Our Board Members

JACQUES

PIEKARSKI

 

President

 

Jacques is the Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director of BUA Cement PLC. In 2020, BUA Group consolidated its cement operations and listed BUA Cement Plc on the Nigerian Stock Exchange with a total combined installed capacity of 8million mtpa and a market capitalization of N1.18trillon (US$3.3bn), making it the second largest cement producer in the Nigerian market and the largest cement producer in the North Western region of the country. 

 

Prior to that, he was also the Group Chief Financial Officer (GCFO) of Tropical General Investments (TGI) Nigeria since 2014. TGI is a large privately owned International Group based in Lagos with over 20 companies in 5 main business verticals (Beverage, Agri and Trading, Farming, Specialty Chemicals, Pharma).


He also served as GCFO of Flour Mills of Nigeria and he has got over 20 years of experience as GCFO/CFO in the EEMA Region with large multinational companies (Philip Morris, Kraft, Holcim, Glencore) and other large privately owned business, in various industries such as FMCG, Cement, Trading, and Mining), in Switzerland, Romania, Egypt, Serbia, Burkina Faso, and Nigeria.

 

Jacques was born in Switzerland, is a Swiss National, and holder of a MBA from the University of Wales and RKC Zurich.

SHAHIN

NOURI

 

Vice President

 

Chief Executive Officer Coollink.ng, Lagos

Group Executive Director AIM Group, Lagos

Managing Director Swiss AMC SA, Fribourg

 

Education:

M.A. Economics, Université de Fribourg, Switzerland

 

Previous work experiences: 

UBS AG, Geneva

British American Tobacco, Lausanne

 

Born and raised in Fribourg, Switzerland, the beautiful Land of chocolate and cheese, Shahin moved to Lagos with his family in 2009. He is a well-respected entrepreneur and investments specialist having created and developed successful businesses in Finance, Media and Telecommunications.

 

Mr Nouri is now heading Coollink.ng a leading Internet Service Provider in Nigeria. He is also Board Member and Executive Director of all AIM Group companies active in Construction with Aim-Consultants, broadcasting with Cool FM - Wazobia Fm - Nigeria Info FM - Wazobia Max TV and Wazobia Academy.

 

Living his passion for motor sports, Shahin became in 2016 European champion of the ultra competitive Lamborghini championship, competing with a Swiss licence and representing Nigeria.

BABATUNDE

OJO

 

Treasurer

 

Babatunde Ojo is the Country Group Head - English West Africa at Novartis Pharma. 

 

He is a Chartered Accountant with over 12 years work experience ranging from Customer/Account Management to several roles of increasing responsibility within finance functions in a number of multinational companies, both within Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa. He holds an MBA in Marketing from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN). 

 

Babatunde has performance principles resolving around adding value. In today's competitive business landscape, he is of the view that success and relevance can only be guaranteed by continuously adding value in meeting and exceeding the expectations stakeholders.

Wole

Obayomi

 

Ex Officio

 

Wole Obayomi is the Head of Tax of KPMG in Africa, Head of Tax, Regulatory & People Services of KPMG in Nigeria and a Director of KPMG West Africa. He started his career as a lawyer and actively practised as a barrister from 1985 until 1990 when he joined Arthur Andersen in Nigeria. He was a partner in the firm from 2001 to 2002, and has been a partner in KPMG Nigeria from 2003 to date.   

 

Wole Obayomi has advised several businesses in different capacities across various sectors in Nigeria before his selection to lead the firm’s Head of Consumer and Industrial Markets line of business from 2007 to 2016. He is a recognized thought leader and has been invited to serve at various times as a resource person, speaker, panelist and moderator at many local and international conferences, seminars and workshops. He has written extensively on diverse legal, business regulatory and tax issues, and has been instrumental to notable policy, legal, fiscal, regulatory and institutional reforms in Nigeria, especially investment regulation and promotion, electric power, oil service, financial services, consumer and industrial markets, private equity, mergers and acquisitions and privatization.

 

Wole was a Director of Nigerian Economic Summit Group (Nigeria’s leading private sector-led economic think-tank) from 2005 to 2010. He is an alumnus of the University of Lagos, University of Warwick, UK and Lagos Business School (Senior Management Programme 4 Class). He completed the Harvard Business School’s Leading Professional Services Firms course in 2011 and KPMG EMA Chairman 25 leadership programme at INSEAD, France in September 2015. 

ADEBOLA

OKUSANYA

 

Ex Officio

 

Adebola Okusanya joined Mercuria Energy Trading in 2008 as country manager and head of business operations in Nigeria. Prior to joining Mercuria, she served as head of administration at Unity Bank of Nigeria for five years and was the Chief Executive Officer at Assets International Limited also for five years. 

 

Adebola had served at Kaduna Chemical and Industrial Products as a marketing and commercial executive for three years. 

 

She holds a degree in International Relations and Strategic Studies from the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. She furthered her studies and acquired a diploma from the University of Lancaster and a masters in International Relations and Strategic Studies. 

 

Adebola is passionate about rehabilitating and empowering young vulnerable girls while encouraging them to reach their fullest potential. She enjoys reading and meeting new people.

Thomas

Schneider

 

Ex Officio

 

Consul General of Switzerland in Lagos, Nigeria

 

Mr. Schneider was born in Bern. He holds a federal diploma in business administration. After 6 years in the banking industry he joined the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) in 1989. Alongside working for the FDFA he later earned a Certificate of Advanced Studies in International Relations.

 

During his career Mr. Schneider was consecutively posted in Barcelona, Frankfurt am Main, Manila, Paris and Bern. Between 2008 and 2012 he was Deputy Consul General and Head of the Section for cultural, media and educational affairs in Shanghai, China. From 2012 until 2016 he joined the team of the Swiss Consulate General in New York as Head of the Culture and Education Department. After a short stay in Switzerland where Mr. Schneider served as Deputy Chief Financial Officer of the Department of Foreign Affairs, he was appointed Consul General of Switzerland in Los Angeles in January 2018. After the closure of the Consulate General in Los Angeles by the end of 2018, he held an interim position as Consul General in San Francisco until the end of October 2019. Since January 1st, 2020, Mr. Schneider serves as Consul General of Switzerland in Lagos, Nigeria.

Olusegun Paul

Andrew

 

Ex Officio

 

O. Paul Andrew is the Executive Chairman of BlackPace Group . He’s been in active consulting practice for over three decades and has advised global instituions in investment management as well as enterprise development. Over the years, he worked on projects in various fields- Agriculture, Auto & Marine, Energy, Finance, infrastructure , Real Estate and Telecommunications sectors.

 

A seasoned technocrat, Paul had also advised various African governments and Missions in Switzerland including The Nigerian Rep Office to the UN in Geneva, The Mission of Senegal to UN, the Ghanaian Rep office to the UN on their Real Estate portfolios . He is a strong advocate for good governance in Africa and championing Africa’s economic growth and emancipation.

 

Advising corporate institutions in Africa and around the world, Paul is a major player in the oil and gas sector in Africa -with primary focus on Nigeria. He’s a member of the European Economic Association and Financial Management Association.