Odu’a Investment names Yinusa new CEO

Odu’a Investment Company Limited has named Abdulrahman Yinusa as its next Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer effective June 1, 2024.

This was revealed in a statement on Thursday which announced the retirement of the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Adewale Raji by the middle of the year.

According to the statement, Yinusa, who currently serves as Executive Director and the Group Chief Financial Officer of Odu’a Investment, is a finance professional with over three decades of experience in the Financial Services Industry.

Upon assumption of office, the firm said that Yinusa would be responsible for implementing the group board’s shared vision and plan, as well as ensuring the continued execution of existing strategic projects.

Yinusa joined Odu’a Investment from Diamond Bank (now part of Access Bank). Yinusa graduated with a B.Sc. Accounting from the Ahmadu Bello University, and holds both M.Sc. Economics and MBA (Finance) degrees from the University of Lagos. He is also an alumnus of the University of Cambridge, IMD, Switzerland and INSEAD, France where he attended top management programmes.

Odu’a Investment also appointed Yemi Ajao as Executive Director, and Group Chief Investment and Business Development Officer, a role he will assume on Monday. Ajao has over 20 years of experience in oil and gas operations (engineering), strategy, corporate finance, real estate, venture capital and private equity. He graduated with a B.Sc. Chemical Engineering from the Obafemi Awolowo University, and holds an M.Sc. Petroleum Engineering from the University of Houston, and an MBA from the Jones Graduate School of Business, Rice University, Houston, USA.

Commenting on the leadership changes, the Group Chairman of the Board, Odu’a Investment Company Limited, Bimbo Ashiru, said, “Today we announce the retirement of a Group Managing Director who superintended over a pivotal period in Odu’a Investment’s evolution into a world-class conglomerate. On behalf of the Board, I would like to express our sincere gratitude to Mr. Adewale Raji for his exceptional leadership, and for steering the ship with such vision, courage and professionalism during his tenure. We are also delighted about the smooth leadership transition, and I would like to congratulate the shareholders and the Board on Mr. Abdulrahman Yinusa’s appointment. I do not doubt in my mind that he will take Odu’a Investment to another level of growth, especially with the foundations laid over the past few years.”

The outgoing GMD, Raji said, “ It has been a great honour to have been entrusted by the Group’s Shareholders and the Board to superintend over the affairs of the business from June 2014. The period witnessed remarkable changes in the financial performance and corporate governance standing of the Group. I am delighted that the modest successes recorded in portfolio rebalancing and asset optimisation in our notable chosen sectors of Real Estate, Hospitality, Financial Services, Agriculture, Energy, etc are going to receive accelerated transformation under my worthy successor (Yinusa) and the excellent crop of talent that the group has attracted under the support of the Board in these past few years.’’

As Group Managing Director, Raji oversaw the Group’s return to a growth and profitability trajectory through restructuring the operating structure of the group to improve efficiency. During his two tenures, the company grew Profit Before Tax (PBT) from N378m (2013) to a high of N2.2bn (2021) and paid a total of N2.56bn in dividends so far.

The conglomerate also diversified into agribusiness, Oil & Gas and other sectors through strategic partnerships, and repositioned the group’s key subsidiaries and assets.