Roosevelt Ogbonna Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Access Bank Plc

Roosevelt Ogbonna is the Group Managing Director of Access Bank Plc. Prior to his appointment, he served as the Group Deputy Managing Director and Executive Director, Wholesale Banking Division of Access Bank. He has over 25 years’ experience in the Banking industry spanning the various areas of treasury, commercial, corporate and investment banking.

He has a bachelor’s degree in Banking and Finance from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria as well as a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, and a member of the CFA institute where is a CFA charter holder. Roosevelt is an alumnus of Harvard University’s Business School and a graduate of the Kennedy School of Government’s Senior Executive Fellows program. He holds a master's degree in business administration from Institute of Management Development (IMD) as well as an Executive master's degree in business administration from Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business. He subsequently obtained an LLM, a Master of Law in International Corporate & Commercial Law from King’s College London.

In 2015, he was selected as one of the Institute of International Finance (IIF) Future Global Leaders.

Mr. Ogbonna sits on the board of several institutions including Access Corporation, Access Bank Plc, The Access Bank UK, Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), Central Securities Clearing System Plc (CSCS) and Shared Agent Network Expansion Facilities (SANEF). He is also a member of the Nigerian Federal Government’s Presidential High-Level Advisory Committee (HLAC) on Women's Economic Empowerment.

Solomon Quaynor Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization African Development Bank (AfDB)

Solomon Quaynor is the Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure & Industrialization at the African Development Bank (AfDB). He joined AfDB in May 2020. He has over 25 years’ experience in development finance and investment banking.

From 2018-2020 after Mr. Quaynor left IFC to join the private sector, he provided specialized advisory services in emerging markets as: Senior Advisor to Rothschild Global Advisory for Africa (excluding SA); Senior Advisor to IFU (Danish DFI) for sub-Saharan Africa; Investment Committee member and Senior Advisor to a $350 million African PE Fund; Senior Advisor to an African infrastructure fund; and, served on the boards of InfraCredit Nigeria and Verdant Ventures.

Mr. Quaynor previously worked at IFC in various capacities for several years and there he became an emerging markets specialist investor with experience developing business and investing across financial institutions including banks & NBFIs, Telecoms Media & Technology, Infrastructure including Energy, Manufacturing, Agribusiness & Services. He has experience supporting senior executives and board leadership of corporates in strategy development, key government/regulatory engagement and private sector partnership development, and often served as trusted advisor to the C-Suite with companies across multiple sectors in Africa.

Before IFC, Mr. Quaynor worked in the US in investment banking on Wall Street, providing corporate finance advisory services to large and medium corporates. He worked for Merrill Lynch and Bear Stearns, respectively, in New York City as an Associate and Vice President in the generalist and media & communications groups. Before business school, Mr. Quaynor was a college professor at the Atlanta University Center in Math and Engineering.

Mr. Quaynor is a graduate of the J L Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He also holds an MSc in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, as well as a BS in Applied Physics from Atlanta University Center.

Dr Rita Babihuga-Nsanze Director & Chief Economist and Head of Research and Strategy Africa Finance Corporation

Rita holds a double honours degree (BSc & BA) in Computer Science and Economics from Smith College, Massachusetts, USA. In addition, she holds MA and PhD degrees in Economics from Clark University, Massachusetts, USA. 

Rita's most recent role was Director & Chief Economist, Sub-Saharan Africa at Barclays Investment Bank, London UK (October 2017 – December 2019). Before that appointment, she was Vice President and Senior Analyst at Moody's Investors Service (September 2014 – September 2017), Senior Economist on secondment at the Bank of England (November 2011 – April 2014), Desk Economist & Senior Economist at the International Monetary Fund (April 2003 – November 2011) and a Desk Economist at the World Bank Group (January 2002 – April 2003). 

Rita is a global macroeconomist, sovereign credit research analyst and financial markets economist with over 23 years of experience in the financial services industry, international development and policymaking institutions.

