SANYADE OKOLI
Chief Executive Officer
Sanyade is Chief Executive Officer at Alpha African Advisory. She has over 27 years of financial advisory, private equity, corporate, commercial and management finance and auditing experience.
At Alpha African Advisory, Sanyade is responsible for managing the firm’s strategic objectives and leading the team in executing financial advisory mandates.
Sanyade has played a lead role in a number of advisory transactions including; the restructure of an oil and gas company’s debt; advising on a public private partnership transportation project; and the planned acquisition of a controlling stake in one of the distressed Nigerian banks by one of the country’s top three banks.
Sanyade was a senior member of the team responsible for raising the Travant Private Equity Fund (TPEF1) in 2007 and currently sits on the Board of Dorman Long Engineering (DLE) – an energy services portfolio company of the Fund.
Prior to joining Alpha African Advisory, she was Vice President, Finance & Strategy at Ocean & Oil Holdings (OOH) where she was responsible for providing strategic direction and financial leadership to the OOH group. Her experience also includes working as a Senior Finance Manager at British Telecom in the United Kingdom and training as an Accountant with Arthur Andersen in the UK.
Sanyade holds a Master’s degree from Cambridge University and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW).
IJEOMA TAYLAUR
Executive Director
Ijeoma is the Executive Director at Alpha Africa Advisory. She has over 25 years of advisory, finance, private equity and auditing experience and leads the gateway services division at Alpha African Advisory providing a range of market entry assistance services. She also plays a lead role in the origination and execution of financial and business advisory mandates, including financial restructuring, due diligence and valuation transactions. Ijeoma manages and directs all aspects of the Finance & Accounting function. Ijeoma has experience in financial planning, management and reporting. She has played a lead role in overseeing investor relations, fund administration and fund accounting activities for the Travant Private Equity Fund (TPEF1).
Ijeoma has acted as Engagement Director in the restructuring of an oil and gas company’s debt, as well as the valuation of a local airline. She has also been active in the portfolio management of Dorman Long Engineering, serving as an alternate Director on the Board.
Prior to joining Alpha African Advisory, Ijeoma spent over 10 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) at their Lagos and London offices where she was responsible for the integrated audit of major players in the upstream, downstream and services sectors of the oil and gas industry. Her experience at PwC also included assignments in the financial services and consumer products sectors. During the course of her career at PwC, she gained considerable experience in planning and executing due diligence and business process management reviews.
Ijeoma holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accountancy and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN).
IBUKUN OSIFO
Non-Executive Director
Ibukun is a Non-Executive Director at Alpha Africa Advisory. She is a certified Director of the Institute of Directors (IOD London).
She sits as a Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Finance, Audit and Remuneration Committee of Broll Nigeria, an Internationally affiliated Property Services Company providing Corporate Real Estate Services: Valuations, Disposals, Acquisitions, Market and Development Feasibility, Commercial and Retail Leasing, Property and Facilities Management and Industry Research.
She has over 30 years of experience in Finance, Audit, Advisory, Private Equity, and Risk Management. She is a former C Suite Executive with expertise across Corporate Real Estate Transactional Services, Real Estate Advisory and Project development and Development Financing. She is a former City of London Investment Banker with c. 15 years’ experience across Relationship Management, Risk Management and Banking and Specialised Finance.
Ibukun has a special interest in Sustainable Development Goals and Social and Economic Impact in Africa. With a particular focus on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion within the Mental Health and Wellness space as well as Education, Economic Empowerment and Financial Inclusion. She has worked as an independent consultant (ST) at the World Bank under the Development Economics Development Policy Unit (DECDP) as a UN Volunteer Independent Judge for the Pan African Awards for Entrepreneurship in Education She is a foundation Contributor / Supporter of African Leadership Academy (ALA), an Educational Non-Profit Institution, developing the next generation of African Leaders.
Ibukun holds an MSc in Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics, a BSc in Financial Economics (London) and is a certified Credit Risk Analyst (New York). More recently, she completed a master’s degree in psychology and became a member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapist.