Celebrating women leaders in Paga
Earlier this week, our CEO sent a tweet celebrating all the amazing women on the team and he highlighted the gender distribution in the company— with 40% of the whole team being women and 50% of the leadership team also women, and we are happy to be such an inclusive and enabling environment for anyone to thrive regardless of their gender.
In light of this, we are thrilled to put the spotlight on the 4 exceptional women leading diverse, close-knit teams of young, energetic and vibrant individuals. These women have been able to harness their professional prowess to motivate and grow the capacity of people while aligning with our brand essence of making life possible.
Get Familiar:
Folakemi Falodun — General Manager, Online & Mobile
Folakemi Falodun oversees Paga’s Online & Mobile business, she manages our Consumers, Payment Channels and Digital Financial Services. She has over 10 years of experience working in several roles within Finance and e-commerce in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. Before joining Paga, she was the Head of Strategy, West Africa for Liberty Holdco in Nigeria. She attended Babcock University in Nigeria and Lancaster University in the United Kingdom where she graduated with degrees in Economics and Finance respectively
Her advice to aspiring women leaders:
Your career is your journey, you must choose; your vehicle, your path and your destination. Do not rely on the society to do it for you. And as you proceed, be deliberate, challenge yourself, speak up more, take more pride in your abilities, always question the system and never fit in any box!
Arike Okunowo — General Manager, Sales
Arike has over 18 years of experience in Administration and Sales. She currently manages our sales team of over 150 people. Prior to joining Paga, she worked at Morrison industries plc as an Administrative Officer in 2000. She later joined Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) as a Business Developer in 2004 and rose to the position of a Commercial Manager in 2012 — she championed the growth of NBC’s market share across all product types amongst other sterling achievements.
Arike has a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of Jos and a Post Graduate Degree in Business Administration from Edinburgh Business School. Arike has a keen interest in coaching and mentoring people.
Her advice to aspiring women leaders:
Be confident in your abilities and keep striving for excellence in all that you do. The sky will be your starting point.
Fade Ayorinde — Chief Finance Officer
Fade has over 10 years of experience managing and reporting accounts for large international companies in Information Technology, Media,
consultancy and Telecommunications industries.
Before joining Paga, Fade worked at Hutchison Whampoa Europe Limited, part of the Hong Kong-listed conglomerate, Hutchison Whampoa Limited. She held a number of roles within the company and helped to launch a media streaming site in Asia. She worked alongside the CEO in helping to put together business plans and proposals to the board.
Prior to that Fade worked with INQ, another Hutchison Whampoa Limited company based in San Francisco. She was responsible for preparing the budgets and forecast for the company, reporting monthly financials to the head office in the UK, and most especially ensuring that the San Francisco office was operating within its allocated costs by implementing measures to reduce costs and instilling the Hutchison culture within the company.
Fade’s key accomplishments include ownership and management of budget planning and preparations, investment appraisals, managing projects, preparation and presentation of management accounts. She has worked closely with business heads and Leadership teams to ensure the business is aware of financial implications affecting the business.
She holds a Bachelors Degree in Accountancy from Southampton Solent University in the UK and is also a Certified Management Accountant with the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, UK.
Her advice to aspiring women leaders:
In any chosen career, you must be inquisitive, willing to learn and be well positioned and ready for growth at an time— never be complacent with your achievements. Always want more for yourself!
Tinuke Ayanbadejo — Head, Risk, Compliance & Internal Audit
Tinuke has over 14 years of professional work experience in Information Security, IT & Enterprise Risk Management and Compliance. Prior to joining Paga, she worked at Interswitch Nigeria Limited in Risk and Compliance, in the same organization she moved on to build the Enterprise Security team as an Enterprise Security Manager, where she developed, planned and implemented an Information Security Program and was also a lead resource in acquiring Interswitch’s PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) certification, she was also a lead in the acquisition of Paga’s PCI-DSS certification. Prior to Interswitch, she worked at Verizon Wireless Telecommunications and Hays Information Technology. Tinuke has a BSc in Computer Engineering Technology from the University of Houston, and a Masters in Information Security from Royal Holloway University of London, UK.
Her advice to aspiring women leaders:
I encourage aspiring women to never doubt themselves. Lastly, be a great negotiator, carry value and never sell yourself short.
At Paga, we remain fully committed to creating an inclusive workplace that allows anyone to thrive in their chosen career regardless of gender, race, religion, age or sexual orientation.
Happy International Women's Day to all the wonderful women across the world!
Let’s continue to create #BalanceForBetter
Making Life Possible is our ethos at paga, and it is what keeps us committed to our mission of making it easy for 1 billion people to use and access their money. We are inspired by the stories of the community we are building and the people we are empowering by driving financial inclusion and providing simple financial access in the markets we serve.
