Unilever Nigeria Plc has notified the Nigerian Exchange and the investing public notice of the appointment of Mrs Abidemi Ademola as an Executive Director and Mrs Afolasade Olowe as the Company Secretary respectively. This appointment is with effect from 16 March, 2023.
Abidemi Ademola is a highly skilled and experienced Corporate Counsel, Governance Professional and Executive Business Leader with over 27 years of Commercial Law and Corporate Governance practice in Nigeria and West Africa.
Passionately driven by a personal purpose to build a lasting legacy by shaping capability in Governance, Risk and Compliance, her forte is to proactively identify legal, regulatory, compliance and corporate governance risks to business and develop innovative mitigation to enable seamless business operations and sustainability.
Abidemi has been instrumental in building strong legal teams and delivering several epic legal transactions and projects across West Africa. She has supported the Unilever Nigeria Board for over 10 years to implement world class Corporate Governance practices and processes with positive impact on Board effectiveness.
Abidemi holds a Bachelor of Laws from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife., a Master of Laws from the University of Lagos, Akoka and an MBA Leadership from Walden University, United States. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN) and a Governing Council member of the Institute. She is also a Fellow of the WIMBOARD Institute, a WIMBIZ/IE University, Madrid Executive Education Programme for Women on Boards.
Bidemi is an active member of the Nigerian Bar Association, the Society for Corporate Governance and the Institute of Directors, Nigeria. Abidemi was the pioneer chairperson of the Corporate Counsel Committee of the NBA Section on Business Law and is currently an Officer of the Corporate Counsel Committee of the NBA Women Forum.
Afolasade Olowe is a seasoned corporate counsel with close to two decades of experience in corporate commercial law and governance practice. Her expertise cuts across different aspects of law including Corporate Law and Governance, Regulatory Advisory and Compliance, Labour & Employment, Mergers & acquisitions, etc.
Prior to joining Unilever Nigeria Plc, Afolasade gained her legal experience in two of Nigeria’s leading full-service commercial law firms where she developed first-hand skills in her areas of expertise especially Company Secretarial & Corporate Governance practice where she represented her law firm on the board of clients in diverse sectors. Whilst in practice she had been recognised by the global Who’s Who Legal in Corporate Immigration.
She is an Associate of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria as well as the Society for Corporate Governance. She is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association and holds an MBA from the Henley Business School, University of Reading, United Kingdom.
Afolasade is passionate about the girl child and her personal goal is to assist the girl child to achieve their full potential through mentoring.