Benson Adenuga Country Director British International Investment

Benson Adenuga is the Country Director for British International Investment (BII) since November 2019. In this role, he oversees all aspects of BII’s activities in Nigeria. Benson has 30 years of professional experience in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) covering statutory audit, financial advisory, private equity and development finance.

He joined BII from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) where he was the Equity Lead for the Financial Institutions Group (FIG) for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), with oversight for a wide-ranging portfolio of equity investments across SSA, including banking, insurance, microfinance and other non-bank financial institutions. 

Prior to that, he was the FIG’s Hub Leader for Anglophone West Africa where he oversaw more than a dozen debt and equity transactions. Before joining the IFC, Benson worked at Actis in West Africa for eight years as an equity investor and was involved in landmark transactions in the Nigerian market, and at KPMG Professional Services as a Senior Manager in the audit and business advisory services department. Benson is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and holds a MBA with Distinction from the University of Warwick in England

Adekemi Adebambo Chief Ratings Officer GCR Ratings

Adekemi Adebambo is the Chief Ratings Officer at GCR Ratings, Nigeria and has spent over a decade with the company conducting rating analysis on a broad range of entities in diverse sectors of the economy. In her current role, she oversees the analytical team encompassing Financial Institutions and Corporates & Local and Regional Government ratings. Prior to GCR, Adekemi worked at Access Bank Plc (in the Internal Audit Group) and KPMG’s audit and advisory division respectively.

 Adekemi is a Fellow of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and an Associate of Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, United Kingdom. Adekemi has a master’s degree in international Banking and Finance from Lingnan University, Hong Kong, and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Ibadan.

Akin Majekodunmi CEO GCR Nigeria

Akintunde is the CEO of Global Credit Rating Company Ltd, Nigeria (GCR). Prior to GCR, he was a vice president at Moody’s Investors Service, focusing on African credit risk and has also held senior analytical positions at HSBC Investment Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank and UniCredit Bank AG.

Akintunde is a CFA charterholder and has a BA in Economics from Leeds University Business School and an MSc in Management from Bayes Business School.

Temilade Aduroja Head, Investor Relations Dangote Cement Plc

Temilade Aduroja was appointed Head, Investor relations in February 2020. She is an experienced equity and debt capital market professional with expertise in Africa Infrastructure and Oil & Gas sectors. She is a finance professional with over fifteen years of experience with a demonstrated history of working in the investment banking industry. Temilade is skilled in Capital Markets, Portfolio Management, Corporate Finance and Investments. She has worked at Standard Chartered Bank, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Renaissance Capital, and joined Dangote Cement Plc from Standard Bank Group where she was the Senior Africa Infrastructure and Oil & Gas Equity Analyst.

Yewande Adedayo Head, Financial Institutions Group Stanbic Bank

Yewande Adedayo is a focused and versatile Financial Services Executive, Deal Originator, Relationship

Manager and Leader.  She has diverse cross border international experience with Standard Bank Group and over the past twenty (20) years, has attained core competencies in Corporate & Investment Banking, Treasury, Structured Trade Finance and Fund Management.

Her experience covers relationship management, sales, change management, deal structuring and product management in international trade finance, cash & liquidity management, securities services and correspondent banking targeted towards multinational companies, local corporates and financial institutions.

Working with Global Account Managers in New York, Europe, Asia and Africa; Yewande is currently responsible
for the coverage of the Financial Institutions business within Stanbic IBTC Bank’s Corporate & Investment
Banking Division which has delivered growth and contributes significant revenues to the bottom-line. Furthermore,
she covers a broad base of Financial Institutions clients currently in Nigeria with presence markets across thirty
(30) African markets and other international markets.

She consistently lives the core values of being courageous, responsive, creative, and trustworthy. She has a clear
understanding of acceptable professional and personal conduct expected of professionals in today’s global world.
Yewande is an Alumnus of University of Glasgow, United Kingdom, where she attained an MBA with Merit &
Distinction in dissertation and has also attended many leadership trainings in several institutions such as Harvard
Business School, Henley Business School and University of Cape Town.

