Management Team
Home > Leadership > Management Team
Bolaji Balogun
Chief Executive Officer
Bolaji Balogun is one of the leading deal makers by volume and value of successfully completed transactions in Nigeria, over the last decade. Bolaji has over 30 years of experience in investment banking, investment management and mobile telecommunications. He spent over ten years with the FCMB Group, in investment banking and securities trading, leaving in January 2001 to be a co-founder and Director of Econet Wireless Nigeria, now Airtel Nigeria. Bolaji led the capital raising and license bid auction for Econet Wireless Nigeria’s USD285 million GSM license. He was Chief Business Development & Strategy Officer and was appointed Chief Marketing Officer in October 2001. The USD1.67 billion sale of Econet Wireless to Celtel in 2005, remains Nigeria’s single largest successfully exited private investment. Bolaji left mobile telecommunications and returned to investment banking when he founded Chapel Hill in 2005.
Bolaji is Co-Chair of the Private Sector Advisory Group on the SDGs, Chairman of Endeavor Nigeria, Chairman of Unilever Nigeria, and a Director of Trustfund Pensions, one of Nigeria’s largest pension Fund Managers. He was the former Chairman of Lafarge Africa Plc, Nahco FTZ Limited, and a former Director of Nahco Aviance Plc and NASD Plc. He was appointed to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Africa Advisory Board in September 2009 and was recently appointed as the Co-Chair of the Abia Global Economic Advisory Council (AGEAC) in January 2024.
Bolaji is an Economics (Honours) graduate of the London School of Economics, University of London.
Philip Southwell
Partner
Philip Southwell has over 30 years of experience in investment management, principal investing, and investment banking, mostly focused on emerging & frontier markets in Asia, the Middle East, Central Europe and Africa. Philip’s career started in 1990 when he trained with Deloitte and qualified as an FCA before joining Smith New Court (Merrill Lynch) in 1994. Philip spent 13 years at Deutsche Bank (of which 5 were based in Asia) and was Head of Asia-Pacific for ECM; Head of Europe for ECM; Head of Coverage for Corporate & Investment Banking (“CIB”) EMEA; Board Director of DB Russia; Head of CIB for Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa; and COO for CIB in EMEA. Thereafter, Philip joined EFG-Hermes as CEO of their GCC region & Head of Coverage in 2009 and then joined Bank of America Merrill Lynch as President, MENA, Africa region and ExCo member for Emerging Markets (ex-Asia) for all products. In 2013, he was appointed CEO of Exotix, the specialist emerging markets firm.
Philip has been a Partner of Chapel Hill Denham since 2015. At Chapel Hill Denham, Philip chairs a number of investment committees and has helped build the asset management focus of the business including the Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund. He sits on the Board of Trustfund Pensions Limited.
Philip is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales and graduated from Durham University and Eton College.
Wole Adeleke
Senior Adviser and Managing Director
‘Wole is a Senior Adviser & Managing Director at Chapel Hill Denham. He has over 35 years of experience in leading finance and strategy functions.
Prior to joining the firm in 2020, Wole was Head of Strategy, responsible for the Strategy and Corporate Finance function at Lafarge WAPCO Nigeria Plc (now Lafarge Africa Plc “Lafarge”). He transitioned into this role from Dangote Industries Limited as Chief Financial Officer for its cement business.
‘Wole holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from Bayero University, Kano. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW) and holds the Fellowship of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN).
Kemi Awodein
Managing Director, Investment Banking
'Kemi Awodein is the Managing Director, of Investment Banking at Chapel Hill Denham. She has over 20 years of experience in Investment Banking.
Prior to the Business Combination between Chapel Hill Advisory Partners Limited and Denham Management Limited, ‘Kemi spent eight (8) years also managing the legal function at Denham. She transitioned into this role from the prestigious law firm of Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie.
‘Kemi 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. She is an alumnus of the prestigious Lagos Business School (SMP 25).
Lanre Buluro
Managing Director, Capital Markets
Lanre is the Managing Director, of Capital Markets at Chapel Hill Denham. He has over 20 years of experience in investment banking, corporate finance, infrastructure, and healthcare.
