Meet Eyitope Kola-Oyeneyin: Former McKinsey Partner appointed NIPC Chairperson

President Bola Tinubu has appointed Mrs. Eyitope Kola-Oyeneyin as the Chairperson of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), bringing to the role more than two decades of experience spanning banking, management consulting, digital transformation, and public policy.

Kola-Oyeneyin earned a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from the University of Central Florida, where she studied from 1996 to 2000.

She later obtained a Master of Science in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University, completing the programme between September 2001 and June 2003.

Most recently, she has served as Managing Partner of Augmentum Advisory, a firm that helps organizations drive value creation through digital transformation, policy innovation, and large-scale execution.

Before launching the firm in 2024, she spent more than six years as a Partner at McKinsey & Company, where she co-led the firm’s Payments and FinTech Practice across Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EEMA).

Her return to McKinsey followed an earlier five-year stint at the global consulting firm between 2004 and 2009.

Career spanning banking and policy

Before rejoining McKinsey, Kola-Oyeneyin held several senior leadership positions at FirstBank Nigeria, where she spent nearly seven years overseeing some of the bank’s most strategic operations.

• She served as Group Head of International Banking, leading FirstBank’s African subsidiaries and representative offices across South Africa, Abu Dhabi, and China.

Earlier roles included Chief Integration Officer for Africa, where she coordinated the integration of the bank’s acquisitions across six African countries, as well as Head of Corporate Transformation and Group Head of Banking Services, overseeing operations across more than 750 branches nationwide.

Her experience also extends to the public sector.

While at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), she led the implementation of the Nigerian Banking Industry Shared Services Programme and played a pivotal role in designing the Cash-less Lagos initiative, one of Nigeria’s earliest digital payments programmes.

She also helped drive the Shared Agent Network Expansion Facilities (SANEF) programme, a landmark financial inclusion initiative that expanded agent banking across the country.

Boardroom and entrepreneurial experience

Beyond executive leadership, Kola-Oyeneyin has served on the boards of several companies, including FBNBank Senegal, FBNBank DRC, InSourcing Limited, Venia Consulting, and AutoGenius, Nigeria’s first digital insurance comparison platform.

• She also co-founded The iLx Center, a Lagos-based learning and innovation hub focused on leadership development and experiential learning.
• Recognized as one of Africa’s leading voices on digital financial services, Kola-Oyeneyin regularly speaks at international conferences and has co-authored research reports featured in publications including the Financial Times and The Economist.

She is also the author of UNLEASH, a book aimed at equipping young Africans with practical strategies for personal growth, leadership, and economic opportunity.