SPEAKERS
Founder, Tekedia Institute
Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe is the Lead Faculty of Tekedia Institute. Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe invented and patented a robotic system which the United States Government acquired assignee rights. Dr Ekekwe holds two doctoral and four master’s degrees including a PhD in engineering from Johns Hopkins University, USA. He earned an undergraduate degree from FUT Owerri where he graduated as his class best student. While in Analog Devices Corp, he co-designed an accelerometer for the iPhone. A recipient of IGI Global “Book of the Year” award, a TED Fellow, IBM Global Entrepreneur and World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, Prof. Ekekwe has held professorships in Carnegie Mellon University and Babcock University, and served in the United States National Science Foundation Committee.
The South African press called him “a doctor of innovation” for helping organizations on the mechanics of business innovation, strategy, and growth. Since 2009, the Chairman of Fasmicro Group which controls many startups and entities has been writing in the Harvard Business Review. He was recognized by The Guardian as one of 60 Nigerians Making “Nigerian Live Matter” on Nigeria’s 60th Independence Day.
ED, Investment Management, Skye Financial Services Ltd
Dimeji Sonowo has over 20 years’ experience of managing client’s funds. He commenced his Banking career in August 2000 and was registered as a fund manager by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2004 after attaining the relevant experience required.
Until July 2008, Dimeji was Head of the Asset Management Business of Investment Banking & Trust Company ( “IBTC”) now Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc.
At IBTC, Dimeji served on the Investment Management Committee of The IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund and The IBTC Ethical Fund (Nigeria’s first ethical fund). His team also managed the pre PENCOM Act pension assets of Multinationals and Oil Majors.
From July 2008 to date Dimeji has been in the Investment Management team of Skye Financial Services Ltd (now SFS Capital Nigeria Ltd) serving as Director from 2011 .
He has been a member of the Investment Committee of Skye Shelter Fund (now SFS REIT) from 2008 – date ; Union Homes REITS from 2017 – date while managing and advising Non Pension assets for best in class clients.
Dimeji has his undergraduate degree in Accounting and is a Fellow Chartered Accountant ( FCA). He obtained MBA (Finance) from Manchester Business School.
He has served as EXCO on Funds Managers Association of Nigeria (FMAN) and currently serves on the Committee charge to implement the Global Investment Performance Standard (GIPS) in Nigeria.
CEO, Niche Customer Experience Group
deBBie akwara is one of Africa’s leading CX entrepreneurs & educators with 20+ years of experience leading CX success across multiple sectors.
She is the founder and CEO at Niche Customer Experience Group; West Africa’s 1st boutique customer experience management solution & training provider. Niche CX Group is a trio of businesses i.e. Niche CX Consulting Firm (Nigeria’s first boutique CX management firm), Niche Institute of CX & Innovation and Niche Digital Solutions.
Prior to Niche, she led CX success in the banking, telecommunications & education sectors working in organizations like First City Monument Bank, Zenith Bank, Etisalat and Bridge International Academies.
Her CX successes in paid employment include an increase in; product adoption by 2567%, industry ranking by 18.7% & return on experience (ROX) of up to NGN300 million.
As an advocate of contextual CX education in Africa, deBBie (via Niche Institute of CX & Innovation) launched Africa’s 1st globally recognized CX certification courses in partnership with the Institute of Customer Management, UK. The courses are a trio of certifications for business managers (CCEM), leaders (CCEP) & customer-related consultants (CCEPR).
deBBie is a sought after global CX conference speaker & podcast guest on a mission to create awareness about CX in Africa, grow businesses one CX at a time and build the customer experience management (CEM) capabilities of professionals in Africa to drive a practical & culture-inspired approach to adopt CEM as a strategy for sustainable business growth.
In 2020/21, she was recognized as one of the top 50 global CX thought leaders & influencers.
Assistant Director, Research at the National Centre for Technology Management (NACETEM)
Abiodun Egbetokun is currently Assistant Director, Research at the National Centre for Technology Management (NACETEM), Nigeria. His research and policy experience spans a decade and a half during which he has gained a deep understanding of the microeconomic factors that shape entrepreneurship and innovation in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond. He contributes regularly to the policy discourse on innovation and entrepreneurship in the context of sustainable development. In 2017, he was a speaker at the UN High-level Study Visit to China on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) for the SDGs. In 2018, he was an invited expert at NEPAD’s Continental Expert and Practitioners’ Dialogue on Youth Entrepreneurship Promotion in Africa. In 2019, he was a Science Advice for Policy Fellow at the Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators in South Africa. He has also spent time at some of the world’s topmost research clusters including the Oxford Department of International Development. He was President (2019-2021) of the Nigerian Young Academy, a group of Nigeria’s leading young researchers and academics. He tweets @egbetokun and blogs at www.egbetokun.com/blogs.
Founder, Youlead Network
Miss Sonia is a First-Class Graduate of Economics and Development Studies from Covenant University and is currently pursuing her certification as a Chartered Accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN). She is popularly known for her story as a final-year undergraduate student who gained 2 job offers just before her convocation in 2019.
As a Social Entrepreneur, Miss Sonia is contributing to the reduction in youth unemployment in Nigeria. Adopting the tool of training and skills development, she and her team have been focused on impacting Nigerian youths with the knowledge, skills, and opportunities for gainful employment and entrepreneurship.
Her passion for youth and education development had driven her to establish a registered youth development social enterprise, The Youlead Network, where she has successfully groomed a community of over 2700 community members and 700 noncommunity members with relevant career and entrepreneurship development skills.
This includes several pieces of training she has organized for job seekers, on better and effective ways of presenting job applications. Moreover, through her self-published 3 ebooks which have been downloaded and read by over 600 job seekers across Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa, she has helped position many job seekers for gainful employment.
The vision of this enterprise is to intentionally empower 10,000 Nigerian youths by 2030, with employability, technical, digital and entrepreneurial skills as well as provide the tools required to be gainfully employed or to start their businesses.
