Board of Directors
Adewale (Ade) Audifferen
Chairman, Independent Non-Executive Director
​
Ade is a seasoned business leader and energy sector executive with more than twenty-five (25) years of professional experience spanning Rail, Power, Oil & Gas, and Water technologies. Ade’s direct experience in power technology solutions over this period includes business development for sales and services of power plants within Nigeria and sub-Sahara Africa.
Previously, Ade held senior business development executive roles at Wartsila Marine & Power Services (Nigeria) leading new units technology sales and services at different times and also at the General Electric Company, USA (GE). While at GE he worked across two (2) key GE businesses notably GE Capital (Railcar) and GE Energy (Gas Turbines). Due to his stellar performances, he was nominated as Managing Director, GE International Operations Nigeria where he led and delivered growth initiatives in lifecycle energy solutions across GE Power, and Oil & Gas segments.
He holds a master’s degree in Structural Engineering from The George Washington University, Washington D.C., the USA, and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil & Structural Engineering from the University of Cardiff, Wales U.K and has participated in numerous executive leadership development courses.
Dr Jubril Adeojo
Non-Executive Director
Dr. Jubril Adeojo is the Co-founder/CEO at SMEFUNDS Capital Limited. Dr. Jubril led the consortium that set up the $100million Nigeria-Green Energy Fund programme that is backed by the African Guarantee Fund; senior climate fund adviser on the $10Billion Climate Change Fund; Senior Adviser on the $5Billion AfDB Green Credit Facility. Dr Jubril purposefully aligns the Performance standard reviews with his knowledge and approach to structuring, setting up and managing climate and sustainability Funds for private sector and
government across Africa.
He has over 17 years’ professional experience covering investment and commercial banking, development finance, blended finance, tech startup investing, business coaching, project finance, corporate finance, economics, strategic planning, ESG and Performance Standard reviews and audit, agriculture finance, climate & sustainable energy finance, agribusiness, enterprise development, community development, financial inclusion and livelihoods co-creation and security, and funds raising. His professional career covers working for Nigerian commercial and investment banks, one of the big four auditing firms, and a couple of advisory services to bi-lateral and multi-lateral development agencies on climate finance and sustainability matters in alignment with the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of different African countries under the Paris Agreement for Climate Change.
Dr Jubril is a certified climate and sustainable energy finance expert from the reputable Frankfurt School of Finance and Management. He holds a PhD in development finance and community development from the Da Vinci Institute for Technology Management; MSc. in Strategic Finance and BA. in Business Administration from Oxford Brookes University and University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom respectively.
A few pivotal projects and programs he championed are as follows:
Led the development of business plan for the sovereign $10Billion Nigeria Climate Change Fund.
The issuance of the first ever corporate green sukuk in Africa, the 13th in the world, and first joint issuance of a bond and sukuk in a single issue. $25million green bond/sukuk programme in Nigeria. The setup of the $100 million Nigeria Green Energy Programme in collaboration with African Guarantee Fund (AGF), a foremost pan African credit insurance companies in Africa.
Led the consortium that developed the guidelines for mainstreaming climate ac4on into the line of credit for the African Development Bank (AfDB) to extend to primary financial institutions across Africa towards achieving NDC targets by 2030 and Net Zero targets by 2050. On this project, I led client engagements to establish 1,000 green businesses, analysed climate business models and synthesising learnings, integrated corporate partners and start- up capabilities to develop new ventures, and supported building our capability by transferring knowledge and experience to our teams.
Designed the $5 Billion Green Finance Sector Credit Facility Programme for the Bank.
Led the team that managed the $600 million Central Bank of Nigeria concessional loan fund at the bank to finance 5,000 young entrepreneurs (both aspiring and emerging) in the country. Focused on agribusinesses, schools, ICT, co8age industries, and creative industries.
Led Capacity building training for 200 managers and executives of regional and local development financial institutional across Africa
Sit on the Board of startups and finance companies, and also lead climate finance advisory for African Sovereigns.
He is a Senior fellow at the Trans4m Center for Integral Development, Switzerland; Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa; a member of Faculty of Green Bond Course of the United Nations University – Ghana; a member of the Faculty of Green Bond Course at X-Academy of Nigeria Stock Exchange Group; a pioneer member of the Financial Centre for Sustainability, Lagos (LC4S).
Akinlola Akinyelure
Non-Executive Director
Akin possess over twenty (20) years cognate professional experience spanning strategy development, operational experience, governance, and project & structured finance.
