Chief risk officer first woman as executive director on Dangote board

Dangote Industries Limited has promoted Dr Adenike Fajemirokun to the role of group executive director, president’s office, where she will take on new roles in addition to her current schedule as group chief risk officer. She is the first-ever female executive director of Dangote Group. Olakunle Alake, the COO, is now the group managing director, while management also announced the appointment of Austine Ometoruwa as group executive director, corporate finance and treasury. The board of Dangote Cement PLC, Global, has also announced the appointment of Cherie Blair and Mick Davies as independent non-executive directors. President and chief executive of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, said: “It is exciting seeing a female [Dr Fajemirokun] occupy such a high position. We are gender sensitive and create equal opportunities for both men and women to get to the top. “The new appointments are designed to strengthen the group’s executive management team and consolidate its strategic business growth trajectory”, he added. Mr Alake has been the COO of Dangote Industries Limited since 2007. He serves on the board of Dangote Sugar Refinery PLC, NASCON Allied Industries PLC, Dangote Cement PLC and Dangote Flour Mills PLC. Mr Alake's experience spans 34 years and covers the banking, management consultancy and manufacturing industries. Dr Fajemirokun, a risk management and insurance specialist, has more than 18 years’ diverse experience in developing and implementing risk management strategies in the financial, engineering, manufacturing and other industries. She started her career with Ove Arup and Partners as a fire engineer where she was responsible for carrying out qualitative and quantitative risk assessments of various assets and developing risk assessment frameworks for quantifying identified risks. Dr Fajemirokun later joined Deutsche Bank AG, UK, and served as director and global head of operational risk, as well as head of the transaction management group for leverage finance at the corporate and investment bank. Prior to specialising in the risk management field, she held positions in finance as a front office quantitative analyst at Goldman Sachs London and New York. Dr Fajemirokun worked with First Bank of Nigeria where she developed the operational risk management framework for the bank as well as its business continuity certification by the British Standards Institution. She also managed and tracked the firm's risks across all directorates, transaction services and alternative investments. In 2010, she founded and headed AFRisk Management Consultants Limited which developed the enterprise risk management frameworks for some of the country’s major institutions including Central Bank of Nigeria, First Bank Nigeria and First Bank Capital PLC. She was appointed chief risk officer of Dangote Group in 2013 and leads the risk management functions for the group and its various businesses where she oversees the company’s governance model and enterprise risk programme. Dr Fajemirokun develops and manages processes to identify, assess, monitor and reduce risks that could interfere with the achievement of the company’s goals and objectives. She is also responsible for managing the group’s insurance, procurement portfolio and logistics. She is a Fellow of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and specialist member of the Global Institute of Risk Management. She is also a visiting professor at the University of Manchester, UK, has been recognised globally for her work with the Operational Riskdata eXchange Association and Institute of Risk Management, UK, and is a member of the Lagos State Research and Innovation Council.

Chief risk officer first woman as executive director on Dangote board

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