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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Q2 2018 NEWSLETTER
Corporate Governance & Financial Reporting Quality Conference
On 25 June 2018, CFA Society Nigeria and Institute of Directors Centre for Corporate Governance hosted a conference on “Corporate Governance & Financial Reporting Quality” at The Wheatbaker Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos. The conference was held in commemoration of CFA Society Nigeria’s 2018 “Putting Investors First” Day. The conference was attended by C-level executives, regulators, investment professionals and journalists. The event attracted several high-profile speakers in the finance and investment industry.
The overriding objective of the conference was to draw the attention of players in the investment industry to the importance of good corporate governance standards and financial reporting quality as they link to transparency, ethical conduct and integrity. The content was rich and engaging, exposing participants to trends in financial reporting quality, regulatory thinking about corporate governance and how institutional investors such as supranational financial institutions, pension funds and private equity firms integrate corporate governance considerations into their investment processes.
The session featured three panel discussions moderated by Mr. Banji Fehintola, CFA, president of CFA Society Nigeria; Dr. Nechi Ezeako, Executive Director of IoDCCG and Mr. Abiodun Sanusi, CFA, Group Head, Investment Banking, Coronation Merchant Bank. CFA Institute’s President & CEO, Mr. Paul Smith, CFA delivered a keynote address on ‘Why Trust Matters’.
‘We believe the industry’s future is promising – IF professionals embrace trust and chart a course that better fulfils the industry’s purpose. Better outcomes are possible – for the end investor, the industry and society – when trust is placed at the core of relationships. If we succeed in building trust with our clients, we can build a sustainable industry’ he said.
During the conference, the Business Network for Ethics and Integrity (BNEI), a platform for the promotion of ethical conduct, values and compliance evaluation in business was launched by Mr. Paul Smith, CFA and Alhaji Ahmed Rufai Mohammed, F.IoD, President/Chairman of Council, IoD Nigeria
The President of CFA Society Nigeria, Mr. Banji Fehintola, CFA stated that “given our mutual interest in advancing ethics and integrity, CFA Society Nigeria signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Institute of Directors Centre of Corporate Governance in February 2018 to promote ethics and integrity in the Nigerian business community. One of the ways to achieve this mutual objective is by organizing events and programs such as the just concluded conference. The conference is just one of several initiatives that CFA Society Nigeria will pursuing in this area given our membership of the BNEI.”
The conference was sponsored by Citi, Coronation Merchant Bank and Synergy Capital Managers.