Prior to joining the Firm, Lanre was a pioneer member of the leadership team at Primera Africa. Before Primera, Lanre was an Equity Research Analyst at Bloomberg LP, covering the Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical industry.
Lanre is a graduate of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry and Economics from Rutgers College as a Henry Rutgers Scholar. He holds an MBA from Rutgers Business School with a concentration in Finance and Pharmaceutical Management.
Akeem Shadare
Managing Director, Securities Trading
Akeem Shadare is the Managing Director, of Chapel Hill Denham Securities. He has over 20 years of experience in securities trading.
Akeem joined Denham Management in 2007 and has led the Securities Trading business since July 2014. Before this, he was an Audit Senior at the accounting Firm, Muyiwa Bunmi Ogunlela & Co.
Akeem is a graduate of Management and Accounting from Obafemi Awolowo University. He is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers, the Chartered Institute of Taxation in Nigeria, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, and the Chartered Institute of Marketing of Nigeria.
Olayimikah Bolo
Chief Risk Officer
Olayimikah Bolo is the Chief Risk Officer at Chapel Hill Denham. She has over 25 years of experience in risk management and risk governance.
Prior to joining the Firm, Olayimikah was the Acting Managing Director/Chief Operations Officer at FMDQ Clear Limited (a member of the FMDQ Group). She transitioned into this role from Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC (a subsidiary of Standard Bank Group), where she was the Head of Risk Governance.
Olayimikah holds an Executive Master of Business Administration from the Lagos Business School/IESE Barcelona (now Pan-Atlantic University), and a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Chemical Engineering from the University of Lagos. She is a member of the Institute of Directors (IOD) and the Chartered Risk Management Institute of Nigeria.
Adekanla Adegoke
Managing Director, Partnerships and Philanthropy
Adekanla Adegoke is the Managing Director, Partnerships and Philanthropy at Chapel Hill Denham. She is a Development Practitioner with over 25 years of experience in International Development and Non-profit leadership.
Prior to joining the Firm, she was the Head of the Oando Foundation. She has also served as the Assistant Programme Coordinator of the European Union (Euro250m) funded Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Reform Programme, and as an independent development consultant for numerous non-profit organisations.
Ade holds a Master of Science in Geographic Information Systems and a Bachelor of Science in Geography from the University of Ibadan.
Saurabh Srivastava
Chief Executive Officer, NIDF
Saurabh Srivastava is the Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund, and a Director at Chapel Hill Denham. He boasts over 20 years of experience in development financing and infrastructure investing.
Prior to joining the Firm, Saurabh was the Vice President, Investments & Acquisitions (African Power Initiative) at EMCO Power Limited. He transitioned into this role from GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS), where he was the Vice President of sales, Airport Infrastructure Group.
Saurabh holds a Master's Degree in Finance and Control from the University of Delhi, and a Bachelor’s degree in Metallurgy from REC Durgapur.
Abidemi Oni
Head, Finance
Abidemi Oni is the Director, Finance at Chapel Hill Denham. He has over 20 years’ experience in performance management, financial controls, operations, strategic & financial planning, taxation, contract negotiations, and procurement controls.
Prior to joining the Firm, Abidemi was the Group Financial Controller at Investment One Financial Services. He transitioned into this role from Intercontinental Capital Markets where he was the Chief Financial Officer.
Abidemi holds a Bachelor's Degree in Accounting from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria.
Viva Obioha
Chief People Officer
Viva Obioha is the Chief People Officer at Chapel Hill Denham. She has over 20 years of experience in Law, Regulatory Risk, and Human Capital Management.
Prior to joining the Firm, Viva was the Chief Talent Officer at Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO). She transitioned into this role from European Investment and Commercial banks (UBS, Commerzbank, Lloyds Banking Group).
Viva holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Tulsa, Oklahoma, an L.L.B from the Nigerian Law School, and a B.A. in Psychology from Marymount University. She is a member of the New York Bar (2nd District).
