At the just concluded 2019 Guild of Muslim Professionals (GMP) Convention, which was held in collaboration with Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) Nigeria, four eminent Nigerian Muslims who have excelled in business and academic worlds were honoured with Awards of Excellence and Professionalism.
The awardees were Chief Financial Officer (CFO), MTN Ghana, Modupe AbdulKareem Kadri; Professor of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Prof Ibrahim Oreagba; the Managing Director of Rite Food Ltd, Mr Seleem Adegunwa and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Baytuzeenah Ltd, Hajiah Saidat Otiti.
The awardees were all physically present with their families, friends and associates to receive the prestigious awards at a special dinner and award night, which was part of activities of the 2-day Convention.
Meet Our Awardees (in brief)
Modupe Abdulkareem KADRI (Mr).
Modupe is currently the Chief Finance Officer of MTN in Ghana, the largest telecommunications Operator in the country, a position he has held since August 2014. He is also a Director in MTN Mobile Money Limited, a subsidiary of MTN Ghana that has rapidly transformed the financial landscape in the country.
Modupe is an alumnus of the University of Lagos with both Masters and Bachelor’s degrees in Management and Economics respectively. He is a Fellow of both the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). In addition, he is an alumnus of International Institute for Management Development (IMD), INSEAD and Columbia Business Schools.
He began his professional career with PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he worked for 10 years. In 2002, he joined Allied Pickfords in London as the Group Reporting Manager following which he returned back to Lafarge Nigeria (Then WAPCO Plc) where he took up the role of Internal Audit Manager in 2003 with the responsibility of building a brand new team following an earlier restructuring exercise.
In that capacity he led the company to successful Sarbanes-Oxley certification. In recognition of his turning around of the Internal Audit Department, he was promoted Finance Controller in 2005 where amongst other things he led the SGA cost reduction programme of the Company leading to a savings of 5.1M Euros in 2006.
Modupe joined MTN Nigeria in 2007, as the General Manager, Finance Operations. In 2013, he was appointed the General Manager, Financial Planning. He went on to serve as acting CFO of MTN Nigeria for 3 months in 2014, after which he assumed the role of CFO, MTN Ghana.
Recognised for his exceptional leadership, Modupe has received the Ghana Telecoms CFO of the Year Award four times – in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019. In addition he was named the 2019 Finance personality of the year.
Professor Ibrahim Oreagba
Prof. Oreagba is a Consultant Pharmacist and Clinical Pharmacologist with a Masters and Doctorate degree in Pharmacology. He also has a Post Graduate Certificate in Pharmaco-epidemiology and Pharmacovigilance from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine London U.K.
He is a Fellow of the West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists. He is also a seasoned resource person and examiner of the College.
He is currently a Professor and Head of the Department of Pharmacology, Therapeutics and Toxicology, College of Medicine University of Lagos Idi-araba.
An immediate past Editor-in-Chief of the West African Journal of Pharmacy, one time Editor-in-Chief of the Nigerian Journal of Pharmacy, currently an Editor in the West African Journal of Pharmacology and Drug Research, and an Editorial Consultant for the Nigerian Quarterly Journal of Hospital Medicine, Journal of Basic Medical Sciences and the Journal of Basic and Social Pharmacy Research. He is also a reviewer to many local and international Journals.
He is a Core Technical Member/Consultant to the National Drug Safety Advisory Committee, NAFDAC, Member, World Health Organization/Federal Ministry of Health (WHO/FMOH) Expert Committee on the development of National Standard Treatment Guideline, and Member, Expert Committee on the development of the National Pharmacovigilance Policy.
He has published over 70 original scientific papers in the fields of Pharmacology, Pharmacy Practice, Therapeutics, Rational drug use, Drug abuse, Pharmacovigilance, Pharmacoepidemiology, Chemotherapy and Toxicology in local and international journals.
Mr. Seleem Adegunwa
Mr. Seleem Adegunwa is the Managing Director of Rite Foods Ltd. He had his early school education in Newlands Prep School Education in Seaford, East Sussex England and later continued at the senior Newlands Manor School up to his A-levels.
He went on to Birmingham City University in the UK for his Bachelor of Engineering Degree in Mechanical Engineering. Thereafter he went to the University of Bristol in the UK for his Masters in Business Administration (MBA) in International Business. He completed this on the 19th of June 2000.
Mr. Seleem Adegunwa began his professional career as the National Sales and Marketing Manager for Ess-Ay Holdings under the Photo Product Division in September 1996. During his time in this office, he successfully grew the photo product division business taking it across 7 West African Nations namely, Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
Mr Seleem Adegunwa went on to become the General Sales and Marketing Manager in September, 2003. He was pivotal in the executing of an exit strategy for the Photo Product division and was the Team Lead of diversification into the food manufacturing industry.
Mr. Seleem Adegunwa, the pioneer managing director, started Rite Foods Ltd from conceptualization and under his watch, has taken the company to a greater level.
Despite stiff competition from existing brands with over 45 years head start, he led this revolutionary company to become the most innovative brand in the sausage industry, with never seen before products such as Bigi Apple, Bigi Chicken and the market leader today Rite Spicy beef.
Mr Seleem Adegunwa was also pivotal to the construction of a multi-million-dollar world class Bakery and Beverage Factory which sits on an impressive 80-Hectare property in Ijebu – Ososa, Ogun state, Nigeria. The Facility boasts of world class equipments and machineries that can only be rivaled by World leading brands in the international space.
Mr Seleem Adegunwa also led Rite Foods Ltd to achieving the ISO 9001:2015 certification on the 27th of June 2018. In the following month on the 12th of July he was installed as the Chairman of MAN (Ogun State Chapter) and re-elected in September, 2019.
Under his dynamic leadership, Rite Foods Ltd became the number one selling PET Beverage Brand in the country in the month of September, 2019 and her Fearless Energy drink became the Number one selling Energy drink in the country in October, 2019.
Hajiah Saidat Otiti
Saidat is the Founder, Creative Director and Chief Executive Officer of Baytuzzeenah Ltd – an Islamic Culture and Awareness outfit which has been in operation since 2001and has been in the forefront of Retailing Islamic Lifestyle related products and Promoting Islamic Lifestyle; Organizing Islamic Culture and Bookfairs, Lectures, Seminars and Islamic Fashion Shows. Promotion of Islamic Lifestyle is Baytuzzeenah’s raison d’etre – a one-stop shop for all that is Islamic with three retail outlets in Lagos currently.
Saidat’s educational background spans the Creative Arts to Social Sciences. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Applied Arts -Textile/Fashion Design (1989) from the University of Benin (Second class Upper). She lectured briefly at the Textile/Fashion Design department of the Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna during her NYSC service year (1986/87).
Saidat has an MBA (with a Finance bias) from the University of Lagos in 1989 and has had considerable experience in Banking and Finance having worked for 11 years in banking till year 2000 when she left the bank at Senior Management level to set up Baytuzzeenah Ltd.
Saidat is also knowledgeable in Islamic Banking and Finance. She has an MSC (with Distinction) 2001- in Islamic Economics, Banking and Finance from Loughborough University (UK).
She is a Chartered Stock Broker and an Associate member (I999) of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers.
She has won many awards for excellence including the Best Overall Postgraduate Graduating Islamic Economics Banking and Finance prize for 2001 academic year – Loughborough University UK. She is a recipient of the prestigious Chevening Scholarship scheme of the British Government.
She seats on the Board of a number of companies including FIS Securities Ltd, Crescent Schools and Al-Furqan Estate Ltd.
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