Kemi Awodein Managing Director Chapel Hill Denham

Olukemi Awodein (‘Kemi) is the Managing Director of Chapel Hill Denham Advisory Limited, the leading independent investment bank in Nigeria. ‘Kemi has over twenty-four (24) years of experience in Investment Banking. She joined Chapel Hill Denham through the Business Combination between Chapel Hill Advisory Partners Limited and Denham Management Limited, and has been involved in executing transactions including IPOs, Privatisation, Equity Raising, and M&As. Prior to the Business Combination, ‘Kemi spent eight (8) years also managing the legal function at Denham, ensuring that the Company’s activities were statutorily and regulatorily compliant.

Prior to joining Chapel Hill  Denham, she worked as an Associate in the prestigious law firm of Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie, where she gained wide-ranging experience in Oil & Gas, Capital Markets, Company and Commercial Law.

Kemi is a graduate of Law from the University of Warwick (LL.B) and Nottingham University (LL.M, International Law) and was called to the Nigerian Bar in December 1992. She is also a member of the Governance Board of the Financial Centre for Sustainability, Lagos (FC4S), where she is the Thematic Lead, Issuances & Investments. She currently chairs the NBA-SBL Mergers, Acquisitions and Corporate Reorganisations Committee. In November 2023, she was appointed the President of the Association of Issuing Houses of Nigeria.

Iker Ballestero Barrutia Analyst Moody's Ratings

Iker is an Analyst in the Moody’s EMEA Corporate Finance Group based in Dubai. He covers a diversified industry portfolio, with exposure in Turkey, Africa, and the Middle East.

He joined Moody’s Dubai office in 2022, and previously worked as an associate analyst in the Moody’s London office covering the leveraged finance industry with exposure to Business and Consumer Services, Healthcare, Airlines and Aerospace & Defense. Before that, he spent 2 years working in the consulting industry in Spain.

Iker holds a Masters Degree in Investment Management from Henley Business School. He also holds a BSc in Business Management from the University of Deusto and is a CFA charterholder since 2018.

Isabella Burke Vice President - Relationship Manager Moody's Ratings

Isabella Burke is a Vice President Relationship Manager for Africa and is based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Isabella’s responsibilities encompass increasing coverage and revenue from new and existing customers in Southern and West Africa. Prior to joining Moody’s Investors Service, Isabella was covering South Africa as Business Development Manager for a London based hedge fund manager. She was tasked with introducing long-only and hedged solutions into the South African market. Isabella has a great depth and breadth of knowledge of capital markets ,having previously worked at Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Credit Suisse and Investec. Isabella studied at King’s College, London and is fluent in Italian and has basic French.

Nick Hill Managing Director - Global Credit Strategy & Guidance Moody's Ratings

Nick Hill is a Managing Director and heads the Credit Strategy & Guidance function within the Credit Strategy & Standards division in Moody’s Ratings. 

Based in Paris, he joined Moody’s in March 2010, initially heading the France / BeNeLux banking team. 

Since then he has managed successively larger teams, led the global revision of Moody’s bank rating methodology, which was published in 2015, and latterly was co-head of the global banking team. 

Prior to joining Moody’s, Nick worked as a bank analyst in a variety of roles. These include banking supervision at the Bank of England and Financial Services Authority, where he began his career; sell-side equity research on French banks in a #1 ranked team at Morgan Stanley; rating UK and continental European banks at Standard & Poor’s; and providing balance sheet advice to financial institutions with RBS. 

A graduate of Christ’s College, University of Cambridge in the UK, Nick holds an MA in English, a diploma in French, and a postgraduate certificate in Finance from Birkbeck College, University of London.   

Abdullah Hudhud Associate Managing Director Moody's Ratings

Abdullah Hudhud leads Moody’s Relationship Management team in charge of managing existing and new relationships across the Middle East & Africa.

