Sopiribo (Sops) Ideriah is the Group Managing Director, West Africa for Schlumberger. He is responsible for business
performance of all 16 Schlumberger business lines, 10 business entities across 12 countries in West Africa (Nigeria,
Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea Benin, Togo, Gambia and Mali).
With over two decades of active participation and leadership in the Oil and Gas Industry. Sops has held executive,
operational, human resource and strategic management positions at local and global levels within Schlumberger.
Most recently, Sops was Group Operations Manager for Schlumberger Reservoir Characterization in Latin America.
Sops is currently the Chairman, Petroleum Contractors Trade Section (PCTS) under the Lagos State Chamber of
Commerce. He’s also a Board member, Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN) and continues to leverage numerous
volunteer platforms for service to humanity.
He holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh and a Bachelor of
Science degree in Civil Engineering with First Class Honors from the University of Lagos, Nigeria.
Sops hails from Rivers State in Nigeria, is married with three children, and currently lives in Lagos.
Attended the elite Christ’s School Ado-Ekiti in the 1960’s for his Secondary School. Then read Physics at the University of Ibadan,1970; Applied Geophysics at Leeds University, UK, 1971, AND FINALLY Theoretical Geophysics at Cambridge University, UK, 1974.Work history started with Philips Petroleum Company in London in December 1974, then the US, Nigeria, back to the UK. Was transferred back to Nigeria in 1979 as the Managing Director of Philips Oil Company, at the age of 30 and managed the Company for 6 ½ years. Retired from Philips oil company in1987, at 37, following a management buyout of one of Philips assets, to form and run Dubri Oil Company Limited, Nigeria and Africa’s first, independently owned Exploration and Producing Company. Presently Chairman/Managing Director of Dubri Oil CompanyIn the Petroleum Industry, served on two separate occasions as Chairman of the OPTS – the Group of Petroleum Industry Producing Companies. Served as Chairman of the NNPC Board of Directors between 1992 and 1993.Presently the Pioneer Chairman of the University of Ibadan Research Foundation, Nigeria’s first Tertiary Institutions Research Foundation. Currently engaged in an innovative concept – the building of a smart Community in Edo State, where a multitude of Next Generation Technologies such as IoT (the Internet of Things), 5 & 6G, will be the order of things.Continues to serve on various bodies in both the private and public sectors, amongst which a few are: Honorary Life -Vice President and Member of Council of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce; Managing Partner of Uduimo Associates Ltd, President of the Nigerian Indian Chamber of Commerce; The Nigerian-Canadian Business Association. Member of the Board of Directors of the American Business Council; Chairman Board of Trustees of the Petroleum Club of Nigeria.Served as Vice-Chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group; Chairman of Cadbury Nigeria Plc; The Edo State Public Utilities Board; The Edo State Agricultural Development Board; President of the Lagos Business School Alumni Association. President of the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce; The Petroleum Club of Lagos; Member of the Board of Directors of Edo Cement Company; Nigerian Vision Foundation; The Vision 2010 Group; The Presidential National Stakeholders Working Group of the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative NEITI; The National Refineries Special Task Force.Honoured with the Distinguished Citizens’ Award of Edo State in 1992. Honorary Fellow of the Faculty of Petroleum Law, of the University of Dundee, in the United Kingdom in 1992. Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Ibadan by the University of Ibadan Alumni Association in 2017.Knighted by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, in 2006, with the Knighthood of the Order of St. Gregory The Great, KSG. A scion of one of the ruling families in Fugar, holds the Traditional title of Ezomo of Fugar, Edo State. Honored by President Olusegun Obasanjo with the National Honors of The officer of The Order of the Niger, OON, in December 2006.Was awarded the Honorary Doctorate Degree of Science, Dsc, (Honoris Causa), by the University of Ibadan, Nigeria’s Premier University, in November 2017.Married to Bridget Itsueli, and has four children, aged 39, 28, 28, 22 years.Among his many interests are: Travels round the world; Music – in particular Jazz;Wines – both from the traditional and new wine-world; International Affairs and Religious Matters.
Christiana Yisa is a highly accomplished, top performing, customer-focused, sales and marketing, and business development executive with over 17 years of experience in Commercial and Inside Sales, and Marketing of Information and Communication Technologies’ (ICT) applications and solution.
She joined NCR in February 2018 as a Senior Sales Account Manager and rose to become the Country Manager / CEO of NCR Nigeria PLC in February 2019.
