Tinuade Sanda: Celebrating 365 Days of Purposeful Leadership

Peter Uzoho

Leadership is the force that propels change. Meaningful change. This has remained true from time, and continues to be the bedrock upon which great accomplishments are based. Today, Dr. Tinuade Sanda, MD/CEO of Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), embodies this truth. She symbolises purposeful, passionate and peerless leadership. Her one-year record in the saddle of EKEDC has been nothing short of phenomenal.

Appointed MD/CEO in March of 2022, Sanda’s emergence was greeted with much excitement and anticipation. As a female professional who had built a long and established career in corporate finance and administration, many were eager to see what the reputed change-maker would do at the helm of a big energy company in a very challenging industry. It was a huge responsibility, a big job. On the evidence of her one-year record, it is now abundantly clear that she has provided an adequate enough response to all the curious minds!

Upon assuming office, Sanda took off on the right note by developing and launching her service philosophy encapsulated by her Mission Possible Mantra. This mantra revealed her mind set towards corporate leadership and growth. It underscored her belief in defiance against odds, in rejection of mediocrity, in resistance to complacency, in never settling for anything short of the best. It was a rallying cry to excellence. She knew that to attain collective success, the mind set needed to be gotten right. A mind set of optimum success needed to be instilled. She understood that one’s team needed to be galvanised and inspired by a shared philosophy. This is the hallmark of purposeful leadership.

Having laid this very essential foundation, she set out to re-organise operational and team structure for optimum performance, improve team remuneration and performance incentives, realign customer and community engagement strategies for better brand positioning and service delivery, and develop an inclusive, impactful and sustainable Corporate Social Responsibility plan. All these were part of her innovation-based integrated reform plan. A flurry of activities followed, and the results were peerless.

In just some months under her leadership, EKEDC recorded: its highest levels of power distribution to its customers, its highest collection ever, and its lowest ever ATC&C losses. EKEDC also recorded substantial reduction in work-related accidents, and marked increase in staff retention. It distributed over 46,000 meters to its customers through its Mobile MAP Initiative, while also taking delivery of 150 brand new transformers meant for communities with shortages. It has been an unprecedented activity and result-packed period in the life of EKEDC.

Sanda’s passion has not only been limited to pure corporate performance and service delivery, it has also been significantly displayed in social impact. As a firm believer in structured social intervention, Sanda has always advocated for corporate organisations to prioritize the communities in which they operate, making sure their policies and activities do not exist at their expense, but work to elevate them instead. For her, CSR is not merely a tokenist afterthought, but a carefully developed social impact plan that is scalable, measurable and sustainable. Her integrated four-pillar CSR plan meets this criteria. It is a plan focused on impacting society through programmes and interventions geared towards improving health & well-being, education, technology, and sports. So far, multiple projects built around the four pillars have been undertaken, bringing relief and succour to many.

For Sanda, leadership means purpose, it means passion, it means peerlessness. A leader must have a clear sense of purpose and direction, they must never let their fire die out, and they must represent unrivalled excellence. These are the attributes by which she has led EKEDC, and by which the company is rapidly shattering previous records of success against all odds.