University of Lagos wins the 2018/19 CFA Institute Research Challenge National Final
Following the success of our maiden participation in the 2017/18 CFA Institute Research Challenge, our Society hosted the kick-off event for the 2018/19 Research Challenge on 19 September 2018. We arranged a company visit for the 14 Nigerian universities participating in the 2018/19 CFA Institute Research Challenge to meet with Dangote Cement Plc.
The Participants and their Faculty Advisers had an opportunity to meet with the CFO and other management staff of Dangote Cement Plc (our subject company for this year’s Research Challenge).
Out of the 14 Universities who started the journey with us, 9 Universities were selected through a screening process for the National Final which held on Saturday 09 February, 2019 at The Civic Center.
The participating universities included; Covenant University, Obafemi Awolowo University, University of Maiduguri, University of Lagos, University of Calabar, University of Nigeria, University of Ilorin, University of Abuja, and the University of Ibadan.
Team Obafemi Awolowo University emerged as Second Runner-up in the competition.
Team Covenant University emerged as the First Runner-up.
Team University of Lagos emerged the Champion of the 2018/19 Research Challenge National Final and will be representing the Nigeria Society at the EMEA Regional Final scheduled to hold in April, 2019 in Switzerland.
The Most Outstanding Faculty Adviser Award was earned by Dr. Akanni O. Lawanson of the University of Ibadan.
The Most Outstanding Student Award was earned by Oluwaseyi Akindutire of the department of Economics, University of Lagos.
Our sincere appreciation to our competition sponsor, Zenith Bank Plc; our Graders, Industry Mentors and Judges for working to ensure this event was a success.
Q3/Q4 2018 NEWSLETTER
You can now download our Q3/Q4 2018 Newsletter at the following link; https://goo.gl/R2XHEx. We will be very happy to hear your feedback. Enjoy reading it and please feel free to share with other stakeholders, colleagues, and employers in the investment industry.
CFA Charter Award Night – A Celebration of 86 New Charterholders
The CFA Charter Award Dinner held on the evening of Friday 9 November 2018 at Eko Convention Centre. The Charter award night is a yearly event organised to celebrate and welcome onboard new CFA Charterholders as awarded by CFA Institute. This year’s dinner night was African-themed.
The Society celebrated a record number of 86 new charter awardees! This ceremony marked a very important milestone in the career and professional development of our new charterholders who have recently earned the right to use the prestigious CFA designation.
Another feature of this year’s award night was the Volunteer of the Year Award which was earned by Ola Chioma Eke, CFA and Kikelomo Omotayo Mesubi, CFA, both members of the Society for outstanding performance as volunteers in the Society. Ola Eke is the Chairman of the Gender Diversity Committee and Kikelomo is the Chairman of the Programs Committee.
On the same night, awards were also given out to firms in the investment industry that have workplace practices that support women thriving professionally. The survey was conducted by Great Place To Work following a Memorandum of Understanding signed between CFA Society Nigeria and Great Place To Work on the 11th of April 2018. The following organisations were recognised in the listed categories;
Career Progression for Women (Less than 500 Employees Category)
FSDH Merchant Bank Limited, Agusto & Co and Singularity Investments
Career Progression for Women (More than 500 Employees Category)
PwC Nigeria, Stanbic IBTC Holdings and Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Limited
Work- Life Balance (More than 500 Employees Category)
PwC Nigeria, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, and Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Limited
During the dinner night, the winners of the 2018 CFA Society Nigeria Ethics Challenge were announced. University of Nigeria, Nsukka took the Second Runner-up position; University of Lagos was the First Runner-Up and Obafemi Awolowo University was crowned Champion of the year.
The dinner ended with a colourful fashion competition that had our attendees posing in style and showcasing our rich African Culture. The audience eventually voted the top three best dressed guests who won shopping vouchers each from the Society.