Christiana was at IBM where she held positions of progressively increasing responsibilities for over 6 years, starting in 2009 as an Inside Sales (Digital) Representative / Client Manager, rising to become Manager, Commercial Sales Mid-Market and subsequently Leader, Commercial Sales Mid-Market in Central, East and West Africa regions, having a team of Sales Managers spread across over 26 countries.
Prior to her tenure at IBM, she was the National Coordinator, Computerize Nigeria Project and AGM/Group Head of Corporate Marketing both at Zinox Technologies Limited, Nigeria. Before working at Zinox, she held positions of progressively increasing responsibilities at Task Systems, Nigeria, another ICT company, where she was promoted 4 times in 6 years, based on performance. She started there as an Account Manager in 2001 and then was Lead Sales & Business Development, Manager Business Development, Head Business Development, and then Group Head, Oil & Gas by 2007.
Christiana has multi-sector commercial and inside sales, marketing, and business development experience having worked concurrently across Oil and Gas, Telco, Financial, Public, Manufacturing and Retail Sectors. Also, she has been very adept at continuously identifying new opportunities, expanding customer base, deepening existing relationships, satisfying corporate objectives and consistently exceeding set revenue goals – as exemplified by the numerous awards she has received.
The awards have included: IBM World-Wide CEO’s Top Performance Award (2013), IBM Club 100 & Sales Eminence Award (2012 & 2014), IBM Distinction in Sales Award (2011), and IBM Best Digital Sales Representative Award (2010).
Task Systems - HP Business Partner Award (2008), Chairman’s Sales Award for outstanding performance for 4 consecutive years; and more.
Christiana has an MBA from Lagos State University, a postgraduate diploma in Management from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, and a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from the University of Jos. In addition, she has attended many corporate courses, seminars and workshops on various business topics including sales leadership, consultative selling, channel management, conflict management, building relationships and influencing other, to mention a few.
Dipo Faulkner is the Vice - President, Technology Software - Africa at Oracle. Prior this role, he was the General Manager for IBM in West Africa. In that role, Dipo was responsible for IBM's overall business in Nigeria with a focus on deploying IBM’s advanced technology capabilities in Cognitive, Cloud Computing, Big Data and Analytics, Mobile and Security to solve current and future needs of institutions in key economic sectors across the country. He also provided leadership for IBM’s relationships and Corporate Social initiatives in the Civil Society, ICT and Academic communities. With over 25 years of work experience, he was previously IBM’s Global Business Services Lead for Central & West Africa, where he was responsible for driving the Consulting Services Business within the region since joining IBM in 2013. He was also a Director at Accenture’s Nigeria Financial Services Operating Group. Dipo holds a Bachelors’ Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Lagos, Nigeria and an Advanced Management Program Certificate from Institute de Empressa (IE), Madrid Spain
Ireti Samuel-Ogbu became the MD/CEO for Citibank Nigeria Limited in September 2020. Prior to being the MD/CEO, she was the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Head, Payments and Receivables, Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) under Citi’s Institutional Clients Group (ICG) based in London, UK. She has also been on the Board of Citibank Nigeria Limited for the last 5 years as a non-Executive Director. She has 32 years experience at Citi, during which time she has held various roles in the UK, Nigeria and South Africa (working in each of these countries twice). Previous roles have included Relationship Management (with Global Subsidiaries Group and the Public Sector Banking Team), TTS Sales, Corporate Finance and heading TTS for two of the largest markets in Africa. Ireti is a champion of diversity and inclusion: she co-founded two impactful mentorship initiatives within Citi - the Sapphire Leadership Program (Middle East and Africa) and the Momentum Program (UK). Ireti is currently the EMEA co-Chair for Women’s Affinity and represents EMEA on the Global Affinity Steering Committee. Ireti is a Lead contributor and Thought-Leader in various Banking and Fintech Forums across EMEA and has won awards in the UK and South Africa including:
• Financial Service Leader of the year 2019 at Black British Business Awards
• Innovate Finance Women in FinTech Power List, 2017
• Best Professional Executive, 2009, at the Nigeria Achievement Awards (presented in South Africa by the former President Goodluck Jonathan)
Ireti obtained a BA Hons Accounting and Finance from Middlesex University, UK and has an MBA from the University of Bradford, UK. She is married with 2 daughters and enjoys spending time with her family, running and contemporary art.
Chijioke is a Partner in PwC, and the Insourced Solutions for Tax (IST) leader for West and
Central Africa and the Africa Oil and Gas Tax leader.
He has the primary responsibility of managing and driving the General Electric (GE)
relationship and supporting all GE businesses in East, West and Central Africa from a tax
and regulatory standpoint.
