Ibukunoluwa Abiodun Awosika is a businesswoman, author, and motivational speaker from Nigeria. Her parents were Mr. Abdulmashood Adekola and Mrs. Hannah Aduke Adekola, and she was born on December 24, 1962. She is the third child of seven and hails from Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.
Ibukun attended Methodist Girls' High School in Yaba Lagos for her secondary education after completing her elementary education at St. Paul's African Church Primary School. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) before moving on. She ultimately chose to take elective courses in accounting despite initially wanting to study architecture.
She has completed a number of business programs at the Lagos Business School and IESE Business School University of Navarra, earning postgraduate and MBA certifications. Ibukun Awosika completed her required one-year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) service in Kano State while working as an audit trainee at Akintola Williams & Co. She worked as the showroom manager for a furniture company called Alibert Nigeria Ltd. after the service.
In 1989, she founded Quebees Limited, a furniture manufacturing company, which later changed its name to The Chair Centre Limited and then SOKOA Chair Centre Limited after merging with SOKOA S.A. and Guaranty Trust Bank. Her quest for independence allowed her to do this. In 2018, Ibukun Awosika was among five Nigerian entrepreneurs who appeared in the first African version of the Dragon's Den. She also hosts a T.V programme called Business His Way. She received the prestigious International Women's Entrepreneurial Challenge Award (IWEC) that year as the first Nigerian recipient as well as a US Department of State recipient and multiple award-winning businesswoman. She helped co-found the Afterschool Graduate Development Centre in 2011, a career center created to combat the high unemployment rate that existed in Nigeria at the time. After Prince Ajibola Afonja's resignation on September 7, 2015, Ibukun was named First Bank of Nigeria's first female chairman.
Ibukun Awosika is a fellow at the Intern School in Barcelona and the African Leadership Network.
Shes a member of various important group due to her good deeds and area of responsibilities which are listed below:
1. Nigerian Economic Summit Group,
2. Member of the board of Nigerian Sovereign Wealth Fund
3. Former Chairperson of Nigerian Sovereign Wealth Fund,
4. Member of Board of Trustees of Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ)
5. A member of IESE's International Advisory Board (IAB).
6. She also sits on the board of Digital Jewel Limited and Cadbury Nig Plc.
7. She is a member of the National Job Creation Committee (NCJC),
8. The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG),
9. And the International Advisory Board of the IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain.
Ibukun serves on the boards of various for-profit and nonprofit organizations, such as the Convention on Business Integrity, Cadbury Nigeria Plc, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, and the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (CBI). She founded the Afterschool Graduate Development Centre (AGDC), an institution that she chairs the board of, to assist Nigerian youngsters who are having trouble finding jobs and starting their own business. In addition to FBN Capital Limited and FBN Life Assurance Limited, she served as chairman of Kakawa Discount House Limited. She is a co-founder and previous chairman of Women in Business, Management, and Public Service and is passionate about social issues and women.
She is happily married to Abiodun Awosika the CEO of Excel Exploration & Production Company Limited. They are blessed with three children: Oludola, Olafusika, and Olamiposi.
These are the set of books that were published by her:
1.The Girl Entrepreneurs - 2008
2. Business His Way
3. My Thoughts in Quotes - 2021
4. The Girls in the Boardroom – 2021
The following are Awards and Nominations of Mrs Ibukun Awosika
2005 - THISDAY Newspapers Annual Merit Award nomination for Entrepreneur of the Year
2005 - Nomination for the Success Digests Magazines Annual Enterprise Awards Female Entrepreneur of the Year honour
2006 - The Financial Standard and the Pan-African Organisation for Women's Recognition nominated her for the Best Female Entrepreneur of the Year award.
In 2006, the FATE Foundation Awards presented the FATE Model Entrepreneur Award of the Year.
2007 International Womens Society Awards: Golden Heart Award
Award for the 2008 International Womens Entrepreneurial Challenge
2015 YNaija Person of the Year nominations
You can follow Mrs. Ibukun Awosika and get update via her website, YouTube channel, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter handle.