Trustees

Adedotun Sulaiman

Board of Trustee

Mr. Adedotun Sulaiman started his career life as a diplomat, with a brief stint at the Nigerian Embassy in Washington DC as a Consular Officer from November 1976 to early 1978. In late 1978, he joined the Management Information Consulting Division of Arthur Andersen & Co. (later Andersen Consulting, now Accenture) as a pioneer staff. He rose rapidly through the ranks to become a local partner in 1984 and a Partner in the Worldwide firm in 1989.

He succeeded the founding Managing Partner of Arthur Andersen &Co. in 1993 and remained Country Managing Partner of both Arthur Andersen, the Audit and Tax practice, and Andersen Consulting until 1999 when he relinquished the headship of Arthur Andersen to focus exclusively as Country Managing Director of Andersen Consulting ( now Accenture) upon the breakup of Arthur Andersen Worldwide Organization. He retired as Country Managing Director of Accenture in 2005 and continued as Chairman until 2010..

Mr. Sulaiman sits on and chairs the boards of many companies in several sectors and is an active venture investor focusing his investment on start-ups and early- stage businesses, where he supports, mentors, coaches and handholds young and promising entrepreneurs. He also invests, co-invests and works closely with some of the major private equity firms active in Nigeria including Actis, African Capital Alliance, Helios and Adlevo.

He has also served or continues to sit on the boards of several not-for-profit organisations including the Corona Schools Trust, Greensprings Schools, the University of Lagos Advancement, Board Society for Art Collection, the Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON), the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, the Harvard Business School Alumni of Nigeria (HBSAN) and the African Ventures Philanthropy Alliance and Lagos Angel Network.

He is a distinguished alumnus of the University of Lagos from where he graduated with a First Class Honours degree in Business Administration in 1975 and of the Harvard Business School where he did the PMD in 1990. Pursuing his professional education further, DS became an associate of the Institute of Chartered Accountant of Nigeria(ICAN) ACA, in May 1981.

Bismark Rewane

Board of Trustee

Bismarck J. Rewane is the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Financial Derivatives Company Limited in Lagos.

He has more than thirty years experience as an Economist, Banker & Financial Analyst. He is a Chartered member of the Institute of Bankers of England and Wales and a Fellow of The Nigerian Institute of Bankers.

Deji Alli

Board of Trustee

Deji Alli is the Chief Executive Officer of Mixta Real Estate Plc, a pan-African real estate development company headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria with subsidiary operations in Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire. Prior to this, he served as founding CEO of Asset & Resource Management Holding Company Limited, a role which he stepped down from in July 2015. Deji’s career also spans Prudential Portfolio Managers Limited, UK and the African Development Bank (ADB).

Deji holds a BSc degree in Accounting and a postgraduate degree in Finance from the University of Lagos. He is also an Associate member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, UK. He was conferred the National Honours Award — Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) in 2014 in recognition of his contributions to the Nigerian financial services industry.

Hajara Adeola

Board of Trustee

Hajara Adeola is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Lotus Capital Limited. She has over 20 years experience working in top-tier global investment banks in the UK and Nigeria, where she focused on research and analyses, investment management, Islamic finance, and corporate finance.

Prior to founding Lotus Capital, she previously worked with Arthur Anderson Consulting (now Accenture). UBS Warburg, BNP Paribas and ARM Investment Managers Limited. Hajara is regarded as the top industry expert in Islamic fund management in Nigeria.

Mrs. Adeola is the first President of the Fund Managers Association of Nigeria. She is also the Chairperson of the Securities & Exchange Commission’s Non-Interest Capital Market 10year master plan committee. She is a member of the SEC Capital Market Master Plan Implementation Council (CAMMIC) and a member of the Nigeria Stock Exchange Fixed Income Products Advisory Committee. Hajara is a Director of the Aliko Dangote Foundation.

Qualifications: MSc Finance (Durham University) MBA International Management (Exeter University) BSc Pharmacology (King’s College, London).

Nicholas Nyamali

Board of Trustee

Nicholas Nyamali is the Group Managing Director of Investment One Financial Services Limited. He holds two Masters’ Degrees in Law and Economics as well as an MBA from the London Business School.

He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, UK and a member of the Institute of Securities & Investment, UK. Nicholas started his career as a Barrister & Solicitor with Haruna & Co. He then worked with Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) before joining GTBank Plc, working at various times in the legal, corporate banking and corporate finance teams. He thereafter worked with Barclays Capital, London and Mckinsey & Co, London before returning to Nigeria to set up Investment One Financial Services Limited (then GTB Asset Management Limited, a former subsidiary of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc.).