Vitafoam Boosts Corporate Governance with New Directors

Goddy Egene

Vitafoam Nigeria Plc, a frontline manufacturer of foams and allied products, has appointed two independent non- executive directors and one non-executive director into its board as part of as part of its strategic efforts to strengthen corporate governance for enhanced performance.

The newly appointed directors whose tenure shall commence in October this year are: Professor (Mrs.) Rosemary Egonmwan, Mr. Mohammed Alkali and Mr. Gerson Silver.

According to the company, a distinguished scholar and academic of over 30 years experience. Egonmwan, who has been appointed an independent non-executive director holds a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc Hons) Degree with 2nd Class upper and a Masters of Science (M.Sc) in Zoology from the University of Lagos. She also obtained a Doctorate (D.Phil.) Zoology from the prestigious University of Oxford, United Kingdom.

She was the Senior Environmental Adviser for Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company from 2009 – 2010 and served on the Management Board of Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) from 2012- 2016.

Egonmwan serves as member of several boards and committees of the University of Lagos where she is currently a distinguished lecturer, including the Postgraduate School Board and University of Lagos Senate. She is a member of the Ecological Science of Nigeria, and British Ecological Society.

The second independent non-executive director, Alkali holds a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) Degree in Accounting with 1st Class Honours from Bayero University, Kano and a Masters Degree (M.Sc) in Accounting and Finance from London School of Economics, University of London, United Kingdom.

Alkali has enjoyed a successful banking career at several financial institutions in Nigeria including African International Bank (AIB) where he rose to the level of Assistant General Manager and the Bank of Industry (BoI) Limited where he was an executive director (operations).

He serves as member of several federal government and private sector boards and committees including the Governing Council of SMEDAN, the Institute of Directors (IoD) and the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), amongst others.

On the other hand, Silva, a Brazilian, is an accomplished Chemical Scientist with competency and specialisation in polyurethane (PU) systems, a core production component of Vitafoam, and Vitapur (a sandwich panels and chemical systems subsidiary of Vitafoam).

He has worked in several frontline chemical systems organisations across the globe such as Dow Chemicals for 18 years as a chemical scientist and analyst.

Silva in partnership with like minds, proceeded to establish PURCOM, one of the largest chemical system houses in South America. PURCOM is an internationally acclaimed producer of various PU applications and systems