Jane Kimemia: Championing Optiva Capital’s Commitment to $5B Diaspora Direct Investments

Ms. Jane Kimemia is the Managing Director/CEO of Optiva Capital Partners Limited, easily the largest provider of second citizenship and residency services in Africa. With a rich background in the financial services sector spanning over two decades, Chiemelie Ezeobi writes that Kimemia’s transformational leadership at Optiva Capital is driven by creativity and innovation, but also guided by the pursuit of purpose to achieve holistic enterprise goals, one of which being to champion the organisation’s commitment to 5billion dollars Diaspora Direct Investments 

Innovation and creativity are essential for the success of any business organisation. Exploring new horizons of knowledge, finding solutions for problems, meeting unmet customer needs by using new and innovative methods, stand organisations apart. Creativity is what sparks big ideas, challenges employees’ way of thinking and makes way for new business opportunities.

Creativity and innovation require vivid ideas and the ability to see things from different perspectives, searching for solutions, finding gaps, and filling identified gaps.

It is through organisational learning, which unleashes creativity, the discipline of innovating, that Optiva Capital has developed a laser-focused attention to service through bespoke products that speak to the needs of its clientele – from investment immigration, to wealth advisory services, and insurance, amongst others. 

Optiva’s Wealth Management Investment Bouquet 

Now thinking out of the box, the firm has introduced a unique product that will give Nigerians in the diaspora the peace of mind to invest at home without the nagging fear of losing the investments to unscrupulous persons.

It is against this background that the visionary CEO of Optiva Capital Partners, Jane Kimemia, speaks passionately about the organisation’s bouquet of wealth management investment services which were unveiled at the twilight of 2023. 

She described them as “culmination of efforts throughout last year, working with our partners to put together a suite of products, of services, of solutions, in investment services and advisory.”

Add to that, Optiva Capital Partners expansion of its service offering through a remarkable partnership which establishes a formal relationship between Optiva Capital Partners and Polaris Bank Limited

 With the partnership, Optiva Capital has agreed to collaborate with Polaris Bank to be the provider of Investment immigration, Wealth Management/ Investment Advisory and insurance products to Polaris Bank’s Ultra High Net-worth Individuals.

Diaspora Investor Direct Investment (DIDI) 

And now in a bold move to herald the year, this leading investment immigration wealth management company, has launched a new product tagged Diaspora Investor Direct Investment (DIDI) which targets $5 Billion in direct investments into the country by Nigerians living in the diaspora.

Diaspora Investor Direct Investment (DIDI) according to Optiva Capital Partners is “our unique product to attract diaspora funds and investments into the country. The objective is to stand in the gap for Nigerians in the diaspora who seek to remit funds home for investment purposes because most of them are afraid of losing their funds to unscrupulous persons or agents, so we bridge that gap.”

Optiva as a Force for Women 

Speaking about significance and impact Kimemia revealed that “in terms of mentorship, Optiva Capital Partners actually mentors more women to be successful.

“At Optiva Capital Partners, over 70 per cent of our workforce is women. So for us it is not just a one-off thing to celebrate the upcoming International Day for Women, because we are daily committed to empowering our workforce, seventy percent of whom are women, creating opportunities for them to serve, to get better, and to grow a career. 

“You know when you raise one woman you raise a generation, because one woman impacts at least five people. So you can then imagine the multiplier effect of that in a workforce of over 1000 people and seventy percent are women.”

Addressing Maternal Healthcare through Partnerships

On purpose and affirmation of her belief that true wealth lies in the heart, she stated that “we also have community service programs and I would like to mention our initiative with the Lagos State government in maternal health.

Basically it is to address maternal health care and reduce maternal mortality rate in Nigeria because different World Health organisation reports state that Nigeria contributes up to ten percent of the global maternal death. 

“So Optiva Capital Partners is playing a pivotal role with the Lagos State government as we have identified primary health care in the Ketu area, so we are rehabilitating an entire primary health care focusing on maternal health care. 

“The rehabilitation is the facilities, structures, the equipment, and totally upgrading the healthcare facility, and also the referral hospital so it’s about the entire chain to ensure that women from that particular area are taken care of.”

Empowering Market Women 

Beyond health there is also an initiative to empower market women. 

an initiative for women in the markets, women at the very end of the pyramid, so it’s about empowering them in terms of how do they get better at their trade, how do they get investments. So, in partnership with a Micro Finance Bank we are helping them to formalise their businesses, structure their businesses so that they can get financing and scale up their businesses.”

Kimemia as a Business-driven, Innovative CEO

But Jane Kimemia, the amazon, is not only about the creativity and innovation that deliver stellar organisational financial performance. With a rich background in the financial services sector she recognises also that true wealth lies not in the pocket but in the heart. 

She lives and leads by the values she has learnt from her encounter and reading of “Halftime” by Bob Buford which provides encouragement and insight to propel any one on a new course to true significance – by taking stock of successes and accomplishments; and redefining significance and what it means to each person.

Jane Kimemia is today steadfastly living her learnings from this book that obviously impacted her life and thriving career as she immerses herself and the organisation that she leads as CEO in life-changing social responsibility initiatives, the empowerment of the womenfolk in Optiva Capital; and the uplifting of women in the lower-rung of business, amongst others.

A deep-dive into the career trajectory of Jane Kimemia can throw light on how this successful professional, business leader, and entrepreneur, has devoted quality time and energy into getting to where she is today.

This amazon who is re-writing the investment immigration landscape in the country has extensive experience in general management, with a track record of setting up and building sustainable businesses. Her specialisation is in wealth management and working with high-net worth clients.

As the Chief Executive Officer of Optiva Capital Partners, Jane Kimemia, a product of the Executive Education Programme of INSEAD Business School, France, has overseen the sustained and impressive growth trajectory of this leading investment immigration firm.

Prior to her current CEO role, Ms. Kimemia had a successful career in the banking sector of the financial service industry, having worked with two international banks, Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) and Barclays Bank for a combined period of 20 years. 

She was the Executive Director and Head of Wealth Management at SCB, with responsibility for investments services, banc assurance and foreign exchange for an entire region. She was also Managing Director of Standard Chartered Investments Services (SCIS), one of the bank’s subsidiaries and was Managing Director at the Standard Chartered Insurance Agencies Limited (SCIAL).

Jane Kimemia also served as the General Manager of Priority and International banking at Standard Chartered Bank, where she spearheaded the setting-up, establishment and management of the Priority Banking proposition for high-net-worth clients across regions. Prior to joining Standard Chartered Bank, she had worked for Barclays Bank holding senior positions including Head of Premier Banking; and Head of Scheme Loans.

Not surprisingly, late last year, in recognition of her immense contributions to humanity, and affirmation of her enduring value that true wealth lies in the heart, Ms. Jane Kimemia was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate Degree (Honoris Causa) of Men and Women of Influence Global Award by Highstone Global University Texas USA. 

In the citation, the university commended Kimemia for her commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations which is a universal call to action to end poverty, ensure good health and well-being, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity.

So, as this woman of substance pushes the boundary in creativity and innovation to propel the organisation that she leads as the CEO, she ceaselessly seeks significance which she describes as impact, about purpose, and alignment to that purpose. 

According to her, “Though I am still in the financial services industry, it’s a larger platform to serve, to continue to be aligned, to continue to use my personality to make an impact for service.”