Find more pictures of this colorful event below;
Once again, we are saying a hearty congratulations and welcome to our 86 new joiners. We look forward to working with you as members of the Society.
2018 Women in Investment Management (WIM) Workshop
The Investment Conference was closely followed by our Women in Investment Management (WIM) Workshop on Friday, 9 November 2018 at Eko Convention Center Lagos.
WIM is an initiative of CFA Institute launched in Nigeria in 2017. It focuses on improving investor outcomes by encouraging diversity in the investment profession. As a leading voice for advocacy in the investment industry, CFA Society Nigeria champions the promotion of gender diversity in the investment management profession.
The WIM Workshop had a record attendance of more than 500 attendees made up of both men and women in the investment industry. The ultimate objective of the workshop was to equip women in the investment industry with the necessary skills and mentorship required to succeed in the industry.
We had the pleasure of hosting Carla Harris, Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Morgan Stanley to an On-Stage interview with Paul Smith, the President and CEO of CFA Institute. Carla who is a successful black woman in the investment banking/asset management profession globally and a renowned author of several career books used her story to inspire women during the workshop.
This was followed by a panel session with leading female executives in the industry; Aishah Ahmad, CFA, Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability, Central Bank of Nigeria, Bola Adesola, CEO, Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria & West Africa, Ibukun Awosika, Chairman, First Bank of Nigeria Limited. This session was moderated by Folasade Odunaiya, CFA, Board Member, CFA Society Nigeria. The discussants shared their thoughts on “The Power of Networking”.
In their words; “Competence is important in networking. What you bring to the table is important. As a woman, let your voice add value to what is being done at the table.” – Bola Adesola
“Build relationships and make it genuine; not based on anything you want. You must never lose yourself in the effort to relate” – Ibukun Awosika
“Don’t have a network that is only restricted to your career, have a wide variety of relationships.” – Aisha Ahmad.
Carla Harris took the stage again to share with us on the “Tools for Maximizing Your Career Success”. Here are a few take aways from her sessions; (1)“To achieve work-life balance, do not compromise. Be intentional about what you put in the calendar” (2) “When people give you a role that has never been occupied or ask you to do something that has never been done, it means they have a very high view of who you are” (3) “Know the adjectives that are consistent to the seat you are occupying and the seat you are aspiring to get to. Pick three adjectives that absolutely consistent about who you really are, three adjectives that are valued in your organisation; where they intersect is the character that you should project” (4) “You can train people to think about you in the way that you want them to think about you. How people perceive you, will determine how they relate to you.”
There was a book signing session with Carla Harris for her book “Strategise to Win; The New Way to Start Out, Step Up, or Start Over in Your Career” which was shared to all our attendees The workshop was brought to a successful ending with a Networking Lunch session.
Find more event pictures below.
Nigeria Investment Conference 2018
Our biannual 2018 CFA Society Nigeria Investment Conference held successfully on Thursday, 8 November 2018 at the Eko Convention Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos. The theme of the conference was “Let’s Measure Up”. The conference was used as a platform for advocacy and knowledge exchange with the broad aim of improving the professionalism and ethical standards of Nigeria’s investment industry. The Investment conference was used to amplify CFA Institute’s global “Let’s Measure Up” campaign which aims to increase awareness that the investment industry is built on honesty and transparency.
We had in attendance more than 500 attendees from the investment industry comprising of senior executives, regulators, industry leaders, academics, senior government policy makers, and investment professionals. We were also joined by delegates from other African CFA Societies such as CFA Society South Africa, CFA Society East Africa and CFA Society Mauritius. The conference moderated by Gary Baker, the Managing Director, EMEA, CFA Institute, featured a morning session focusing on investment industry practitioners and an afternoon session which focused on policy dialogue with high-level policy makers.