In his role as Head of Relationship Management for ME&A, Abdullah is responsible to drive Moody’s commercial strategy and lead a team of relationship managers covering the region.

Prior to joining Moody’s in 2019, Abdullah spent 4 years at the National Bank of Canada as Head of EMEA for Financial Institutions Group, 8 years at Standard & Poor’s as Head of Client Coverage for Middle East & North Africa, 4 years with HSBC as Director of Corporate & Investment Banking, and 2 years with BNP Paribas as Relationship Manager of Private Banking.

Abdullah has a Masters of Science degree in Investment Banking & Securities and a Bachelors degree in Finance.

Mik Kabeya Vice President - Senior Analyst, Financial Institutions Group Moody's Ratings

Mik Kabeya is a Vice President - Senior Analyst in the Financial Institutions Group, based in London. Mik covers financial institutions across the African continent. Prior to relocating to London, Mik was based in Dubai where he covered financial institutions based in the Middle East. Before joining Moody’s, Mik worked at Fullerton Financial Holdings and at BNP Paribas.

Ighosime Oyofo Assistant Vice President - Analyst, Financial Institutions Group Moody's Ratings

Ighosime is an AVP Analyst in the EMEA FIG Banking team at Moody’s in London and will help with the execution of Moody’s strategy in Africa by enhancing local and international investors’ outreach as well as relationships with various stakeholders in Nigeria. He spent the majority of the last sixteen years in investment banking, working with and advising large corporations, financial institutions and international investors across the continent, particularly in Nigeria and Ghana. Prior to joining Moody’s, he was an Executive Director in the Lagos office of Lion’s Head Global Partners, a boutique investment bank and asset manager operating across frontier and emerging markets. Before this he led growth and strategy at African Leadership University, Mauritius an innovative education company looking to grow the next generation of leaders. Ighosime also spent over seven years with Chapel Hill Denham, the leading independent investment bank and asset manager in Nigeria, completing several landmark capital markets and corporate deals in Nigeria. 

Ighosime has an MBA with distinction from the University of Manchester, UK, and graduated with a Bachelors in Business Administration at the George Washington University, Washington DC. Beyond work, he is interested in photography, horology, football, basketball and Formula 1.

Lucie Villa Senior Vice President, Sovereign Risk Moody's Ratings

Lucie is the lead analyst for several Sub-Saharan African sovereigns and supranational issuers and is a senior member of Moody’s Africa Sovereign Ratings team. Prior to January 2015, she covered a variety of advanced and emerging market European sovereign credits, having joined the Sovereign Risk Group in early 2011 from Moody’s Sub-Sovereign Group.

Prior to joining Moody’s in 2007, Lucie spent two years at the French Ministry of Finance in the Forecast division, responsible for projections and analyses of France’s government finances.

Lucie holds a postgraduate degree in Probability and Statistics from a French Engineering School (ENSAI) and a Master’s degree in Economics from the Panthéon-Sorbonne University in Paris.

Abdullah Hudhud Associate Managing Director Moody's Ratings

Abdullah Hudhud leads Moody’s Relationship Management team in charge of managing existing and new relationships across the Middle East & Africa.

In his role as Head of Relationship Management for ME&A, Abdullah is responsible to drive Moody’s commercial strategy and lead a team of relationship managers covering the region.

Prior to joining Moody’s in 2019, Abdullah spent 4 years at the National Bank of Canada as Head of EMEA for Financial Institutions Group, 8 years at Standard & Poor’s as Head of Client Coverage for Middle East & North Africa, 4 years with HSBC as Director of Corporate & Investment Banking, and 2 years with BNP Paribas as Relationship Manager of Private Banking.

Abdullah has a Masters of Science degree in Investment Banking & Securities and a Bachelors degree in Finance.