At Vista Advisory, he has direct oversight for originating high-valued mandates such as tax optimisation for Huawei that led to significant savings as well as other critical Public Private Partnership (PPP) mandates spanning healthcare, infrastructure, education sectors. Previously at Asoil Nigeria Limited, he led structuring of multiple oil and gas trade transactions in partnerships with reputable firms such as Oando Energy Resources, Total and Mobil. Between 2015 and 2019, Akin served as Senior Special Assistant to the Governor of Lagos State, a position he executed with excellence.
He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting and Economics from the University of Reading and a Master of Science Degree in Energy, Trade and Finance from the prestigious Cass Business School at the City University, UK.
​
Soibi Ovia MCI Arb
Independent Non-Executive Director
Soibi is a thorough-bred commercial litigator and dispute resolution lawyer with specialisation in civil and commercial litigation, Arbitration, Negotiation and Mediation. She has represented clients in various industries such as Banking, Energy, Intellectual Property, Real Estate across the Superior Courts of records in Nigeria.
A Partner at Duale, Ovia & Alex-Adedipe Law Firm, Soibi leads the Litigation and Dispute Resolution Department of the Firm. Over the course of her career, she has advised and provided legal representation for numerous local and international firms operating within oil and gas and finance sectors. Recently, she successfully advised and represented an indigenous Oil and Gas company on the recovery of a debt of over ₦5bn.
She holds a Bachelor of Law Degree from the River State University of Science and Technology and a B.L. from the Nigeria Law School. Soibi is a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Justice, Nigeria and a member of the Nigerian Bar Association, International Bar Association and Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK).
Executive Management Team
Ayokunle Ilesanmi
Managing Director/CEO
Ayokunle possesses over 16 years professional experience spanning Corporate Development, Corporate & Commercial Banking, Capital Markets Advocacy/Develop-ment, Strategy Execution & Investor Relations, Business Development and Project Finance.
He began his career at Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited as a Youth Corper and transitioned into the finance space with stints at Aquila Capital Limited, First City Monument Bank Limited (FCMB), Heritage Bank PLC, and FMDQ Securities Exchange PLC (FMDQ). He held senior leadership position at Berkshire Advisory Partners Limited and was Group Head, Financial Sector Development at FMDQ with responsibility for managing the Debt Capital Markets Development Project 2025 and the UK-DFID funded Nigerian Green Bond Market Development Programme.
He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science degree from Babcock University and Master of Science Degrees in Information Systems and General Management obtained from University of Sheffield and Imperial College, London respectively. In 2016, he completed the Management Acceleration Programme (MAP) at INSEAD, Fontainebleau.
Adetola Odusote
Chief Operating Officer
Adetola has over 16 years experience spanning Pensions, Insurance, Asset Management, and the Capital Markets, where he served in various capacities. He is a well-seasoned professional with robust knowledge and specialties in risk management & compliance, treasury and finance, business strategy, compliance, corporate sales, and marketing.
He began his career in Guaranty Trust Assurance PLC (now AXA Mansard Insurance PLC), where he grew through the ranks and was very instrumental in the implementation of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) across the AXA Mansard business. From his experience in the insurance and investment space, he transitioned to the Nigerian capital markets, where he spent over four (4) years in FMDQ Group and served as Group Head, Strategy, Risk & Compliance, manning key roles in strategy, enterprise risk management, compliance, internal control, and finance functions across six (6) Entities within the Group.
He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biochemistry from the University of Ibadan and a United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP- FI) Certification in Environmental and Social Risk Analysis (ESRA). In 2019, he completed an Executive Management Development Programme at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, USA. He is also an alumnus of International Institute for Management Development (IMD), Switzerland, where he completed the Advanced Management Program (AMP) in 2023.
Ogochukwu Mba
Group Head, Assurance Services
Ogochukwu is an assurance services specialist with over twelve (12) years’ professional experience spanning financial control, expense monitoring, business development, internal control and audit, inspection, and compliance functions.
Prior to joining Berkshire Finance Company Limited, she had oversight responsibility for the Internal Control function at Africa’s first vertically integrated financial market infrastructure group, FMDQ Group, where she encouraged compliance with Management’s Policies, Procedures and ensured adequacy of controls across six (6) Entities within the Group. She also had stints as reconciliation specialist at Guaranty Trust Bank Limited and Spring Bank PLC (now Heritage Bank PLC) where she ensured zero discrepancies in the Banks’ NOSTRO accounts.
A Chartered Banker, she holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from Covenant University and Master of Science Degree in Finance from the University of Lagos.