Nnenna Nwoye
Chief Corporate Services Officer
Nnenna Nwoye is the Chief Corporate Services Officer at Chapel Hill Denham. She has over 20 years of financial services industry experience spanning different business support functions.
Prior to joining the Firm, Nnenna worked at FCMB Plc for 3 years as the Regional Supervisor (Northern Region). She previously worked for 2 years in Service Quality & Relationship Management and Customer Service while at Bond Bank Limited (now Polaris Bank).
Nnenna holds a Master’s Degree in Project Management from Keller Graduate School of Management, USA, and a B.Sc. in Economics from the University of Lagos.
Tajudeen Ibrahim
Head, Research
Tajudeen Ibrahim is the Head, Research at Chapel Hill Denham. He has over 15 years of experience in asset management and investment research.
Prior to joining the Firm, he was an equity research analyst within Standard Bank Group. He also managed the pension and gratuity funds of multinational companies within the Standard Bank Group.
Tajudeen holds an MBA from the University of Lagos, a M.Sc., and a B.Sc. in Mathematics from the University of Ibadan.
Edem Lassey
Director, Nigeria Real Estate Investment Trust
Edem Lassey is a Director, Nigeria Real Estate Investment Trust at Chapel Hill Denham. He has over 20 years of experience in investment and structuring in Europe and Africa across a range of sectors including real estate, building materials, infrastructure, telecoms, retail, FMCG and agriculture.
Prior to joining the Firm, Edem was an Independent Consultant to Real Estate players across the African continent. He transitioned into this role from Investec Asset Management in Cape Town where he dealt in Frontier Markets.
Edem holds an MEng. in Information Systems Engineering from Imperial College in London, United Kingdom.
Clementina Ijomah
Managing Director, Paxhill Minerva Limited
‘Tina Ijomah is the Managing Director, Paxhill Minerva Limited. She has over 20 years of experience in the trusts, wealth management, and private banking sectors.
Prior to joining the Firm, ‘Tina worked as a Consultant Director, Private Bank and Trusts at Fidelity Asia Bank (Labuan) Malaysia. She transitioned into this role from Barclays Wealth where she worked for over 11 years as an International Investment Advisor.
‘Tina has undergraduate and graduate degrees in Law. She also holds a Diploma in Financial Reporting and has attended financial sector courses in various Institutions. She is regulated by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Federal Reporting Council.
Ori Rewane
Director, Corporate Development
Ori Rewane is the Director, Corporate Development at Chapel Hill Denham. She has over 20 years of financial services experience covering Re-Insurance, Banking, Wealth Management, Trust Services, Private Equity and Venture Capital across sectors in Africa and Europe.
Prior to joining the Firm, she ran the Investor Relations, Fundraising & Communications functions at Verod Capital. She transitioned into this role from FCMB Group Plc where she was the Group Head of Investor Relations.
Ori holds an LLB in Law from the University of Hertfordshire and an LLM in Petroleum Law & Policy from the University of Dundee, Scotland and has attended executive training programmes at leading business schools including Harvard, INSEAD and Columbia Business School.
Rewa Udoji
Director, Investment Management
Rewa Udoji is a Director, Investment Management at Chapel Hill Denham. She has over 15 years of financial services experience covering Banking, Insurance, Wealth Management and Private Equity across sectors in Africa and Europe.
Before joining Chapel Hill Denham, she founded Cranstoun, a Financial Services Commission (FSC)-regulated Approved Fund. Rewa was the Group Head, Corporate Development for Brainworks Capital, now Arden Capital, a JSE-listed investment holding company focused on investments in Zimbabwe. During her time there, she played a fundamental role in the successful listing of the company on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in October 2017. Prior to this, Rewa was the Strategy Manager at Old Mutual West Africa, where she worked for several years across Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa. Her responsibilities across the various geographies were integral to defining and driving the company's strategy, as well as coordinating the activities of multiple Old Mutual subsidiaries in the West African region in Nigeria, Ghana and select francophone countries which saw her nominated for the Old Mutual Group flagship Leadership Rotation Programme.