Isabella Burke Vice President - Relationship Manager Moody's Ratings

Isabella Burke is a Vice President Relationship Manager for Africa and is based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Isabella’s responsibilities encompass increasing coverage and revenue from new and existing customers in Southern and West Africa. Prior to joining Moody’s Investors Service, Isabella was covering South Africa as Business Development Manager for a London based hedge fund manager. She was tasked with introducing long-only and hedged solutions into the South African market. Isabella has a great depth and breadth of knowledge of capital markets ,having previously worked at Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Credit Suisse and Investec. Isabella studied at King’s College, London and is fluent in Italian and has basic French.

Dr Rita Babihuga-Nsanze Director & Chief Economist and Head of Research and Strategy Africa Finance Corporation

Rita holds a double honours degree (BSc & BA) in Computer Science and Economics from Smith College, Massachusetts, USA. In addition, she holds MA and PhD degrees in Economics from Clark University, Massachusetts, USA. 

Rita's most recent role was Director & Chief Economist, Sub-Saharan Africa at Barclays Investment Bank, London UK (October 2017 – December 2019). Before that appointment, she was Vice President and Senior Analyst at Moody's Investors Service (September 2014 – September 2017), Senior Economist on secondment at the Bank of England (November 2011 – April 2014), Desk Economist & Senior Economist at the International Monetary Fund (April 2003 – November 2011) and a Desk Economist at the World Bank Group (January 2002 – April 2003). 

Rita is a global macroeconomist, sovereign credit research analyst and financial markets economist with over 23 years of experience in the financial services industry, international development and policymaking institutions.

Lucie Villa Senior Vice President, Sovereign Risk Moody's Ratings

Lucie is the lead analyst for several Sub-Saharan African sovereigns and supranational issuers and is a senior member of Moody’s Africa Sovereign Ratings team. Prior to January 2015, she covered a variety of advanced and emerging market European sovereign credits, having joined the Sovereign Risk Group in early 2011 from Moody’s Sub-Sovereign Group.

Prior to joining Moody’s in 2007, Lucie spent two years at the French Ministry of Finance in the Forecast division, responsible for projections and analyses of France’s government finances.

Lucie holds a postgraduate degree in Probability and Statistics from a French Engineering School (ENSAI) and a Master’s degree in Economics from the Panthéon-Sorbonne University in Paris.

Roosevelt Ogbonna Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Access Bank Plc

Roosevelt Ogbonna is the Group Managing Director of Access Bank Plc. Prior to his appointment, he served as the Group Deputy Managing Director and Executive Director, Wholesale Banking Division of Access Bank. He has over 25 years’ experience in the Banking industry spanning the various areas of treasury, commercial, corporate and investment banking.

He has a bachelor’s degree in Banking and Finance from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria as well as a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, and a member of the CFA institute where is a CFA charter holder. Roosevelt is an alumnus of Harvard University’s Business School and a graduate of the Kennedy School of Government’s Senior Executive Fellows program. He holds a master's degree in business administration from Institute of Management Development (IMD) as well as an Executive master's degree in business administration from Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business. He subsequently obtained an LLM, a Master of Law in International Corporate & Commercial Law from King’s College London.

In 2015, he was selected as one of the Institute of International Finance (IIF) Future Global Leaders.

Mr. Ogbonna sits on the board of several institutions including Access Corporation, Access Bank Plc, The Access Bank UK, Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), Central Securities Clearing System Plc (CSCS) and Shared Agent Network Expansion Facilities (SANEF). He is also a member of the Nigerian Federal Government’s Presidential High-Level Advisory Committee (HLAC) on Women's Economic Empowerment.

Nick Hill Managing Director - Global Credit Strategy & Guidance Moody's Ratings

Nick Hill is a Managing Director and heads the Credit Strategy & Guidance function within the Credit Strategy & Standards division in Moody’s Ratings. 

Based in Paris, he joined Moody’s in March 2010, initially heading the France / BeNeLux banking team. 

Since then he has managed successively larger teams, led the global revision of Moody’s bank rating methodology, which was published in 2015, and latterly was co-head of the global banking team. 

