Meet The Women of Endeavor Nigeria

To mark International Women’s Day 2019, this month we are celebrating the Women of Endeavor Nigeria.

We are pleased to welcome Dr Amy Jadesimi to the Board of Directors and Mrs Fola Laoye into our local Endeavor Mentor network. They join four other inspiring female business leaders who are working with us on the journey to build the leading entrepreneurship support organisation in the region, focused on scaleups and growth stage companies. We look forward to welcoming more high-impact women to Endeavor Nigeria in the near future.

Endeavor Mentors actively donate their time, sharing domain expertise, market experience and technical knowledge with Endeavor Entrepreneurs, through mentoring sessions and advisory board membership. They help us select Endeavor Entrepreneurs, by participating in selection interviews and panels. Endeavor board-members actively support the activities of their local Endeavor offices, doubling as mentors and selection panelists for Endeavor companies locally and internationally. They believe in Endeavor’s mission and actively give their capital, networks, expertise and other resources for the benefit of Endeavor companies.

We profile the women of Endeavor Nigeria below.

Adebisi Lamikanra is an Endeavor Mentor. She heads the Advisory practice of KPMG Nigeria which consists of Management Consulting, Deal Advisory, Technology Advisory and Risk Consulting business units. She also leads the financial services sector across Africa. She has over 30 years of professional experience providing advisory and consulting services to various private and public sector entities within and outside Nigeria. Bisi has championed various initiatives in the Nigerian banking and finance space and facilitated and presented papers on topical banking and financial issues at several fora. She is currently the thematic leader for the Non-banking sub-sector for NESG. She has been involved in various landmark industry reform initiatives.

Amy Jadesimi is an Endeavor Board-Member. She is the CEO of LADOL, a $500 million Industrial Free Zone. Amy was a Commissioner for Business & Sustainable Development Commission. Her accolades include being named Oil and Gas Leading Women of the year 2018 by the Foreign Investment Network, voted the Young CEO of the Year (2018) by the African Leadership Forum, an Archbishop Tutu Fellow, working to reduce maternal mortality, Young Global Leader (WEF), Rising Talent (Women’s Forum for Economy and Society), 20 Youngest Power Women in Africa (Forbes), Top 25 Africans to Watch (Financial Times), named as one of the 2018 Most Influential People of African Descent (Under 40) Worldwide, in support of the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent (UN IDPAD), named as one of 50 Influential Women in Business by The Africa Report, Jeune Afrique and the Africa CEO Forum and she is a member Advisory Board of Prince’s Trust International and contributor to Forbes.

Elizabeth Rossiello is an Endeavor Entrepreneur. She is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of BitPesa, a digital payments platform.  Prior to founding BitPesa, she was Deputy Director of Planet Rating’s East and Southern African office, served as an Analyst at Credit Suisse in NY, London and Zurich. She is also a founding member of the World Economic Forum’s Future Council on Blockchain and the Global Blockchain Business Council, as well as an active advocate for blockchain technology in emerging markets. In 2018 she was named to Fortune Magazine’s “The Ledger 40 Under 40” list of young people who are transforming business at the leading edge of finance and technology.

Fola Laoye is an Endeavor Mentor. She is Founder and CEO of Health Markets Africa, an advisory and investment company. She was previously Director for West Africa Investments at the Investment Fund for Health in Africa (IFHA). She is also a board member and was previously CEO and then Chairperson of Hygeia Group Nigeria, promoters of Hygeia HMO and Lagoon Hospitals. Fola has had twenty-eight years of business experience, both locally and internationally, having trained with Ernst & Young, Lagos and Price WaterHouse Coopers in London and is a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria.

Halima Dangote is an Endeavor Board-Member. She is an Executive Director of Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), one of the largest and most diversified business conglomerates in Africa encompassing manufacturing cement, sugar, salt, flour, poly-products as well as logistics, oil & gas and real estate. The combined market capitalization of DIL subsidiaries is over $25 billion. She is also an Executive Director for Dangote Flour Mills and the Aliko Dangote Foundation. Ms. Dangote is the president of the board of The Africa Center in New York, a uniquely focused center providing a forward-looking gateway for engagement with Africa, while encompassing policy, business and culture. She is a member of the Women Corporate Directors (WCD). Halima has over 12 years of professional experience and has held a number of executive management roles. She works closely with the President and other members of the Executive Team to develop geographic and sectoral expansion plans for DIL.

Omobola Johnson is an Endeavor Mentor. She is Senior Partner of TLcom Capital, a venture capital firm with recent focus on deal flow generation, investment and value generation in technology companies in sub-saharan Africa. Omobola was Minister of Communication Technology, Nigeria from 2011 to 2015, focusing on the launch and execution of the National Broadband Plan, and the support of the Nigerian technology industry, including the pioneering involvement of the government in a local VC fund and a network of start-up incubators. Prior to serving in the Nigerian government, she gained over 25 years of consulting experience with Accenture including five years as Country Managing Director, working with companies in a variety of industries, transforming them into more competitive and dynamic organizations. She serves on the Board of a number of leading Nigerian and multi-national corporations and is the Honorary Chairperson, Alliance for Affordable Internet (Worldwide Web Foundation), a Trustee of the World Economic Forum’s Future of the Internet Initiative and Founding Chairperson and Trustee, Women in Management and Business.