Ekwunife Okoli was a non-executive director on the board of Fidson Healthcare Plc before he passed on in April. He served at Fidson from January 2021 until his demise.
Throughout his time on the board, he held several roles, including the Strategy and Business Development Committee Chair.
In an official statement, Temitope Akindele, corporate services manager at Fidson, described Okoli as a valuable member of the Governance, Nomination, and Remuneration; Financial, General Purpose, as well as the Risk, Audit and Control Committees at the organisation.
“Mr Okoli’s passing is a significant loss to everyone at Fidson and will be deeply missed,” he wrote.
Okoli began his professional journey at Guinness Nigeria. He was an accomplished business leader and a seasoned corporate governance expert.
He had over 30 years of consumer goods industry experience in more than 20 African countries including Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroun, Ethiopia, Angola, and Mozambique, among others.
He had strong FMCG commercial and brand marketing experience and spent the last 10 years paddling large consumer goods markets, including the last four years as a regional managing director.
After retiring from Diageo Plc, he served as a non-executive director for Cornerstone Insurance Plc and Fidson Healthcare Plc. He had a strong passion for Africa and its promising opportunities in both business and social sectors.
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Okoli received an undergraduate degree from the University of Nigeria and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Benin.
In both his professional and personal life, he held coaching and mentoring as two important aspects of human development and frequently devoted his time, insights, and energy to helping others attain their full potential, according to the official tribute lodge on Forever Missed.
Steve Iwenjora, a non-executive director at Cornerstone, said: “Ekwunife Okoli was a board member at Cornerstone Insurance plc, where I had the distinguished privilege of working alongside him. I learnt so much from him both professionally and personally. Without laying out all your virtues, suffice to say, it is consistent with all that came into contact with you. I will summarise it by saying that you were a tower of light that continuously drew people toward you. We were inspired, motivated, and excelled under your wealth of experience. I will miss you.”
Okoli’s mentee, Edna Samuel, said: “ENO as he was popularly known by the Guinness Family was a great man…he was so genuine, authentic, kind, intelligent, open-minded. I met ENO after he just returned from an international assignment in the UK. He was part of my promotional interview for Trade Marketing in Guinness Nigeria. He was the one I ran to when I had my greatest career challenge.I then moved to the banking industry and worked with his kid sister Nkoli. It looked like my life was intertwined with the Okoli’s.
“The whole Guinness family is in mourning, the marketing world has lost a great one”.
He is survived by his wife, Unoma Okoli, and four children.
