20 January 2015
The 2014/2015 Academic Session Matriculation for fresh students and the Third Commencement Lecture of the University, which would formally kick-start the new Academic Session, are to hold on Wednesday, January 28, 2015, at the FUNAAB Ceremonial Building, at 10am and 12 noon respectively.
The lecture, titled, “Promoting Youth Entrepreneurship in Nigerian Universities: Students’ Choices, Nigeria’s Legacy”, and would be delivered by Mrs. Folusho Olaniyan, the Chief Executive, Contact Consulting Nigeria Limited. Mrs. Olaniyan bagged her first and second degrees from the University of Ilorin, and the University of Lagos, respectively. She holds a Professional Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Maidenhead, United Kingdom. A financial expert and seasoned administrator, she started her career as a Management Trainee with the AG Leventis Nigeria Plc in 1988 and rose to become Branch Manager and later, Head of Sales and Marketing in 2002. Mrs. Olaniyan later joined UTC Nigeria Plc in 2005 and based on her impressive performance, she was made the Managing Director/CEO in 2007. At UTC, she spearheaded an impressive turnover growth and in 2012, under her leadership, the company pioneered the commercialisation of cassava bread in Nigeria. In 2014, she set up Contact Consulting Nigeria Limited, a firm that is focused on marketing, strategy and researching into emerging markets.
Mrs. Olaniyan is a member of the Institute of Directors (IoD) and had served as a Market Analyst in the 2014 Cassava Scoping Study, funded by Partnerships in Niger Delta and co-funded by Chevron (Nigeria) Limited. She is currently the Marketing and Strategy Consultant to Cassava: Adding Value for Africa (C:AVA), Nigeria, an organisation sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on the development of the cassava industry in Africa, which is based in FUNAAB.
The Third Commencement Lecturer is also the founder and Chairperson, Cassava Advancement Initiative and had presented papers at several Agribusiness summits in West Africa. In recognition of her contributions to the Nigerian food industry, and her services to the nation, she was conferred with a National Honour of the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) by the Federal Government. It would be recalled that the last edition of the Commencement Lecture, the second, was delivered by Mr. Folu Ayeni, the Co-Founder/Vice-Chairman of Tantalizers Nigeria Plc, which was titled, “Making Sparrows and Hammers out of FUNAAB Students and Graduates”.
The Vice-Chancellor and President, Association of African Universities (AAU), Professor Olusola Oyewole, is expected to chair both occasions.
