Corporate Amazon: Funke Okoya on the Move Again

HighLife

Genius and commitment will always mark one out for greatness, regardless of the era and area of human endeavour. It is the turn of Funke Okoya, one of the top Executive Directors at NOVA Merchant Bank, to daze her associates and dazzle the people that don’t know her very well. A few days ago, the non-profit organisation, Women in Finance Nigeria (WIFNG), announced the decision to make Okoya its Chairperson, evoking much awe and delight at the corporate Amazon’s impressively growing career profile.

WIFNG’s appointment of Okoya to the position of Chairperson comes at a time when many corporate bodies in Nigeria are bewailing the privation of strong and genuine leadership. The demand for individuals like Okoya who would put work at the centre of their thoughts and activities and pursue objectives like a lioness fending for her children continues to grow. To this end, WIFNG has hit a jackpot and this says something about the vision of the organisation.

To a few, Okoya is no different from the diligent, visionary, and exceptionally talented Nigerian women in corporate finance. However, this classification is not complete. Okoya is among those with a total command of her faculties and a clear direction for her future.

Armed with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree which she obtained from Business School Netherlands in 2016, Okoya has been on the rise for years now. But it is her work with NOVA Merchant Bank and Coronation Merchant Bank that has established her as a corporate Amazon at the apex of the finance industry.

Even though Okoya’s appointment was not the only recruitment decision that WIFNG made and announced, it is clear that she will be bearing the burden of ushering in a new era of progress for the organisation that was established in 2016 to strengthen the influence of women in the financial sector, and those handing financial tasks in both public and private organisations.