Prior to joining Moody’s, Nick worked as a bank analyst in a variety of roles. These include banking supervision at the Bank of England and Financial Services Authority, where he began his career; sell-side equity research on French banks in a #1 ranked team at Morgan Stanley; rating UK and continental European banks at Standard & Poor’s; and providing balance sheet advice to financial institutions with RBS. 

A graduate of Christ’s College, University of Cambridge in the UK, Nick holds an MA in English, a diploma in French, and a postgraduate certificate in Finance from Birkbeck College, University of London.   

Solomon Quaynor Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization African Development Bank (AfDB)

Solomon Quaynor is the Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure & Industrialization at the African Development Bank (AfDB). He joined AfDB in May 2020. He has over 25 years’ experience in development finance and investment banking.

From 2018-2020 after Mr. Quaynor left IFC to join the private sector, he provided specialized advisory services in emerging markets as: Senior Advisor to Rothschild Global Advisory for Africa (excluding SA); Senior Advisor to IFU (Danish DFI) for sub-Saharan Africa; Investment Committee member and Senior Advisor to a $350 million African PE Fund; Senior Advisor to an African infrastructure fund; and, served on the boards of InfraCredit Nigeria and Verdant Ventures.

Mr. Quaynor previously worked at IFC in various capacities for several years and there he became an emerging markets specialist investor with experience developing business and investing across financial institutions including banks & NBFIs, Telecoms Media & Technology, Infrastructure including Energy, Manufacturing, Agribusiness & Services. He has experience supporting senior executives and board leadership of corporates in strategy development, key government/regulatory engagement and private sector partnership development, and often served as trusted advisor to the C-Suite with companies across multiple sectors in Africa.

Before IFC, Mr. Quaynor worked in the US in investment banking on Wall Street, providing corporate finance advisory services to large and medium corporates. He worked for Merrill Lynch and Bear Stearns, respectively, in New York City as an Associate and Vice President in the generalist and media & communications groups. Before business school, Mr. Quaynor was a college professor at the Atlanta University Center in Math and Engineering.

Mr. Quaynor is a graduate of the J L Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He also holds an MSc in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, as well as a BS in Applied Physics from Atlanta University Center.

Mik Kabeya Vice President - Senior Analyst, Financial Institutions Group Moody's Ratings

Mik Kabeya is a Vice President - Senior Analyst in the Financial Institutions Group, based in London. Mik covers financial institutions across the African continent. Prior to relocating to London, Mik was based in Dubai where he covered financial institutions based in the Middle East. Before joining Moody’s, Mik worked at Fullerton Financial Holdings and at BNP Paribas.

Akin Majekodunmi CEO GCR Nigeria

Akintunde is the CEO of Global Credit Rating Company Ltd, Nigeria (GCR). Prior to GCR, he was a vice president at Moody’s Investors Service, focusing on African credit risk and has also held senior analytical positions at HSBC Investment Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank and UniCredit Bank AG.

Akintunde is a CFA charterholder and has a BA in Economics from Leeds University Business School and an MSc in Management from Bayes Business School.

Temilade Aduroja Head, Investor Relations Dangote Cement Plc

Temilade Aduroja was appointed Head, Investor relations in February 2020. She is an experienced equity and debt capital market professional with expertise in Africa Infrastructure and Oil & Gas sectors. She is a finance professional with over fifteen years of experience with a demonstrated history of working in the investment banking industry. Temilade is skilled in Capital Markets, Portfolio Management, Corporate Finance and Investments. She has worked at Standard Chartered Bank, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Renaissance Capital, and joined Dangote Cement Plc from Standard Bank Group where she was the Senior Africa Infrastructure and Oil & Gas Equity Analyst.

Benson Adenuga Country Director British International Investment

Benson Adenuga is the Country Director for British International Investment (BII) since November 2019. In this role, he oversees all aspects of BII’s activities in Nigeria. Benson has 30 years of professional experience in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) covering statutory audit, financial advisory, private equity and development finance.