He is also driving the Government and Public Sector Tax engagements for West Africa in
PwC.
Chijioke has led tax engagements for multinationals in the fast moving consumer goods
industries and has experience of tax jurisdictions across west and central Africa . He drives
initiative around business development, people engagement, working capital management
and external relationships with the firm.
He has also led advocacy engagements for industry associations tackling the illicit use and
production of products in Nigeria from a tax and regulatory standpoint.
Prior to joining PwC he was a regional Executive and Tax Director for Sub-Saharan Africa in
GE with a responsibility to manage GE’s tax compliance and provide advice on tax
structuring and tax planning for all GE businesses in the sub-region.
He also spent 11 years in KPMG, where he drove the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) tax desk –
providing compliance and advisory services to companies operating in the GoG region in
the areas of Oil and Gas, Power and Mining, and Consumer Goods. He was also a key
member of the firm’s Oil and Gas practice providing tax advisory services to companies in
the upstream of the oil and gas sector.
Emmanuel Asika brings to the table a 17-year Multi-National Experience in Telco & IT.
He joined HP in 2013 and has been a Partner Business Manager, Distribution Business Manager,
Transactional & Mid Market Manager, Interim Managing Director & District Manager for Central Africa and
now is the Country Head for HP Nigeria (Statutory Director) and the Omni-Channel Manager for HP Central
Africa.
From a first degree in English, Emmanuel has added an MBA from Warwick Business School and a stint in
Harvard Business school studying ‘Building Businesses in Emerging Markets’ to his Academic
accomplishments.
While Emmanuel has been a recipient of numerous Academic, Business and Country Awards, he considers
his greatest accomplishment to be his commitment and passion to Nigeria and the Continent, thus he is at
the forefront of driving Sustainability Initiatives that address Digital Inequality, Diversity & Inclusion and
better Opportunities for the underprivileged.
Executive Biography
Emmanuel ASIKA
Country Head, HP Nigeria and Omni-Channel Manager, Central Africa
Fun Facts
Emmanuel was a Boys Scout, is a Sports and Fitness Enthusiast, loves travelling & History and is big on
Leadership & Mentoring.
Emmanuel Asika’s Leadership Philosophy leans towards Clarity of Thought, Curiosity & Authenticity.
Margaret Obiageli Olele is currently the Chief Executive Officer/ Executive Secretary of the American Business Council www.abcnig.com , the voice of American Business in Nigeria and the affiliate of the US Chamber of Commerce. Prior to this role, she was the Corporate Affairs Director for Pfizer in Nigeria, Ghana, East Africa & Southern African Markets responsible for all Public Affairs and Communication engagements in about 15 countries and represented Pfizer on the Board of Directors of the American Business Council.
She played key roles in the Pharma industry working with different government committees and Trade Associations including the Advertising Standards Panel of the Advertising Regulatory Agency in Nigeria (APCON), BASCAP Nigerian Taskforce, and The Nigerian Representative of Overseas Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (NIROPHARM) where she served as an executive and championed Publicity initiatives.
Margaret has over 24 years’ experience in Food and Pharma industry and in July 2010 joined Pfizer as an Associate Director, Public Affairs and Communication and by 2012 became a Director in the same role. In 2013, she was seconded to the role of Director Tenders and Institutions and infused her experience in the area of Public Affairs, providing fresh insights into the opportunities around Tender Business in the Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia.
From 2013 - July 2016, Maggie combined her role as Corporate Affairs role with Health & Value, Tender and key Account Management. She led the team into winning new Tenders and achieving great success in business with non-traditional Customers. In 2017, She became Corporate Affairs Director with an expanded geographical role and communication oversight in French Speaking West Africa and Southern African Markets.
She worked with global teams and was the Key Contact point for Global and regional Corporate Affairs projects in SSA including the Access and Affordability Project in Ghana -an initiative to
improve access to quality medicines for non- communicable diseases/ Health system strengthening working with the GATES Foundation, Ghanaian government and some multinational pharma; The SSA Oncology access initiatives, Mencevax/Ninmerix IDSA Exit, GEP4GOOD and the SSA Sickle Cell Project.
She was directly in charge of building Pfizer’s reputation in African communities through unique in-country CSR initiatives, Government engagement, strengthening partnerships with Pharmacy Associations across major countries and mobilizing and empowering Patient Associations.
