Women in Business: Okaima Ohizua

The Supreme Court of Nigeria. She holds an Advanced Management Program Certificate from the Lagos Business School Pan-african University. She is an Associate member of WIMBIZ (Women in Management, Business and Public Service) and a member of the Institute of Directors (IOD) Nigeria. In 2019, Okaima was recognised as one of the top 50 Leading Ladies in Corporate Nigeria by Leading Ladies Africa.

Okaima is a voracious reader who loves singing and walking marathons, especially to raise awareness against the scourge of cancer, having lost loved ones to this disease. As a mother to a teenaged son, Ehikhuae, she is equally passionate about raising strong men of character and integrity.
Okaima Ohizua is the Executive Director & Chief Operating Officer of Transcorp Power Limited, a leading power generation company in Nigeria. In this role, Okaima is responsible for driving the non-technical operational transformation journey of Transcorp Power. Her focus is on building the efficiency and effectiveness of the organisation’s processes. As an Executive Member of the Board of Directors of Transcorp Power Limited, she is directly involved in shaping the strategy of the company to attain its ambition of providing electricity for one out of every four Nigerians.

Read also: Women In Business: Pearlena Igbokwe

Prior to her appointment to Transcorp Power Limited, Okaima was Executive Director – Customer Service of Transcorp Hotels Plc and was pivotal to the upward service transformation at the hotel since joining the Board and the Executive Management Team in 2013 as the first female Executive Board member of Transcorp Hotels Plc. She resigned in February 2020 from the Board of Transcorp Hotels Plc, with her appointment to the Board of Transcorp Power Limited.

Okaima served in 2013 as the Chief of Staff to Tony O. Elumelu, CON, Chairman of Heirs Holdings Limited, a family-owned investment company, and had also worked in reputable international organisations such as Citi Group and United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA). She served at Citibank, over a 15-year period, she served in senior management capacities in sectors as varied and strategic as Customer Service, Sales, Products; and left as Assistant Vice President and Head of Electronic Banking & Implementation. She also held a senior management position at UBA, as Director, Customer Service, spearheading the bank’s service transformation journey, as well as being an active member of the female leadership program. At Transcorp Hotels Plc, Okaima successfully drove the operational service excellence initiative at both Transcorp Hotels Plc Properties in Calabar and Abuja, with the application of the Kaizen Operation Excellence philosophy, leading to an award for the best Kaizen Case Study in Africa, as well as several other service excellence Awards won by the Properties e.g. the Pearl Award, World Travel Award, Seven Star Awards etc.

With over 28 years working experience, Okaima is a graduate of Law from the University of Benin and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1991 as an Advocate and Solicitor of