He joined BII from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) where he was the Equity Lead for the Financial Institutions Group (FIG) for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), with oversight for a wide-ranging portfolio of equity investments across SSA, including banking, insurance, microfinance and other non-bank financial institutions. 

Prior to that, he was the FIG’s Hub Leader for Anglophone West Africa where he oversaw more than a dozen debt and equity transactions. Before joining the IFC, Benson worked at Actis in West Africa for eight years as an equity investor and was involved in landmark transactions in the Nigerian market, and at KPMG Professional Services as a Senior Manager in the audit and business advisory services department. Benson is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and holds a MBA with Distinction from the University of Warwick in England

Iker Ballestero Barrutia Analyst Moody's Ratings

Iker is an Analyst in the Moody’s EMEA Corporate Finance Group based in Dubai. He covers a diversified industry portfolio, with exposure in Turkey, Africa, and the Middle East.

He joined Moody’s Dubai office in 2022, and previously worked as an associate analyst in the Moody’s London office covering the leveraged finance industry with exposure to Business and Consumer Services, Healthcare, Airlines and Aerospace & Defense. Before that, he spent 2 years working in the consulting industry in Spain.

Iker holds a Masters Degree in Investment Management from Henley Business School. He also holds a BSc in Business Management from the University of Deusto and is a CFA charterholder since 2018.

Ighosime Oyofo Assistant Vice President - Analyst, Financial Institutions Group Moody's Ratings

Ighosime is an AVP Analyst in the EMEA FIG Banking team at Moody’s in London and will help with the execution of Moody’s strategy in Africa by enhancing local and international investors’ outreach as well as relationships with various stakeholders in Nigeria. He spent the majority of the last sixteen years in investment banking, working with and advising large corporations, financial institutions and international investors across the continent, particularly in Nigeria and Ghana. Prior to joining Moody’s, he was an Executive Director in the Lagos office of Lion’s Head Global Partners, a boutique investment bank and asset manager operating across frontier and emerging markets. Before this he led growth and strategy at African Leadership University, Mauritius an innovative education company looking to grow the next generation of leaders. Ighosime also spent over seven years with Chapel Hill Denham, the leading independent investment bank and asset manager in Nigeria, completing several landmark capital markets and corporate deals in Nigeria. 

Ighosime has an MBA with distinction from the University of Manchester, UK, and graduated with a Bachelors in Business Administration at the George Washington University, Washington DC. Beyond work, he is interested in photography, horology, football, basketball and Formula 1.

Adekemi Adebambo Chief Ratings Officer GCR Ratings

Adekemi Adebambo is the Chief Ratings Officer at GCR Ratings, Nigeria and has spent over a decade with the company conducting rating analysis on a broad range of entities in diverse sectors of the economy. In her current role, she oversees the analytical team encompassing Financial Institutions and Corporates & Local and Regional Government ratings. Prior to GCR, Adekemi worked at Access Bank Plc (in the Internal Audit Group) and KPMG’s audit and advisory division respectively.

 Adekemi is a Fellow of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and an Associate of Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, United Kingdom. Adekemi has a master’s degree in international Banking and Finance from Lingnan University, Hong Kong, and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Ibadan.

Yewande Adedayo Head, Financial Institutions Group Stanbic Bank

Yewande Adedayo is a focused and versatile Financial Services Executive, Deal Originator, Relationship

Manager and Leader.  She has diverse cross border international experience with Standard Bank Group and over the past twenty (20) years, has attained core competencies in Corporate & Investment Banking, Treasury, Structured Trade Finance and Fund Management.

Her experience covers relationship management, sales, change management, deal structuring and product management in international trade finance, cash & liquidity management, securities services and correspondent banking targeted towards multinational companies, local corporates and financial institutions.

