Funmi Ekundayo is a Lawyer, chartered secretary and administrator, corporate governance professional, chartered stockbroker and capital market practitioner.
Funmi’s professional and career trajectory started with her law office attachment experience at the leading Law Firm of Banwo & Ighodalo. She completed the mandatory one-year National Youth Service primary assignment with the Law firm of the then Bentley Edu & Co. (In association with Irving & Bonnar) after which she was retained by the Firm.
With a career spanning over twenty-five years, Funmi spent close to a decade in law practice and thereafter worked at different times in the Nigeria Capital Market space starting with the then NAL Asset Management & Trustees Limited (Now SAMTL), UBA Trustees Limited (Now United Capital Trustees Limited) and Skye Trustees Limited (Now STL Trustees Limited).
Funmi was appointed as the MD/CEO of STL Trustees Limited (then Skye Trustees Limited) in 2010 and the company has evolved into a market leader commanding exponential growth in profitability, business size, pedigree and brand value over the years.
Read also: Bukunmi Fapohunda – Executive Director, Quantum Fund Management Limited
Under Funmi’s leadership, STL Trustees has birthed a new subsidiary, STL Asset Management Limited, and this evolution marks the beginning of the company’s strategic transition into a full-fledged capital market holding company structure.
The organisation has been recognised by reputable awarding Institutions as a market leader by emerging winner of several awards in the trusteeship industry.
For her professional and organisational astuteness, Funmi has also had the honour of receiving various distinguished awards.
She has over the years distinguished herself in her area of core competence as a seasoned trust specialist engaging in the structuring of complex legal, financial and trust instruments.
A consummate capital market practitioner, Funmi has been involved in the structuring of a significant number of novel and trailblazing structured finance and capital market transactions over the years.
She is an alumna of the prestigious Harvard Business School, the Lagos Business School (Chief Executive Programme) and the IESE Business School, Barcelona Spain.
Furthermore, she is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN) where she currently serves as a member of the governing council.
In July 2021, Funmi made history as the first female to be elected as the Vice President and Vice Chairman of Council of the Institute and in March 2023, she was elected President-Elect of the Institute.
Funmi has served in different capacities and at different times on the Capital Market Committee of the Securities and Exchange Commission including as member, Technical Committee on National Savings Strategy, member, National Investor Protection Fund and member, Rules and Compliance Committee.
Funmi attended University of Lagos, where she obtained her Bachelor of Laws degree in 1995 and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1996. During her National Youth Service Programme in 1997, Funmi smartly combined work with studies as she returned to the University of Lagos to pursue her master’s degree in law which she obtained in 1998.