She supported the birth and growth of Glaucoma Patient Association through Capacity building and media awareness and joint advocacy visits; Organized and initiated a coalition of Oncology Patient
groups in Africa strengthening them through capacity building training on use of social media, media training and fund mobilization; Sickle Cell Patient Groups in Africa through support of media awareness activities, screenings, awareness of treatment guidelines among others. In her personal capacity, Margaret mentors’ young leaders of Patient Groups and have supported fund mobilization projects with some groups especially Sickle Cell Aid Foundation. She has been a YALI Mentor and Reader.
She has also trained IAPO members in Africa on stakeholder mapping and remains passionate about empowerment of Patient Groups in the Continent.
She obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and Literature, a Masters of Arts Degree in English from the University of Ibadan Nigeria, a Post Graduate Diploma in Mass Communication from the University of Lagos and a Master’s of Science Degree in Mass Communication specializing in Public Relations and Advertising from the same University.
Margaret worked in the Pioneer Private broadcast media in Nigeria, Clapperboard Network Television and over sixteen years with West African Seasoning Company, part of Ajinomoto Group, Japan. She set the pace in this company's diversification into East Africa and held at various times the position of General Manager for Marketing, Regulatory, New Product Development, Public Relations and Corporate Communication.
She trained at the British Standard Institute, United Kingdom as an internal Auditor for Quality Management System ISO 9001.2000, as well as Environmental Management Systems ISO 1800 and was the Management Representative for the Quality Management System at the West African Seasoning Company.
Margaret is a Certified National Quality Management Auditor of the Standard Organization of Nigeria, a member of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria.
She was the Executive Secretary of the key Food Lobby Group Association- the Monosodium Glutamate Association of Nigeria and the first Female Vice President of the Technical Committee, Food and Beverage Trade Association. She represented the Food Group at Nigeria National Codex Alimentarius Committee, a committee involved in the setting of National Standards for Food and Food related products. She attended a Number of Regional and International Codex Alimentarius meetings as part of the Nigerian National Delegation representing the Beverage and Food Industry in this Delegation. She served on the Advertising Standard Panel of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria.
Maggie leverages her strength in relationship building and management to run successful projects in her markets with Cross Functional teams and across different levels of society.
In her spare time, she is an adjunct Faculty teaching Brand strategy and communication at the graduate school of Media and Communication Pan Atlantic University, loves writing and has published a number of articles in National Newspapers. She is currently working on a Novel.
Over his 23-year career in Accenture, Niyi has been a part of numerous transformation projects. His expertise covers the implementation of IT-enabled business solutions for clients in Banking, Insurance, Consumer Goods, Public Sector, Oil and Gas, Telecoms and Manufacturing. He has been instrumental in the creation of key infrastructure for the Nigerian banking industry including the national payment switch and a credit bureau.
In 2010, Niyi was appointed as Nigeria’s County Managing Director. His focus is geared toward large scale transformation projects that seek to modernize and diversify the Nigerian economy – with meaningful improvements visible in people’s lives and businesses in general. He is certified in IT Governance, Business Continuity, Project Management, and IT Service Management.
In 2019, Niyi became the Managing Director of Verraki Nigeria formerly Accenture Nigeria.
Niyi is extremely passionate about developing Nigeria as demonstrated by his efforts in mentoring budding and experienced entrepreneurs. He actively serves on various boards including a national think tank, a leading Chamber of Commerce, an educational board and chairman of the Nigeria arm of the world’s largest youth-serving NGO. He is an avid reader and devoted father of three.
Paul McGrath is Chairman/Managing Director of ExxonMobil’s two upstream affiliates, Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN) and Esso Exploration & Production Nigeria Limited (EEPNL).Prior to his appointment as Chairman/Managing Director in March 2017, he was Project Execution Manager for ExxonMobil Development Company in Houston.He has over 30 years oil and gas industry experience, beginning as a process supervisor working offshore operations on Brent Delta, UK North Sea. He Joined ExxonMobil in 1999, and has held various technical and managerial assignments covering deepwater platforms, subsea and onshore oil and gas facilities.Paul holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Strathclyde University in Glasgow. He is also a member of the Institute of Chemical Engineers.
