By InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Brewer, Guinness Nigeria Plc said on Monday it has appointed Rotimi Odusola, new company secretary with immediate effect, the company said in an issuer’s announcement with the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
“In his role as company secretary, Rotimi will guide and support the Board of Directors of Guinness Nigeria in ensuring compliance with legal and statutory requirements. He will also continue to provide strategic leadership to the legal function ensuring delivery of excellent commercial and pragmatic legal support to the company. Odusola brings to this role about two decades of leadership experience in broad multi-functional roles spanning corporate and regulatory affairs as well as commercial legal management,” Guinness said.
According to the brewer, Odusola, who joined Guinness Nigeria as legal director in 2014, was formerly a seniour manager, Commercial Legal in MTN Nigeria Communications Limited. “At MTN Nigeria, he was responsible for providing proactive legaI advice and support to the various units of the multinational telecommunications business in Nigeria,” Guinness added.
Prior to joining MTN Nigeria, he was seniour associate at one of Nigeria’s leading commercial law firms, Aluko & Oyebode, where he was responsible for full legal advisory services to major clients across various industries that included manufacturing, tobacco, agro-allied and food processing, oil and gas, telecommunications, aviation and banking.
Odusola, replaced Sesan Sobowale, who held the position since 2006 and, in the last five years, combined this with his role as corporate relations director of the company. SobowaIe, will, now concentrate on his core responsibilities of managing the company’s external relationships with government, media, communities and other stakeholders.
In the same vein, the beermaker announced it has appointed Omobola Johnson as non-executive director of the company.
It said Johnson is an alumnus of the prestigious University of Manchester, University of London and Cranfield University, all in the United Kingdom. She started her professional career in management consulting in the London Office of Arthur Andersen/Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) in 1985. She rose through the ranks and was admitted into the Accenture Partnership in September 2000, with responsibility for financial services practice in the Nigerian market.
According to Guinness in 2005, he was appointed as the country managing director for Accenture with the responsibility for implementing Accenture strategy in Nigeria and the rest of West Africa. “She sought early retirement from Accenture in March 2010 to enable her engage and participate more deeply in nation building by deploying the skills and competencies acquired during her 25 years in Andersen/Accenture as a member of Nigeria’s Presidential Advisory Council,” the brewer added.
She was appointed Nigeria’s minister of Communication Technology in 2011, and, during her four year tenure at the Ministry, she oversaw the creation and implementation of policy to enable affordable Internet, including the development and presentation of the country’s 2013-2018 National Broadband Plan. During her time as minister, the percentage of Internet users in the country nearly doubled from 24% (2010) to 43% (2014). She served meritoriously in that capacity until May 2015.
Johnson is a Partner in TLCom Capital, a Venture Capital firm with specific focus on investments in technology enabled companies in sub-saharan Africa. She also serves on the Board of Directors of FBN Quest, the merchant banking and asset management subsidiary of FBN Holdings Plc, and is chairman of Phoenix Africa Development Company in the UK. She is a Fellow of the Aspen Global Leadership Network (AGLN).
With these appointment and resignation, the board of Guinness Nigeria Plc now comprises of the following notable individuals Babatunde Abayomi Savage as the chairman, Nick Blazquez, vice chairman and Peter Ndegwa as the managing director.
Others are Joseph Ogbonnaya Irukwu, Bismarck Jemide Rewane, Zainab Abdurrahman, Phil Jenkins, John O’Keeffe, Sunday Thomas Dongoyaro, Cephas Afebuameh, Ronals Charles Plumridge, Ngozi Charles Edozien and Omobola Johnson.
Shares of Guinness at the close of today’s trading on the Nigerian bourse dipped 3.72 percent to N111.20 per share from N115.50 per share traded the last session.
