Toyin Sanni is an acclaimed strategic leadership and capital markets expert and currently Chief Executive Officer of the Emerging Africa Capital Group which undertakes Advisory, Capital Raising, Trusts & Wealth Management Services, a company she established after retiring from her role as Group Chief Executive Officer of leading African Investment Banking franchise, United Capital (UC) Plc.
She retired after over twelve highly successful years during which she led the company to win multiple awards for innovation, governance, dividend yield and as the best overall company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange at the 2017 Pearl Awards, at which Toyin also won the CEO of the Year Award becoming the first female CEO to win in the 22-year history of the Award which ranks all Nigerian Public companies. Toyin was also declared the CNBC AABLA All African Business Woman of the Year in 2017.
In both positions, Toyin’s role covered oversight of the group holding company and the design and implementation of an effective and efficient structure for subsidiaries, governance responsibilities to the group and subsidiary boards, supervision of the CEOs of the subsidiaries, allocation of capital resources and resolution of conflicts. At UC she was responsible for the supervision of three market-leading subsidiaries and two divisions providing Investment Banking, Wealth Management, Asset Management, Trusts and Securities Services. In this capacity, she led her teams to play significant roles in raising capital for some of Nigeria’s leading infrastructure projects at Federal and State Government levels and in the private sector (such as advising on USD600m (representing 50% of capital raised by Power generating companies (Gencos), during the Nigerian Power Sector reforms). She has served on the boards of several companies and on investment committees of private equity and specialized funds.
Sanni is a past president of the Association of Investment Advisers and Portfolio Managers of Nigeria and currently the President of the Association of Corporate and Individual Investment Advisers, the official trade group recognized by the Securities and Exchange Commission for all registered Investment Advisers in Nigeria.
She is a graduate of the CEO Program of the Lagos Business School, holds a Master’s Degree LLM (Hons), from the University of Lagos and the Professional qualification of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (I.C.S.A.) UK. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (C.I.S.) Nigeria and also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries and Administrators. She has participated in executive education programs such as the Harvard Business School Disruptive Innovation program, Global Strategic Leadership at the Wharton Business School and the CEP/AMP Program of the IESE Business School, Barcelona, amongst others.
She retired as Group Chief Executive Officer at United Capital Plc (formerly UBA Capital Plc) a position held from January 2014 to June 2018.
Prior to her appointment as the Group CEO of United Capital, Sanni was CEO, United Capital Trustees Limited (formerly known as UBA Trustees Limited). She has previously set up and run successful Trust, Asset Management and Leasing businesses. She is currently chairperson of the Financial Literacy Committee as well as of Women in Finance Nigeria and a Past President of the Association of Corporate Trustees.
She sits on multiple boards including Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp). Toyin is the author of ‘Yes You Too Can’, ‘Get to the Top’, (inspirational books aimed at empowering the next generation of women leaders) and most recently, Riding The Eagle – A Guide To Investing in Nigeria (a book which aims to serve as a guide for both local and international investors seeking to exploit the unique opportunities in the Nigerian economy, learn from the success stories of investing in Nigeria, as well as how to navigate the potential pitfalls and risks.