The President of CFA Society Nigeria Mr. Banji Fehintola in his welcome address described the event as “a platform for dialogue and advocacy to improve the landscape of the financial market.” He drew attention to the relevance of the theme of the conference. In his words, “for Nigeria in particular, there is no better time than now to remind ourselves of our collective obligations to measure up to the highest standards that will promote the development of our capital market, increase inward investment flows and deliver economic prosperity to our people.”
The President and CEO of CFA Institute Mr. Paul Smith in his remarks was full of optimism about Nigeria. According to Smith, the country’s demography is a compelling case for investments. With 60% of the population under 30, Smith sees Nigeria as the future of the CFA.
The first panel which was featured in the morning session was moderated by Ore Sofekun, Managing Director, Investment One Vencap deliberated on ‘Boosting Confidence in the Financial Services Industry – The Role of Ethics, Incentives & Behavioral Changes’. The panelists, Andrew Alli, Non-Executive Director, CDC Group Plc, Oscar Onyema, CEO, Nigerian Stock Exchange, Abubakar Suleiman, Managing Director/CEO, Sterling Bank Plc, and Alhaji Shehu Mohammed, FCA, FCCA, Sarkin Shanun Kano agreed that post-2008 global financial crisis, financial institutions must place top emphasis on building trust with their clients and customers. “Trust” in Mr. Suleiman’s words “is one way to unlock the Nigerian economy and grow its commerce.”
The second panel focused on ‘Bridging the Infrastructure Gap: What Nigeria Must do to Measure Up with the Developed World.’ The discussants Mr Oliver Andrews, Chief Investment Officer African Finance Corporation, Bolaji Balogun CEO Chapel Hill Denham, Mrs Eme Essien Lore, Country Manager, International Finance Corporation, Mr Jabalo Oshikanlu, Legal and Compliance Director, ARM-HARITH Infrastructure Fund agreed that for Nigeria must give top priority to the “Sanctity of Contracts”. Nigeria’s quest to address its infrastructure deficit through investments and public-private partnership can be achieved if it values the “Sanctity of Contracts”.
We had the pleasure of hosting Carla Harris, Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Morgan Stanley in a conversation on ‘Strategize to Win: Why Gender Diversity Matters’. Carla challenged the Nigerian women in finance, to step up and make their voices heard in the boardrooms and the industry. In her words, “work-life balance is important, and women have to find a way to negotiate on the issues of pay gap inequality because Gender Diversity and Inclusion is the commercially right thing to do”.
The afternoon session focused on policy dialogues with the following headliners; ‘Attracting Foreign Direct Investments through Ease of Doing Business Reforms: What has been done and what should we expect?’; ‘Monetary and Exchange Rate Policies: How Resilient is Nigeria to the Shocks of EM Capital Reversal and an Upcoming Election?’. We were honored with the presence of Mr. Godwin Emefiele, Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria. Mr. Emefiele lauded the institute and its role in promoting transparency and professionalism in the Nigerian investment space.
The last session “Putting it all Together: 2019 Economic & Investment Outlook” moderated by Wole Famurewa, Anchor, CNBC Africa had Mr. Bismarck Rewane, Managing Director/CEO, Financial Derivatives Company Limited addressing the need to tackle poverty in Nigeria and the distribution of income.
Representing the Minister for Industries, Trade and Investments the Executive Secretary and CEO of the National Investment Promotion Council, NIPC Yewande Sadiku spoke on “Attracting Foreign Direct Investments through Ease of Doing Business Reforms”. In her words, “more businesses are formed in an environment that makes business formation easier.” She stressed that there was a correlation between Ease of Doing Business and economic prosperity, and Nigeria should make efforts to attract Domestic Direct Investments and not just Foreign Direct Investments.
The conference ended with a networking reception where our attendees had the opportunity to meet and greet. Altogether, the conference was a huge success and we look forward to our 2020 Nigeria Investment Conference.
Society Award – “Fastest Growing Society in EMEA Region”
CFA SOCIETY NIGERIA in October, during the 2018 EMEA Society Leadership Conference held in Finland once…
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