VFD Group Plc Appoints Four New Board Members

The Board and Management of VFD Group Plc, a leading proprietary investment company, has announced the appointment of four new directors bringing the number of directors to 15.

The new appointees are, Folajimi Adeleye, Executive Director, Finance; John Okonkwo, Executive Director, and Chief Operating Officer; Kelvin Orogun and Femi Akinware, both Non-Executive Directors.

Speaking on the appointments, Nonso Okpala, GMD/CEO, VFD Group said, “The Board is excited to welcome these four gentlemen with a combined experience of over 50 years across several fields including telecommunications, engineering, risk, and financial services.

‘’They have made remarkable careers and run successful businesses and the addition of such combination of experience to an already robust board will have an even more profound immediate effect on our deliberations and businesses.”

In the same vein, the Chairman, Board of Directors VFD Group, Olatunde Busari, SAN, mentioned, “I am extremely proud of the management of VFD Group and the recent additions to the Board. The diversity of complementing competencies and functional experience has contributed immensely to our success and with the new directors, we believe they would continue to reiterate this and build our achievements in the years to come”.

Folajimi Adeleye joined VFD Group in 2018 as Group Financial Controller before his appointment as Executive Director. He is an Economics major and has experience spanning over 12 years across banks, primary mortgage institutions, asset management, pension fund administrators and not-for-profit organizations. Prior to joining VFD Group Plc, Folajimi had worked at One Finance and Investments Limited (now Carbon) and KPMG.

Before the new appointment, John Okonkwo was the Chief Financial Officer at Heirs Holdings Limited and was previously the Head of Business Assurance & Compliance in the same company. Prior to joining Heirs Holdings Limited in June 2012, he was a Manager in the Internal Audit, Risk & Compliance Services division of KPMG. John is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and has many years’ experience in Finance, Audit, Risk Management, Sustainability Services and Corporate Governance Services.

Kelvin Orogun runs Cashpot, a money remittance company in London and Lagos, which he set up after a career in banking and other financial services in Nigeria. He is a Computer Science graduate with an MBA from Cass Business School – City University London and is also a Non-Executive Director at Anchoria Asset Management limited.

Femi Akinware brings on board 24 years of accomplished leadership in telecoms. He holds an MBA and BSC in Electronics and Computer Engineering and has spent 15 years working on mergers and acquisitions, asset building, corporate development, business re-engineering, IT Consultancy, and business start-ups.  Mr. Akinwale is currently the CEO of COMENERGY.

In the financial year ended 2020, VFD Group grew its PBT by 173% with gross earnings rising by 96%, leading to a declaration of N8.51 dividend per share, an increase from N3.30 in 2019. In December 2020, the Group conducted a growth and expansion capital raise of N13.5b. The investment group has interests in banking, asset management, hospitality, real estate, insurance, lending, and tech and is on its way to building a sustainable ecosystem in Africa, entrenching itself as the investors’ choice. VFD Group is listed on the NASD and its board of directors is chaired by Olatunde Busari SAN.