Chief Executive Officers

"I had to overcome several obstacles in my life journey to become the Director General and CEO of the National Pension Commission (PenCom) managing over N2 trillion in assets."

"The homemaker aspect of a woman’s life teaches me one thing and that’s to joggle and manage different things at the same time."

"We were very gratified to hear about the launch of the global gateway and the $300 billion initially earmarked for it."

"There’s been a lot of talk, and a lot of research but now it’s time for action. And how do you have this action translate properly on the continent? By very quickly, clearly, concisely, looking at the transactions themselves."

"I think there needs to be a paradigm shift from the way we look at collaboration."

"Africa is getting tired of receiving aid, adding that it would be more beneficial for the continent to take charge of its future."

"I'm more reform oriented. I like to start things that were not in existence. I get bored going to things that have already been said. I'm constantly looking for innovation."

"I really believe this is the best time to be an African start-up. This is Africa's time and we as Africans need to seize this opportunity to contribute our quotas to our respective countries."

"We want to make money, wanting to make money is important because the business is sustainable. But, then, we also want to be able to have a good impact on the lives of people."

"Why not waste? Why not recycling? I think as a woman, people might think that it's dirty, it's not something that women should do. I saw the opportunity that was there in this field and also the impact that we could have on people's lives. And that's really what drove me."

"At the beginning of a business when you're just starting, you have to be very hands-on to get the business to run. But there's going to be a stick because you have to understand every aspect of your business inside and out. But there's going to be a stage where you have to step back and be more strategic..."

"To improve innovation in Africa, we need to invest more in education. You cannot innovate when you do not have a good education."

"I believe that once you can just marry your idea, believe in it. You will begin to see the results."

"The most important thing I will tell a young entrepreneur is that once you've decided on an idea, and you really truly have done your research and you believe that it's a good one, please, don't give up."

"And as we become more affluent, people become richer, they begin to consume more and also look at things that make their lives easy. They consume things that are more packaged. And when you consume things that are packaged, you also create waste because you deal with packaging."

"Traveling to other countries has just shown me that Nigeria is a fantastic country. I think one of our issues in Nigeria is that we don't have very good marketing."

"Why is it that you go to other countries, Nigerians that are educated, do very well. It's not a fluke. It's just that we're not really utilizing our resources properly."

"It's about how you present. How do you ensure that people understand the story, understand what you're doing, and they are buying into it? So it's actually a science."

"Not many people know what recycling is. They don't appreciate it. So dealing with that is very important."

"But discovery is not terrible for creative people. I open the Patreon app, and it says 'you’re subscribed to these four creators, here are two more just like them. You can push the button and subscribe here.' That seems like a very natural thing to want to do."

"The growth of the creator economy has accelerated much faster than I ever could have dreamed of when we began this journey eight years ago. We are at a critical inflection point and I’m excited to partner closely with Tiffany to scale our teams to power our next phase of growth."

"One of the key features in any business leader is execution… and it is a critical block in building a successful enterprise"

"One of the things I noted in my country was that women were not getting the opportunity to get formal employment, in particular the many widows and the single mothers due to HIV/Aids. Today our company is arguably the largest employer of permanently employed women. We employ over 1,000 women, contributing at least 25% of our workforce"

"For me, failure teaches self-confidence and tenacity"

"In our company we believe in celebrating success because it creates, and maintains, momentum,” she noted. “Everyone celebrates even the little things that we succeed in doing, and we have a jolly good time. That is how people look forward to winning and being successful. Because they know there are rewards of celebration"

"The seventh lesson that I learnt is to always keep on learning. I believe in learning all the time, I’m a life-long learner… I also believe in re-learning, because there are always new things coming out. My kids are teaching me things today"

"Pay it off, don’t pay it forward. Or put simply: be frugal"

"I have learnt that earning by working hard is the way to go"

"I have ensured that I aligned their personal goals with their business goals and that makes everybody go in tandem with each other. I try to know almost all my 4,000 employees: their families, their aspirations, their worst fears and so on"

"Success depends on employees. For me knowing and connecting with my employees is very important. I have done that very well"

"And creating value, giving the best value… is the way we built loyalty"

"I always knew that treating the customer as the boss was the key thing"

"I thought there was a gap in the industry. Companies that were there were not living up to the needs of the clients. The industry was renowned for wild cat strikes and guards generally were perceived as the lowly-paid in any sector. I wanted to change the perceptions and create a niche in which people could carve out a career and I knew I needed to go in with a different approach and that approach was going to make the difference, the people had to be key or central feature of the vision"

"Let me say that right from a tender age, I had always told myself and everyone that I was going to start and run my own business, which I always envisioned as a large business. I enrolled in an entrepreneurial development program in 1995 and this sharpened my entrepreneurial competencies. I learned elements like opportunity seeking, goal setting, business planning, networking, and more"

"The business idea was after the realization of a gap that I had noted in the market for a service and quality-oriented security services provider"

"Have a game plan and execute it with passion, determination and focus. Never mind that you are a woman. Do not think about that except as a competitive advantage. No one is going to give you anything on a silver platter. You have to work twice, thrice, five times as hard and do not lose focus. Work with your passion, it will keep you going and once you have a footing in your business, make the most of it and create the momentum and that will get rid of all the little challenges that may bog you down. Lastly, choose your team carefully and get rid of non-performers soon enough.”"

"“If you want a certain future, go out and create it. Conquer your fears as that is what enslaves most women. Opportunities are now galore. We just need to roll up our sleeves, lift our feet, and walk through the door as no one will carry us."

"“My advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is start with an end in mind, know exactly what you want to achieve and start to work systematically towards the goal, exercising some patience. Know the industry you want to get into, its internal and external environment."

"“never tire in well doing, because, in due season, you shall reap if you faint not”. “I believe that every good deed is a door opener hence I always try to be as good as I can to others, my word being my bond, as the key to my success is loving and connecting with people which are always the seeds of great things to come. I believe in playing by the rules all the time and most importantly upholding my personal integrity as this gives me good night sleep.”"

"“Most of the women that we employ here are single mothers, we targeted them primarily because we knew that they were not going to get an opportunity from anybody and they would not be able to look after their children. So this is an opportunity for them to have a livelihood and to educate their children. We employ close to a thousand women now, about 900+ and to me that’s one of the happiest things I’ve done in my life as a person because I have impacted very positively on women who would have not have had an opportunity, who would be eking out a living and possibly even going out to sell their bodies to make a living.”"

"Conquer your fears as that is what enslaves most women"

"“Success depends on employees. For me knowing and connecting with my employees is very important.”"

"My greatest satisfaction is championing women economic empowerment initiatives in mentorship, linking women businesses to corporate supply chains for their growth."

"My advice to women all the time is:"If you want a certain future, go out and create it. Conquer your fears as that is what enslaves most women. Opportunities are now galore. We just need to roll up our sleeves, lift our feet, and walk through the door as no one will carry us.""

"Women entrepreneurs have to work twice as hard to succeed... the best thing to do is to remain resolute, focused, ethical and preserve your integrity."

"For every family in liberal San Francisco that went solar with SunRun in 2010, nearly eight families in more conservative Fresno made the switch to our solar power service."

"But John Roth must be concerned that there is merit. It is his own personal assets that are at stake"

"The most successful businessman in modern Canadian history"

"The government has to pay attention to the fact that a lot of high income jobs are moving to the United States"

"Policies and business strategies that worked well in the industrial era are a recipe for stagnation and decline in the new economy"