Exco Members

President

Olukemi Awodein

Olukemi Awodein (‘Kemi) is the current President of the Association of Issuing Houses of Nigeria (AIHN) and the Managing Director of Chapel Hill Denham Advisory Limited, the leading independent investment bank in Nigeria. Chapel Hill Denham is the number 1 investment bank by value of completed M & A and Debt Capital Management transactions in Nigeria, over the last 7 years. The firm also has a strong market position in Equity Capital Market. Kemi has led her team on a number of high-value, successfully completed deals in Nigeria.

‘Kemi has over twenty-five (25) years of experience in Investment Banking. She joined Chapel Hill Denham through the Business Combination between Chapel Hill Advisory Partners Limited and Denham Management Limited, and has been involved in executing transactions including IPOs, Privatisation, Equity Raising, and M&As. Prior to the Business Combination, ‘Kemi spent eight (8) years also managing and supervising the legal function at Denham, ensuring that the Company’s activities were statutorily and regulatorily compliant.

She serves as a Director of Chapel Hill Denham Management Limited. ‘Kemi is also a member of the Governance Board of the Financial Centre for Sustainability, Lagos (FC4S), where she is the Thematic Lead, Issuances & Investments. In the formative years of both NASD and the Association of Issuing Houses of Nigeria, she served as Secretary (at different times).

Prior to joining Chapel Hill Denham, she worked as an Associate in the prestigious law firm of Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie, where she gained wide-ranging experience in Oil & Gas, Capital Markets, Company and Commercial Law. She is a graduate of Law from the University of Warwick (LL.B) and Nottingham University (LL.M, International Law) and was called to the Nigerian Bar in December 1992.

Vice President

Gbadebo Adenrele 

Dr. Gbadebo Adenrele is the Vice President of the Association of Issuing Houses of Nigeria (AIHN) and Managing Director, Investment Banking at United Capital Plc.

He has 20 years’ investment banking experience providing financing and advisory services to leading corporates as well as Governments in Nigeria and across Africa on capital market, project finance, M&A and restructuring deals across multiple sectors.

He was previously Director and Head of Investment Banking at Vetiva Capital Management Limited and prior to this held investment banking roles at Zenith Capital Limited (then a subsidiary of Zenith Bank Plc) and Kedari Capital Limited.

Dr. Adenrele holds MBBS and MBA degrees from the University of Lagos; an MS Global Finance degree from Stern School of Business, New York University and HKUST Business School, Hong Kong; and has completed the Advanced Management Program at the Lagos Business School (with an international module at IESE Business School, Barcelona).

His interests include philosophy, healthy living, life-long learning, and adventure. He is happily married with 2 children. He is a fan of Liverpool FC and loves to play tennis.

Secretary of Administration

Onyebuchim Obiyemi

Onyebuchim Obiyemi is currently the Secretary of Administration of the Association of Issuing Houses of Nigeria (AIHN) and a Senior Vice President at CardinalStone Partners Limited where she leads the Investment Banking
Division. She has about 15 years hands on investment banking experience (including Financial Advisory and Capital Markets) spanning various sectors including financial services, FMCG, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Oil & Gas and Public sector. Her entire investment banking experience spans Afrinvest West Africa Limited and then CardinalStone where she has been for nine (9) years. She also had a stint at the Operations & Technology team at Citibank Nigeria where she commenced her professional career.

She has experience and has built competence in originating and leading execution of Mergers & Acquisitions, Valuation Advisory as well as Debt and Equity Capital Market transactions with various levels of complexity. She is very result oriented and demonstrates in depth analytical and strategic ability coupled with varied experience and insights gained from leading, managing and hands on approach in providing practical advisory and financing solutions to clients. She has learnt to be largely entrepreneurial in approaching potential engagements having worked in boutique investment banking firms which require professionals to proffer and demonstrate top notch value proposition to compete favourably with top tier competitors.

Her key strengths are her leadership capabilities and ability to drive her team to deliver on client engagements and revenue targets as well as very skillful at managing client relationships to build trust. Other core skills she has developed over the years include people management, emotional intelligence and stakeholder engagements given her experience of largely working with C level executives.

Onyebuchim holds a Masters in Investment and Finance from Middlesex University, London and a B.Sc. Accounting from the University of Lagos. She is also an Associate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and an alumnus of the Lagos Business School where she completed the Senior Management Programme (SMP). Onyebuchim enjoys teaching and imparting knowledge as well as supporting growth of small
and medium scale businesses.

Secretary of Publicity

Chidi Iwuchukwu

Chidi Iwuchukwu is the current Secretary of Publicity of Association of Issuing Houses of Nigeria (AIHN). He is an Executive Director and heads the Investment Banking/Banking Division for Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) in Africa.

Chidi has been an investment banker for about 17 years, mainly in Leveraged and Acquisition finance.

Chidi holds an MBA in Columbia Business School and multiple degrees from De Monfort University UK, Aalborg University Denmark, University of Applied Science Emden, Germany and University of Nigeria.

Chidi’s experience varies across several disciplines in investment banking including Debt Financing, Leveraged Finance, Acquisition Finance, Leveraged Buy-outs, Shareholder financing, Dividend Recaps, Fund gearing and financings for financial and large sponsors. He has also developed bespoke financing transactions for large conglomerates and family-owned business across Africa.

Chidi has been involved in notable acquisitions in UAE, Europe, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, Kenya, Mauritius and across other major African hubs.

Secretary of Finance

Alhassan Gwarzo

Alhassan Gwarzo is the current Secretary of Finance of the Association of Issuing Houses of Nigeria (AIHN) and the Executive Director/Chief Operating Officer of SCM Capital Limited.

Alhassan Gwarzo’s career in banking began in 1990 at ICON Limited (Merchant Bankers), followed by a move to New Africa Merchant Bank Limited in 1993. In 1999, he joined NAL Merchant Bank Plc where he played a key role in reestablishing the Capital Markets Group, which later evolved into Sterling Capital Markets Limited. In 2008, he became the Group Head of Corporate Finance.

With almost 30 years of experience, Alhassan possesses strong skills in corporate finance and investment banking, having handled numerous capital issues in equity and debt, as well as mergers and acquisitions. He was also a member of the committee set up by the Federal Ministry of Finance in 2010 to review the Investment Securities Act of 2007. Alhassan has received recognition for his contributions to the development of the capital market, including an award from
the SEC.

Alhassan is a Certified National Accountant (CNA) and a Member of the Nigerian Institute of Management (MNIM). He is also an alumnus of Lagos Business School and has attended various courses on banking both locally and internationally.

Secretary of Treasury

Taiwo Olatunji

Taiwo Olatunji is the Group Head, Investment Banking of Coronation Merchant Bank, and the current Secretary of Treasury of the Association of Issuing Houses of Nigeria.

Taiwo is an experienced professional with over 18 years work experience in Financial Advisory, Capital Markets, Mergers & Acquisitions, Project Finance and Project Management. Taiwo has an extensive experience advising public and private sector clients in several industries including financial services, electric power, oil and gas, hospitality and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs).

He began his Investment Banking career with FSDH Merchant Bank Limited in 2015 as Head of Capital Markets and moved to FSDH Capital Limited as Head of Investment Banking in 2019. Prior to his time at FSDH, Taiwo was a consultant and Manager in the Financial Services Unit at Accenture Nigeria.

Taiwo holds a master’s in finance from the London Business School and a B.Eng. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Ilorin. He is also a CFA Charter holder and has passed the certified PPP Professional (CP3P) foundation and preparation exams.