Dick Kramer is Chairman of African Capital Alliance (ACA), an investment management firm that pioneered the management of private equity investments in high potential sectors of the West African economy. ACA has ;to date, raised over US$1.2 billion in managed funds.Dick came to Nigeria in 1978 to launch Arthur Andersen & Co. as Managing Partner after similar roles in Benelux and Latin America. The two successor firms – KPMG Professional Services and Accenture – are today’s leading Nigerian firms in accounting, tax and management consultancy. Dick trained in accountancy at Kansas University (1956) and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School before joining Arthur Andersen in 1958. During his career, he worked in all areas of the firm’s practice and in the US, Latin America, Middle East, Europe and India, as well as Africa.Following retirement in 1994, Dick remained in Nigeria to consult, invest and continue community service activities. He helped found the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, the Harvard Business School Association of Nigeria, the Lagos Business School and, more recently the American Business Council, where he was the pioneer President. He headed the Technical Team as a Member of Vision 2010 Committee. He currently serves as Trustee for the Ikoyi Club 1938 and has also remained active in several other chambers, associations, professional activities and non-profit organizations.He was conferred with the National Honour of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR), the Zik Prize in Leadership, and the Institute of Directors award for Entrepreneurship.His wife, Wanda, worked to put Dick through Harvard Business School and has followed her own career of teaching since graduation from Colorado University (1960). She taught and consulted as testing coordinator at American International School, Lagos from 1979 to 2005 before retiring. They recently celebrated their 66th wedding anniversary. Dick and Wanda have two sons – Cliff and Kirk – and are blessed with 3 grandchildren.
Tola Adeyemi is the National Senior Partner for KPMG in Nigeria and Chairman, KPMG West Africa. He was admitted as a partner in the year 2000. Before assuming this role, Tola was the Partner & Head of the Audit & Assurance Services division of the Firm with over 34 years of professional experience in advising our local and multinational clients across industries and sectors of the economy including the public domain.
As KPMG West Africa Chairman, Tola has been responsible for shaping and defining the KPMG’s developmental strategy in the region. As CEO of KPMG in Nigeria, he promotes and provides effective leadership and direction for the firm’s business operation, working in collaboration with partners and staff to drive and deliver on the KPMG’s strategy and growth agenda across the Nation. Tola is also a promoter of an inclusive and high-performing culture throughout the KPMG network as well as living the KPMG values.
While in the Audit & Assurance Services division as partner and head, Tola served as Engagement Partner and Quality Assurance Partner on a variety of audit and accounting services as well as other business advisory assignments, delivering value-adding result with industry leading practices to our local and multinational clients.
Tola is a member of the KPMG West Africa Board, KPMG Africa Board, and the KPMG Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMA) Board. He currently serves on the Board of LEAP Africa, the Chairman of the Audit and Finance Committee as well as a Board member of the Redeemers University.
Tola had lived and worked in the UK and South Africa, where he assisted various clients in meeting their strategic and financial management objectives. He is a regular speaker on governance and risk management, the future of accounting profession and the changing roles of key stakeholders and those charged with governance.
Tola has a first-class honours degree in Accounting from the University of Ife, Ile-Ife (now OAU). He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, an active Member of the Institute of Directors (IoD) and a Board member of the Audit Faculty of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN). He is an alumnus of various top management and leadership programmes of the Lagos Business School, Harvard Business School, USA and INSEAD in France.
Mokutima Ajileye is the Managing Director of P&G Nigeria and is responsible for leading the
company’s business operations in the country. She is a highly experienced business leader with over 17
years of accomplishments in building brands, growing businesses and solving complex business
challenges across Africa, Europe, Middle East and South Asia.
Prior to her current role, Mrs. Ajileye served as the Senior Director of Commercial and Marketing for
P&G Nigeria where she defined and led the commercial and marketing strategic growth plan for all
P&G brands in Nigeria. Before this, she was the Regional Director of Digital Transformation &
Disruptive Innovation for P&G’s feminine care business in Europe.
Mrs. Ajileye is an alumnus of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri and holds certifications in
Digital Disruption from IMD Business School, Switzerland and in Strategy from INSEAD Business
School, France.
She is married with 3 children and has lived and worked in Nigeria and Switzerland. She is passionate
about education of the girl child, enjoys exploring new cities and is an avid reader.
Alfred has extensive experience in leading market growth with a solid base of competencies across strategy and operations management built from careers spanning financial services, FMCG and management consulting having worked in the Nigeria practice of KPMG professional services.
His prior roles within the Coca-Cola system include Franchise Director for cluster markets in the Southern and Eastern Africa region, Director of Revenue Growth Management in the East and Central Africa Region, and Strategy head for the Nigeria business. In these roles, Alfred collaborated extensively with the network of Coca-Cola system partners to drive profitable business growth and value share gains across the markets.
Education
Alfred holds a First Class (Hons) Degree from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria and a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the University of Leicester, UK.
Hobbies & Passion
He is passionate about leading with impact and empowering young talent for growth. He is an ardent sportsman and in his free time enjoys running, playing soccer, tennis and spending time with his family.
