Lagos to London

Lola is a Digital and Innovation specialist with over 14 years of experience in the industry. She started her career as a software engineer at Investec Asset Management, London where she was responsible for the development of digital solutions in the asset management portfolio. Since then, she has worked in various capacities across different roles in the financial services industry in Europe and Africa at companies including Dresdner Klienwort, Commerzbank and BNP Paribas.

Lola spearheaded the Digital Innovation Labs initiative at FirstBank Nigeria, where she was responsible for formulating and accelerating the Bank’s digital transformation and Innovation strategy in Nigeria and across its subsidiaries. She is currently the head of Digital and Innovation at Union Bank Nigeria where she is responsible for defining and implementing its Digital & Innovation strategy and road-map with a focus on identifying new digital product/service/fintech opportunities, optimising customer experience across channels and improving operational efficiency using technology.

Lola received her MBA from Imperial College Business School, London. She holds a BSC in Business Information systems (First Class Honours) from Middlesex University, London with scholarship for outstanding academic performance. She has founded two start-ups, including Transthat.com, a peer to peer logistics platform and serves on the Tech Committee of WimBiz, the Digital Transformation Committee of JA Nigeria and She Leads Africa as a mentor. She is also one of the 30 women profiled by Fintech Africa as one of the exceptional women playing leading roles in their various companies and shaping the Fintech sector in Nigeria.

In addition, Lola is deeply committed to empowering youths and tackling unemployment by addressing the growing skills gap in Africa’s technology industry, and bridging the gender diversity gap through social empowerment initiatives. In 2020, she founded Techstart.africa, an initiative focused on sparking interest STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Science) disciplines and providing individuals with easy access to resources/guides, skills, mentorships and internship opportunities in Technology.

Lola has a passion for travel and writing. She has written a fiction novel titled “Lagos to London” which is the first in the series. The novel was inspired by her background of starting off in Nigeria then moving to London to study and balancing the dream of the UK and the realities of life abroad. she believes that the novel is extremely relevant now with the current trend of young Nigerians leaving the country in search of a better life (Project Japa) and will play an important role during this time and in the future.