From portfolio management to compliance: Morenike Ominike shares her journey & tips for success in finance

Morenike Ominike is the Chief of Staff to the GMD/CEO and doubles as the Chief Compliance Officer at VFD Group Plc.

Ominike has over a decade of progressive experience in the financial services industry in Portfolio Management, Operations and Compliance. She is a SEC Sponsored Compliance Officer and a member of the Compliance Institute of Nigeria (Designate Compliance Professional).
In this interview with BusinessDay, Ominike shares her career journey, lessons she learned and tips on how to strive in the career world as a woman.

Walk us through your career journey and the key lessons you’ve learned along the way.

I think the key lesson learned was to always ensure that you have a mentor. You must have people to look up to who can guide you through your career path because without that, you might make so many mistakes along the way and you don’t want to make too many mistakes that draw you back or stifle your career.

Okay, so what would you consider to be your proudest achievement or significant milestone in your career?

I think my proudest achievement or milestone in my career would be effortlessly transitioning from portfolio and funds management to compliance.

The bulk of my career has been in compliance. Given that I had an engineering background and my early experience comprised financial services concerning mutual funds, and asset management, I successfully transitioned towards reviewing and overseeing regulations and ensuring that things are done in line with regulations, acts, and rules that govern the operations of any business.

So, I think that has been a major milestone and it has also helped define my career path because most of the progress I have made post-financial service or mutual asset management has been in the area of Regulatory Compliance.

I mean the next question is about your female role model and I don’t know if I should put model or models. What qualities or accomplishments make them your favourite?

I don’t want to mention names, I think I have a couple. But I think the key skill that they all possessed was the ability to hold their own, to continue to thrive despite trying times.

So, if you have those qualities, I think the sky is the stepping stone. So, what I have been able to glean from them is the ability to keep pushing during trying times because it is not easy for women in the financial services space, working mums, to break the glass ceiling!

Amid rising challenges, what are those self-care tips or what are those things you do, what would be those things you would recommend for a female, aspiring young female to do to strive in a very competitive and financial sector like you mentioned? Especially in a male-dominated industry.

Take a step back to calm down and reorganize yourself, because sometimes when you work and you’re tense or stressed, you tend to make the wrong decisions.

So, it’s important that as you continue to learn and put in all your efforts, take a step back when you feel you’re overwhelmed because you do not want to be seen as a person who consistently makes mistakes.

Also, identify those activities that make you relax and calm you down and ensure that you keep that in mind from time to time when you’re working.

Always create time for family and friends, take a step back when you’re stressed, reorganize your thoughts, reorganize yourself, be well-informed and open to learning and I think the sky is the limit.