experience in designing, funding, and implementing high-impact programs and policies across sub-Saharan Africa. As our Chief Executive Officer at FATE Foundation, Adenike has dedicated her career to empowering entrepreneurs, fostering innovation, and driving sustainable economic development. In 2023, she was honored as one of the 7 Global Non-Profit Leaders to Watch by Google.org, a testament to her exceptional contributions to social impact and entrepreneurship ecosystem building. Under her leadership, FATE Foundation has expanded its FATE School programs to over 1 million individuals across Nigeria’s 36 states, with extensions to Kenya and South Africa. Her leadership has provided critical support through the FATE School to entrepreneurs through training, resources, technical assistance, mentoring, and funding, including disbursing over $2 million in grants and low-interest loans to small and growing businesses, with a focus on young people, women entrepreneurs, and persons with disabilities. Adenike has also institutionalized the FATE Institute, which publishes the annual State of Entrepreneurship in Nigeria report and over 30 research reports, making it a leading resource for entrepreneurship data and policy advocacy in Nigeria.
Adenike is a respected thought leader and is the Chief Editor of FATE Foundation’s research publications. She has also contributed to peer-reviewed publications, including the Brookings Institute’s Foresight Africa 2024 Report and the British Council’s State of Social Enterprise in Nigeria Report. Her insights on entrepreneurship, social innovation, and sustainable development have influenced policy reviews within key regional and global networks, including Youth Business International, the Global Entrepreneurship Research Network, and the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs. As a Senior Fellow at the School of Sustainability, Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University, Adenike lectures on the social sector, sharing her expertise with the next generation of nonprofit leaders and changemakers.
Her academic background includes a Master of Public Administration and a Master of Arts in Diplomacy and International Relations from Seton Hall University, where she graduated with a full tuition-paid scholarship, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics and African Languages from the University of Ibadan. She is also a 2021 Chevron Fellow and alumna of the Eisenhower Fellowships Global Women Leadership Program.
Beyond her professional achievements, Adenike is deeply committed to philanthropy and corporate governance. She oversaw FATE Foundation’s philanthropy program, which raised and disbursed a $1 million COVID-19 Support Fund in 2020. She serves on several boards, including Youth Business International (YBI), BudgIT, and Oxbridge Tutorial College Foundation, and has held roles as an Independent Non-Executive Director for organizations such as Animal Care, FCSL Financial Services, VDT Group, and Bitflux Communications. Adenike’s visionary leadership has driven income growth for FATE Foundation, raising funding from partners like Google, Meta, Citi Foundation, and the Ford Foundation, while transitioning the organization to a self-sustaining model with 25% of income derived from non-grant sources. Through innovative initiatives like msmehub.org and the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Adenike leadership is aimed at scaling FATE Foundation’s impact to reach 5 million entrepreneurs by 2030. Her unwavering dedication to social impact and entrepreneurship continues to inspire and empower individuals across Africa, driving economic growth, job creation, and poverty alleviation.
Dean and Director, FATE School
Adebambo Adebowale
Mr. Adebambo Adebowale is the Dean and Director of the FATE School. As the Dean, Bambo oversees the strategic leadership and direction of the FATE School’s curriculum, programming and impact focused strategies across the school’s incubation, pre-incubation, owner-manager and accelerator programs.
Bambo brings to this role over 2 decades of experience in providing capacity building, mentoring and advisory support to the small and medium enterprise space in Nigeria including being a volunteer of the Foundation since 2002 where he has served as Faculty, Advisor, Mentor and Course Director across all our key flagship programs. His expertise includes business planning and strategic planning, financial management, investment readiness and growth advisory support to entrepreneurs. He is also the recipient of two FATE Annual Awards for Faculty and Advisor of the Year awards. He has over 25 years of experience in the corporate sector.
Prior to joining FATE Foundation, Bambo was the Head of Business Development at Mitsubishi Corporation, Nigeria & Ghana. His previous professional experiences included the UK Inland Revenue Service, PwC, and General Electric’s European Equipment Leasing Business.
