Purple has announced changes on its Board. This follows the retirement of Mr. Olutola Mobolurin as Chairman and Independent Director on the Board of Purple. Mr. Mobolurin served on the Board of Purple for 9 years helping it grow from a start-up to a group of companies with total assets of N25 billion and paving the way for its 2022 strategic plan to grow total assets to N75 billion in the near term. Mr. Mobolurin will continue as Advisor to the Board of Purple, as it takes necessary steps to grow its total assets.
Chairman
The Board of Purple has appointed Mrs. Jumoke Akinwunmi as Acting Chairman effective 1st, January 2022, continuing in her role as an Independent Director.
Mrs. Olajumoke Akinwunmi has over 25 years of experience in the real estate sector as an architect, investment, and development manager. She is co-founder of Alitheia Capital Limited, a Nigeria-based investment advisory and management firm.
In the past decade, the firm has amongst others, made investments that promote financial inclusion through a financial services fund, encouraged environmental sustainability through a clean energy fund and is currently managing a US$100m gender-focused SME fund, providing growth capital to women owned/led businesses.
Mrs. Akinwunmi was in public service and at different times during this period was interim-Managing Director of the Family Homes Funds, a N500billion Federal Government-backed housing program whose mandate is to stimulate the economy through housing delivery, Ogun State Director General of the Bureau of Lands and Survey, Special Adviser Housing Development and General Manager of Ogun State Housing Corporation. Previously, she practiced architecture in the firms of ACCL and James Cubitt Architects and was pioneer property development manager at the Shell Pension Fund, before joining an indigenous Nigeria energy company, where she set up its real estate subsidiary, an organisation she headed until 2007.
She represents the interests of clients as Project Development Manager on large-scale green and brownfield projects and leads interventions in the affordable housing ecosystem. Mrs. Akinwunmi is also a Non-Executive Director at the Federal Housing Authority (FHA).
Independent Directors
In addition, Mrs Fiona Ahimie has also been appointed to the Board of Purple.
Fiona Ahimie is the current Managing Director of FBNQuest Securities Limited, a subsidiary of FBNQuest Merchant Bank, a subsidiary of First Bank of Nigeria Holding PLC.
Before this role she was the Managing Director of African Alliance Limited a South African Investment banking firm. She has worked with Lead Capital and Stanbic IBTC Bank in varying capacities. Mrs. Ahimie is an accounting graduate from Lagos State University.
Fiona is a chartered accountant and a chartered stockbroker. She holds an MBA from the prestigious Lagos Business School and a diploma from IESE, Spain. Fiona is a council member of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers of Nigeria serving on various committees.
Fiona serves on the board of Purple Money Microfinance Bank, she is an Audit Committee member on the Board of National Association of Securities Dealer of Nigeria (NASD). She is a guest lecturer for the full time MBA class of the Lagos Business School and a Member of the Curriculum Management and Learning Committee of Lagos Business School.
Fiona has experience in asset management & product development and has set up accounting structures in unstructured environments.
She is a very passionate professional and entrepreneurial minded serving on advisory boards of some SMEs as well. Fiona is a mentor to many young professionals and undergraduates
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Ms. Seyi Sowale served as the Group Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Purple. She remains on the Board of Purple and has now been reassigned as Executive Director Finance, Strategy and Commercials. She is a result driven senior accounting and financial management executive with close to 2 decades of experience in finance operations and management within start-ups and large organizations.
She has experience in improving financial performance of organizations, optimizing productivity and internal control. She has been instrumental in the growth of Purple and deeply involved in fundraising for Purple for close to a decade.
Seyi has worked with leading accounting firms, Ernst & Young and Olayinka Osibodu & Co in various capacities. She also worked with Aureos Capital prior to joining Purple. She holds a Bachelor of Management Technology in Accounting with honours from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, an MBA with Merit from Bradford University, School of Management and currently undergoing a dual MA and MSc, Finance and Investment at the London School of Business and Finance. She is a Fellow of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (FCCA) and an Associate Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ACA).
Olaide Agboola, the Chief Executive Officer, Purple and its subsidiaries stated that the Board of Purple is delighted to have these highly skilled and respected personnel, led by Mrs. Jumoke Akinwunmi, continue with the other members of the Board as Purple drives towards a greater growth period. Other members of the Board of Purple are Mr. Muhtar Bakare, Sir (Pharm) Nnamdi Obi, Professor Hilary Onyiuke, Mr. Adedoyin Afun, Mr. Olatunbosun Omoniyi and the Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Mr Obinna Onunkwo.
As you may know, Purple is a specialist investment firm with businesses in financial services and real estate and lifestyle. Purple commenced operations in 2014 and is responsible for the development of, inter alia, Purple Maryland (previously Maryland Mall), a Grade-A mixed-use centre that also boasts of the largest outdoor LED screen in West Africa.
Purple is morphing into a tech powered real estate investment and financial services company deploying technology driven solutions like Fractions (PropTech), towards removing the barriers to accessing home ownership and world class commercial retail opportunities for retail investors.