Working with Global Account Managers in New York, Europe, Asia and Africa; Yewande is currently responsible
for the coverage of the Financial Institutions business within Stanbic IBTC Bank’s Corporate & Investment
Banking Division which has delivered growth and contributes significant revenues to the bottom-line. Furthermore,
she covers a broad base of Financial Institutions clients currently in Nigeria with presence markets across thirty
(30) African markets and other international markets.

She consistently lives the core values of being courageous, responsive, creative, and trustworthy. She has a clear
understanding of acceptable professional and personal conduct expected of professionals in today’s global world.
Yewande is an Alumnus of University of Glasgow, United Kingdom, where she attained an MBA with Merit &
Distinction in dissertation and has also attended many leadership trainings in several institutions such as Harvard
Business School, Henley Business School and University of Cape Town.

Kemi Awodein Managing Director Chapel Hill Denham

Olukemi Awodein (‘Kemi) is the Managing Director of Chapel Hill Denham Advisory Limited, the leading independent investment bank in Nigeria. ‘Kemi has over twenty-four (24) years of experience in Investment Banking. She joined Chapel Hill Denham through the Business Combination between Chapel Hill Advisory Partners Limited and Denham Management Limited, and has been involved in executing transactions including IPOs, Privatisation, Equity Raising, and M&As. Prior to the Business Combination, ‘Kemi spent eight (8) years also managing the legal function at Denham, ensuring that the Company’s activities were statutorily and regulatorily compliant.

Prior to joining Chapel Hill  Denham, she worked as an Associate in the prestigious law firm of Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie, where she gained wide-ranging experience in Oil & Gas, Capital Markets, Company and Commercial Law.

Kemi is a graduate of Law from the University of Warwick (LL.B) and Nottingham University (LL.M, International Law) and was called to the Nigerian Bar in December 1992. She is also a member of the Governance Board of the Financial Centre for Sustainability, Lagos (FC4S), where she is the Thematic Lead, Issuances & Investments. She currently chairs the NBA-SBL Mergers, Acquisitions and Corporate Reorganisations Committee. In November 2023, she was appointed the President of the Association of Issuing Houses of Nigeria.

Mik Kabeya Vice President - Senior Analyst, Financial Institutions Group Moody's Ratings

Mik Kabeya is a Vice President - Senior Analyst in the Financial Institutions Group, based in London. Mik covers financial institutions across the African continent. Prior to relocating to London, Mik was based in Dubai where he covered financial institutions based in the Middle East. Before joining Moody’s, Mik worked at Fullerton Financial Holdings and at BNP Paribas.

Abdullah Hudhud Associate Managing Director Moody's Ratings

Abdullah Hudhud leads Moody’s Relationship Management team in charge of managing existing and new relationships across the Middle East & Africa.

In his role as Head of Relationship Management for ME&A, Abdullah is responsible to drive Moody’s commercial strategy and lead a team of relationship managers covering the region.

Prior to joining Moody’s in 2019, Abdullah spent 4 years at the National Bank of Canada as Head of EMEA for Financial Institutions Group, 8 years at Standard & Poor’s as Head of Client Coverage for Middle East & North Africa, 4 years with HSBC as Director of Corporate & Investment Banking, and 2 years with BNP Paribas as Relationship Manager of Private Banking.

Abdullah has a Masters of Science degree in Investment Banking & Securities and a Bachelors degree in Finance.

Isabella Burke Vice President - Relationship Manager Moody's Ratings

Isabella Burke is a Vice President Relationship Manager for Africa and is based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Isabella’s responsibilities encompass increasing coverage and revenue from new and existing customers in Southern and West Africa. Prior to joining Moody’s Investors Service, Isabella was covering South Africa as Business Development Manager for a London based hedge fund manager. She was tasked with introducing long-only and hedged solutions into the South African market. Isabella has a great depth and breadth of knowledge of capital markets ,having previously worked at Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Credit Suisse and Investec. Isabella studied at King’s College, London and is fluent in Italian and has basic French.