Bambo is an active member of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industries having previously Chaired the Auto & Allied Sector group. He serves on the Boards of a number of non-profit organisations as a trustee and director and also provides advisory support to businesses on venture capital, systems integration and automotive systems.
He is a lover of golf and cricket and farming.
Director, The FATE Institute
Amaka Nwaokolo
Amaka Nwaokolo has over 13 years’ experience cutting across the business and development sectors in Nigeria. She heads the FATE Institute at FATE Foundation where she implements the Institute’s Research & policy Advocacy initiatives around entrepreneurship in Nigeria targeted at achieving policy and programme design, review and implementation.
Since 2015 when she joined FATE Foundation, she has led the development 12 research reports including the Mapping Study of Nigeria’s Entrepreneurship Ecosystem and the State of Entrepreneurship report. She has also led the delivery of 10 annual Policy Dialogue programmes and policy workshop sessions which bring together key policy and entrepreneurship ecosystem players across public, private and development sectors in Nigeria to discuss entrepreneurship thematic issues and develop key agreements that influence the Institute’s policy advocacy focus. Amaka also represents the FATE Institute’s advocacy efforts across critical stakeholder groups in Nigeria such as the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) where she serves as the Co-Facilitator on the MSME Community of Practice.
She has a Bachelors of Science Degree from Bowen University, Osun State and a Certificate in Business & Entrepreneurship from Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
Committee Members
Jack Bienko
Abimbola Azeh
Olusegun Olukoya
Committee Member, Finance & Fundraising Committee
Jack Bienko
Deputy Director, Entrepreneurship Education, US Small Business Administration
Jack Bienko is a member of the Finance and Fundraising Committee. He is the deputy director of the US Small Business Administration (SBA) entrepreneurship education program and helps ensure that the U.S. small business community – which represents 50 percent of private sector employment – has the tools to start, grow and sustain diverse enterprises. Among the initiatives he oversees is a network of 11,000 business mentors, the acclaimed SBA Emerging Leaders executive series, an award-winning online learning platform, and public-private partnerships with global brands. In previous roles at SBA, he directed multiple corporate partnerships and provided direct services to disaster victims seeking Federal assistance.
He also serves as a business advisor, startup investor, author and (very) amateur sportsman. Jack recently completed an Eisenhower Fellowship to facilitate innovation and entrepreneurship partnership between US and China leadership teams. He is an alumnus of the Presidential Management Fellowship, Annenberg Leadership Fellowship, and New York University’s GovLab. He was recognized by FedScoop and the Small Business Influencer Awards for his dedicated advocacy for small business concerns.
Communication and Advocacy Committee
Abimbola Azeh
Non-Director Member, Governance Committee
Olusegun Olukoya
Background: Olusegun is a strategic business leader with more than two decades of experience in corporate strategy, business development and portfolio management across financial services, consulting, and diversified sectors. He has built a strong reputation for driving growth and transformation through innovative strategic initiatives, mergers and acquisitions, and the establishment of new business ventures. Segun is also recognized for his ability to lead cross-functional teams, mentor emerging leaders, and design scalable business strategies that deliver measurable results. His expertise spans Africa’s dynamic markets, where he has played a pivotal role in expanding business interests and fostering economic development.
Experience:
Segun is the executive director at NEXTZON Business Services, where he leads project teams that assist local, international and regulatory institutions in the financial services sector to articulate business strategies and implement transformational initiatives. Prior to this role, Segun served as the pioneer Head of Strategy and Portfolio Management at HEIRS Alliance Group, a holding company with interests in key sectors of the Nigerian economy. At HEIRS Alliance, he led project teams in designing and implementing strategic initiatives, including new business ventures and mergers and acquisitions, which significantly contributed to the growth and transformation of the group’s member companies. He also worked at Accenture where he contributed to business strategy and process re-engineering projects for both local and international financial institutions. His international exposure included assignments in Germany and The Netherlands, where he gained valuable cross-cultural insights and global business acumen.
Key Competencies for the Governance Committee: Strategic People, Talent, Culture Leader