Rewa holds a BSc in Physiology and Pharmacology (Combined Honours) from University College London (UCL) and was a recipient of the Women in Management Africa (WIMA) Top 25 Women in Management Award 2024. She has attended executive training programmes at leading institutions including Duke University and Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS).
Williams Olowojoba
Managing Director, Chapel Hill Denham, Ghana
Williams Olowojoba is the Managing Director of Chapel Hill Denham, Ghana. He has over 20 years’ experience in capital markets, divestitures, mergers and acquisitions as well as securities trading.
Prior to joining Chapel Hill Denham, Williams worked at First Atlantic Brokers Limited Ghana as a General Manager and with Treasure Capital & Trusts Limited, Lagos as the Head of the Investment Banking Group. He also worked at Radix Capital Partners Limited Lagos and Sterling Capital Markets Limited Lagos for over 7 years.
He has served as project manager in lead-managed and co-managed major public and private offerings of debt, equity and M&A transactions in Ghana and Nigeria.
Williams holds a B.Tech (Hons) in P&A Biology from the LAUTECH Ogbomosho and has attended several management and product training programs organised by Euromoney UK, Pan African University, Siabatek, and H.Pierson.
Ifeoma Finnih
Senior Vice President, Infrastructure & Climate
Ifeoma Finnih is a Senior Vice President and Investment Manager within the Infrastructure and Climate (“I&C”) team at Chapel Hill Denham. The I&C team manages the Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund (“NDIF”), which provides long-term, local currency financing for commercially viable infrastructure and impact projects in Nigeria. In addition, the team oversees the Energy Transition & Access Facility for Africa (“ETAFA”), aimed at financing distributed renewable energy (DRE) projects in Nigeria.
With over 15 years of banking experience, the last ten of which have been focused on financial advisory, structuring, and closing project finance deals worth over USD 7 billion in the energy and infrastructure sectors, Ifeoma has developed a comprehensive skill set. Her expertise includes project due diligence, financial analysis, fund sourcing, syndications, project management, loan credit and documentation review, and facility agency services.
Before joining Chapel Hill Denham, Ifeoma led the Oil, Gas & Infrastructure Desk within the Debt Solutions department at FBNQuest Merchant Bank. She also worked on real estate and construction projects and managed client relationships in the Corporate Banking department of Fidelity Bank.
Ifeoma holds an Executive MBA from London Business School, UK an MSc in Economics and Finance from Warwick Business School, UK and a BA in Economics and Management (First Class) from the University of Ghana, Legon.
Thomas La'ah
Senior Vice President and Head, Northern Region
Thomas La’ah is a Senior Vice President, and Head, Northern Region at Chapel Hill Denham. He has over 35 years’ financial services experience covering Management Consultancy, Development Finance (DFI), Capital Markets and Securities Trading, Investment Banking, Pension Fund Administration, Investment/Portfolio Management, Asset Allocation, etc.
Prior to joining Chapel Hill Denham, he was Managing Director/CEO of Covenant Securities & Asset Management Ltd, a Broker Dealer Firm duly registered by the SEC and NGX later reclassified to Corporate Sub Broker. As the pioneer CEO, he was responsible for securing the license, setting up the firm, managing the business segments of the firm including Securities Trading, Investment/Portfolio Management, Asset Allocation, Fundraising/Private Placement, Deal Origination, and the overall daily management of the firm. He had transitioned into this role from Leadway Pensure PFA Ltd (LPPFA) where he served as the Regional Manager for the North for 2 years. Before that, he spent 9 years with CSL/FCMB Capital Market where he served as Head, Northern Operations for the firm and was exposed to all aspects of privatisation and capital raising.
Thomas holds an MBA from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and a B.Sc. in Business Administration from Bayero University, Kano. He is an accredited/registered Sponsored Manager of SEC, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (FCIS); Member, Certified Institute of Pension of Nigeria (ACIPN); Fellow, Institute of Management Consultants (IMC) Nigeria; and Member, Certified Management Consultant, Int’l Institute of Mgt Consulting Institutes (ICMCI).