Our first Ghanaian voice in this series is a legend on the London-based investment management scene.
Dawid Konotey-Ahulu is an entrepreneur in financial services, technology and elderly care and the co-founder of Redington, the London-based independent pensions and insurance advisory group with $500 bn in assets under advisement, as well as mallowstreet.com, a social media platform connecting the pensions and insurance industry.
Toyin Oluwole’s last role was as a Senior Strategy Manager with Royal London. She previously worked in a range of financial and marketing roles at Standard Life and Moody Monday. She recently left Scotland and returned to her home country of Nigeria, and it was a moving Linked In post that she wrote that led me to her.
Obi Ozor is Founder of Kobo360, a privately owned, pan-African technology company disrupting the African third-party logistics industry. Kobo360 was named one of the Top 100 SMEs in Africa in 2018 by Business Day and Disruptor of the Year at the Africa CEO Forum on 2019. The company uses big data and agile technology to reduce friction and scale efficiency in the African logistics ecosystem. He previously held positions at Uber, JP Morgan and Bezmo Global, an international, socially-minded investment firm focused on the African continent.
Raymond Onovwigun is founder and CEO at Romco Group, which trades and processes non-ferrous metal. Founded in 2015, it now employs over 180 people in Nigeria, over 50 in Ghana, and another 15 in the UK and is on track to have revenues of £40m by the end of this year. Ray has a fascinating journey that has taken him from South London, to founding a successful plumbing business while still at university to his current quest to help to close the sustainability gap in Africa.
Our conversation starts with his Nigerian heritage, how he learned the meaning of hard work through following his mother around in her cleaning business in London, what interested in him in plumbing and how he perceived a business opportunity.
Eric Idiahi is co-founder and a partner of Verod Capital, a private equity firm based in Lagos, which he founded in 2008. He is Chairman of the Board of Tangerine Africa as well as Eleva Group and holds a number of Non Executive Director positions. He was previously a Managing Parter of FountainHead Media Group as well as a Financial Derivatives Company.
Our conversation traces Eric’s move to the US where he completed his high school and university education and what drove his decision to move back to Nigeria. This was an exciting time, and we look at some of the surprising aspects of re-integration – and how the fact that he wasn’t married initially was relevant.
In our second podcast of our Fiftyfaces Focus Next Chapter Series we hear from four more seasoned voices who are all pursuing a rich and diverse set of roles. First we meet with Margaret Casely Hayford, CBE, Chancellor of Coventry University, Special Trustee at Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity and Chair at Shakespeare’s Globe, among other board roles. She talks about the steep learning curve in gaining familiarity with the mission and purpose of each organization as well as the importance of learning to listen and for a Board to be a supportive Board. We speak also about the current levels of Board Diversity and the pace of change.
Dr. Margaret Casely-Hayford, CBE is Chancellor of Coventry University, a role she has held for close to 4 years. She has had an extensive career in law, having been a partner at Dentons for close to 20 years, and has held roles as NED of the NHS, as a Special Trustee at Great Ormond Street Hospital Childrens’ Charity, Chair at Shakespeares’ Globe, and as a Board Member of Co-op, to name just a few.
A profoundly inspiring conversation that traces Margaret’s long career in law, her portfolio career, her insights onto what is next for third level education and her views on diversity an inclusion in the legal profession.
Yvonne Bajela is an investor in early stage companies at Impact X Capital, which invests in start-ups across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. She has worked across the globe in investment banking, corporate venture capital and in academia, and is a frequent speaker on the topics of entrepreneurship and female empowerment. She was listed as a member of the Forbes 30 Under 30.
A discussion of this investor’s early interest in investing, risk-taking and how she learned the ropes of venture investing.