Three New Directors Join UAC of Nigeria Board

By Dipo Olowookere

Three new directors have been appointed into the board of directors of UAC of Nigeria Plc. The new appointees are Mr Folasope Babasola Aiyesimoju and Mrs Olufunke Ighodaro, who are Non-Executive Directors; and Mr Peter Benedikt Mombaur, who will serve as alternate Director to the new Directors.

A statement issued by the firm disclosed that the three directors are expected to bring into the board their wealth of experience.

A brief profile of the appointees shows that Mr Aiyesimoju is a finance professional with experience spanning corporate finance, principal investing and private equity.

Over the course of his career, he has lived and worked in Sub-Saharan Africa’s most important economies gaining experience of the operating landscape in the region.

He holds a B.Sc (Hons) degree in Estate Management from the University of Lagos, where he was awarded a Certificate of Excellence in Real estate development and finance, and earned the right to use the CFA designation in 2006.

Mr Aiyesimoju is the founder of Themis Capital Management, an investment firm focused on concentrating capital and talent on high-potential opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Prior to founding Themis, he worked with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, a leading global investment firm with $168 billion in assets under management.

His experience also includes working with the Standard Bank Group, where he led mergers and acquisitions in Nigeria.

Mr Aiyesimoju spent the early part of his career with Ocean and Oil Holdings Limited, a principal investment firm in Nigeria and ARM Investment Managers, one of Nigeria’s leading investment advisory and wealth management firms. He co-founded Foodpro Limited, a nutritional snacks business focused on edible nuts, where he currently serves as a non-executive director.

On her part, Mrs Ighodaro is a commercially astute and experienced business leader with considerable experience in executive, as well as, non-executive leadership positions with some of Africa’s most successful companies.

She holds a B.Sc. (Hons) degree in Operational Research from Salford University and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. She is an independent non-executive director and audit committee member at Datatec Limited, an international information and communications technology business with a market capitalization of $500 million and independent non-executive director and audit committee chair at Transaction Capital Limited, a $900m business, which operates in highly specialised and under- served segments of the South African and Australian financial services markets.

She also serves as an independent non-executive director for the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, Members’ Advisory Board for Africa. She was recently appointed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Nigerian Communications Commission and a syndicate of 13 lenders to the Interim Board of Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services Limited where she serves as Executive Director & Chief financial officer focused on stabilizing the business ahead of a third-party sale. Her prior work experience includes serving as CFO at Tiger Brands Limited, Africa’s leading food producer with more than $2.5 billion in sales and operations across Africa and Latin America.

Prior to Tiger Brands, she was CFO at Primedia Limited and Executive Director at Kagiso Trust Investments. Funke spent the early part of her career working with the Standard Bank Group in Johannesburg and PricewaterhouseCoopers in London.

For Mr Mombaur, he is an investor and entrepreneur with professional experience in Sub-Saharan Africa, Western Europe and North America. He has lived and worked in Nigeria for seven years and overseen investments for over a decade.

He holds University degrees in Mechanical Engineering (specialising in Energy and Automation), as well as Law and Economics. His work experience spans fast moving consumer goods, telecommunications, financial services and education. He is the co-founder of Themis Capital Management, an investment firm focused on concentrating capital and talent on high-potential opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa.

He is also chief executive officer and cofounder of Terra Education, a leading travel company based in San Diego, USA.

Prior to assuming an executive role at Terra Education, Peter was co-managing director at Tana Africa, an investment company with an open-ended investment horizon backed by the Oppenheimer family and Temasek.

His experience includes close to a decade as a management consultant with Mckinsey & Company, as well as, an independent consultant. Peter started his career with RWE Group, one of Germany’s largest utility companies. He is co-founder of the African Leadership Academy, an institution based in Johannesburg, South-Africa and focused on developing Africa’s future leaders.