By Dolapo Aina

According to the University of Kigali, effective on the 11th of January 2024, its’ Governing Body appointed Professor Ogechi Adeola, a Professor of Marketing, as the Deputy Vice Chancellor – Academic (DVCA).

The renowned academician Professor Ogechi Adeola holds a Doctorate in Business Administration and a Master of Business Administration from Alliance Manchester Business School, United Kingdom. She earned a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Nigeria and obtained a Barrister at Law certificate from the Nigerian Law School, after which she was called to the Nigerian bar. Professor Adeola is the immediate past Head of Department of Operations, Marketing and Information Systems at the Lagos Business School (LBS), Pan-Atlantic University, Nigeria and the Academic Director of LBS Sales Academy. She previously held the position of Associate Dean of Business Administration at the University of the People, California, USA, where she currently serves as a Business Administration Advisory Board member. She is an Independent Non-Executive Director at Cornerstone Insurance Plc, Nigeria, and she served as a member of the Board of Directors at the University of Kigali until her appointment as Deputy Vice Chancellor-Academic. She possesses over 28 years of relevant work experience in industry and academia. Before transitioning to academia, she had spent over a decade in various roles within Nigeria’s financial sector, starting her career at Citibank Nigeria.

The official statement by the University of Kigali goes further to state that: “Professor Adeola’s pursuit of professional excellence is evident in her completion of executive education programmes at globally renowned institutions, including Harvard Business School, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, London Business School, and Cranfield School of Management. She further enhanced her pedagogical skills through specialised training in case teaching and teaching innovation programs of Harvard Business Publishing Education, IESE Business School, Spain, the Global Business School Network (GBSN), and Teaching the Practice of Management joint programme of the Association of African Business Schools and the Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria, South Africa.”

University of Kigali highlighted her interdisciplinary research interests; “Which span marketing strategy, sustainability, tourism, and gender studies, with a particular focus on projecting the dynamics of African business concepts and practices. Beyond research, Professor Adeola is renowned for her teaching and mentoring. She has led Marketing sessions on the full-time and Executive MBA programs, the Owner Managers Program, and customised and open enrollment seminars at Lagos Business School, since 2010. Additionally, she has delivered marketing sessions for the Women Entrepreneurship & Leadership for Africa (WELA) program by the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Lagos, the MSc program at the University of Ghana Business School, and the PhD program at the University of Professional Studies Accra (UPSA). She has served as an External Moderator (MBA Program) at the University of Free State Business School, South Africa, and as an External Examiner (PhD program) at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology (KNUST), Ghana; Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), South Africa; and Strathmore University, Kenya. She was a 2016 Visiting International Fellow at the Open University Business School, UK, a 2017 Paul R. Lawrence Fellow, USA, and serves as a Series Editor for the Palgrave Series on Marketing in Emerging Economies.”

The statement by the University of Kigali also stated that Professor Adeola has offered her expertise in strategic marketing and brand management, intra-regional advisory, and gender equity services to numerous organisations. As part of the Alpha Team at the Centre for Global Enterprise, USA, she provided virtual consultancy to international companies, including the London Taxi Company, UK (2015); Texas Capital Bank, USA (2018); and Dusit International (Dusit Thani), Thailand (2021). She is a Consultant for Afreximbank, focusing on the African Sub-Sovereign Governments Network (AfSNET) Initiative, and also provided consulting services to the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) on the 2022 ‘Building Africa Report’ focused on women’s inclusion in the Cement, Concrete & Construction industry. In 2022, she served as the National Consultant for an International Labour Organization project promoting women’s economic empowerment in Nigeria. Additionally, she is the founder of the Digital Business Tutelage for Women Empowerment in Africa Initiative (DBTWEAi), a non-profit platform designed to enable young African women to unlock their potential. Her contributions to women’s empowerment were recognised with the prestigious Female Achievers Recognition Award in March 2022, co-hosted by American Corner in Lagos and in June 2023, she was honored with The Peak Performing Woman of the Year 2023 Award in the Super Achievers category for Executive Education by The Peak Performer. Professor Adeola is a Fellow of both the Institute of Strategic Management, Nigeria and the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria.

Professor Ogechi Adeola has authored, co-authored, edited and co-edited over 120 academic and practitioner articles, books, conference papers, and business and marketing case studies. Her scholarly contributions have been published in top-tier journals with ABS 3, 4, and 4* rankings from the Chartered Association of Business Schools (ABS), including the Industrial Marketing Management, Tourism Management, Annals of Tourism Research and Journal of International Business Studies. Her co-authored papers also won Best Paper Awards at international conferences in 2016-2019, consecutively, and the prestigious Emerald Literati Award for Outstanding Paper in 2022. The January 2024 Alper-Doger Scientific Index ranks her as the No. 1 scientist in Nigeria for Marketing, No. 6 scientist for Business and Management in Nigeria, and among the top scholars in Africa for both fields. SciVal (Elsevier) also ranks her among the top 100 authors in Nigeria across all subject areas from 2020 to 2023.