Yewande Sadiku

Yewande Sadiku (born 27 July 1972), popularly known as YTS, is an investment Banker and Nigerian Public Servant. She was appointed in September 2016 by His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR as the Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC),. Nigeria’s foremost investment promotion agency. Before joining the public sector, Sadiku was Executive Director, overseeing Corporate and Investment Banking at Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC, a subsidiary of Standard Bank of South Africa, Africa’s biggest bank. 
==Education==
Sadiku spent her early years in Zaria, Nigeria then grew up in Lagos, Nigeria. She attended International School Lagos, at the University of Lagos where she completed her secondary school education. In 1992, she completed her first degree, a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Chemistry from the University of Benin (Nigeria), graduating with second class upper honours. In 1995, Sadiku obtained a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Warwick, United Kingdom.
==Career in the private sector==
Sadiku worked at Nigeria International Bank Limited, now Citibank Nigeria from 1992 to 1994, after excelling in their on-campus recruitment at University of Benin. She joined the prestigious Investment Banking & Trust Company Limited (IBTC) at entry-level in January 1996 and had a 21-year career at the bank through its transition to the Stanbic IBTC Group. She rose through the ranks to become Chief Executive of Stanbic IBTC Capital, the Group’s investment banking arm in November 2012.
In her investment banking career which spanned almost 2 decades, she handled several of the major mergers and restructurings undertaken in Nigeria by major corporates and multinational companies. She spearheaded deals of trillions of Naira in long-term debt and equity financing, impacting virtually every sector of the Nigerian economy. Leading a multi-disciplinary team, she managed key relationships with regulators — Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) (Nigeria) , Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), among others.
Sadiku was also instrumental in several landmark transactions, including:
– The $535m first dual listing of a Nigerian company on the London and Nigerian Stock Exchanges (Seplat, 2014)
– The $13.5 billion merger of Benue Cement Company with Dangote Cement to create the largest listed company on The NSE (2010)
– Raising public and private funding for several major companies in Nigeria including Access Bank plc, Dangote Sugar, Flour Mills, MTN, Nigerian 
Bottling Company, Nigerian Breweries, Zenith Bank, etc.
– Advising on financial sector reform and recapitalisation of the banking sector (CBN, 2012)
– Advising 12 of the 24 banks that survived compliance with CBN’s 2004 increase in minimum capital requirement (2004/2005)
– The largest private placement in Nigeria (MTN Nigeria, 2008)
– Funding one of Nigeria’s first credit reference companies (CR Services, 2007)
In light of her active role in the development of the Nigerian capital market, for 12 years she chaired the Rules and Compliance Sub-Committee of SEC’s Capital Markets Committee which advised SEC on the rules that guide the operation of Nigeria’s Investments and Securities Act. She was also one of the 15 members of the SEC Technical Committee on Capital Market Structures and Processes, which was mandated to make recommendations on the operational 
efficiency of the Nigerian capital market in 2009, in response to the effect of the global financial crisis.
==Time in public service==
On 25 September 2016, Sadiku was appointed as the Executive Secretary/CEO, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), the agency responsible for encouraging, promoting and coordinating investments in the Nigerian economy. Since she assumed office, she has been progressively moving the Commission from a largely reactive style of investment promotion to a more proactive delivery of its mandate and improving the capacity of staff for efficient delivery of assigned tasks. She has also worked on strengthening support for sub-national investment promotion since most of the investments that come into Nigeria will reside with the states. With a razor-focus on improving governance, transparency and accountability; her office frequently publishes proactive public information on its website, earning NIPC 2nd place in 2019 (from 90th in 2016) in an annual ranking of government agencies co-organised by six civil society organisations.
Some initiatives under her leadership include:
– the development of a daily “Invest in Nigeria” intelligence e-newsletter which showcases investment opportunities, economic news and investor testimonials into a quarterly Report of Investment Announcements which gives a sense of investor interest in Nigeria (introduced in Feb 2017)
– Publishing the Compendium of Investment Incentives in Nigeria, a compilation of all the incentives in Nigerian tax laws and duly approved sector-specific incentives, which was published in collaboration with Federal Inland Revenue Service (first published in Oct 2017)
– Articulating a country-focused investment promotion strategy to better channel Nigeria’s limited resources to ensure that strategic attention is paid to countries that Nigeria should build strategic investment-focused relationships with (initiated 2017)
– Reform of the Pioneer Status Incentive (PSI) scheme, introducing 27 modernised industries, faster application review and reclassification based on International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC) (completed in Aug 2017)
– Quarterly publication of PSI applications processed, bringing proactive public disclosure to the grant of the tax incentive (introduced in Q3, 2017)
– Leading the reform of Nigeria’s investment treaty regime by reviewing Nigeria’s Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) based on the principle of attracting ‘RIBS’ (Responsible, Inclusive, Balanced and Sustainable) investments, that ensures a balance of investor rights with obligations.(initiated, 2016)
– The reform work led to the execution of the Nigeria-Morocco BIT, which featured prominently in United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)’s 2017 World Investment Report and is often cited internationally as an example of a balanced “new generation” investment treaty that developing countries and emerging economies should emulate. (December, 2016)
She often expresses great pleasure in public fora, that the achievements recorded under her leadership were achieved through the commitment and hard work of the staff of NIPC with minimal external assistance.
==Private passions==
* In 2014, she leveraged her investment banking background, to raise funding for the $8 million film adaption of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s best-selling novel , Half of a Yellow Sun. The movie featured on the official selection of the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), where it first premiered. The film set a new standard for Nollywood co-productions globally.
* Sadiku enjoys the outdoors and has extensive independent worldwide travel. She has climbed the Mount Kilimanjaro, walked the Camino de Santiago and divide the Great Barrier Reef, amongst other experiences which have shaped by a broad outlook
* Former Freelance writer, Economist Intelligence Unit Nigeria Country Report and Country Finance (1999-2000)
==Recognitions==
* In 2007, she was featured in World Business Magazine “35 International Women Under 35”
* In 2010, Sadiku was awarded the Eisenhower Fellowship for International Leadership
* In June, She was honoured as an Honorary Citizen of the City of St. Louis and presented with a Civic Leadership, in appreciation of her leadership qualities.
* In 2019, The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) awarded her “Distinguished Friend of the Media” for her role in promoting press freedom and accountability.
==Speeches and Lectures==
• TEDxLagos (2013) - Why every woman should giggle
• Ausso Leadership Academy (2019) – Views on Leadership
== References ==
== External Links ==
* Yewande Sadiku at NIPC
* 
Category:1972 births
Category:Investment Bankers
Category:Nigerian investment bankers
Category:Nigerian civil servants
Category:University of Benin (Nigeria) alumni
Category:Alumni of the University of Warwick