Abiola Adediran, Group Chief Financial Officer, Coronation Group

Abiola is an innovative and dynamic change leader, having over thirteen years of seasoned financial experience with exposure in both local and international financial markets. Her diverse experience in providing core business strategy, auditing, financial management, corporate valuation, and investment management services has provided her with the ability to provide unique and authentic perspectives to support various facets of business.

Currently, she serves as the Group Chief Financial Officer of a leading investment management group in Africa with investments in banking, oil & gas, real estate, financial technology and private equity, and her work revolves around introducing strategic and tactical solutions that improve business financial performance, driving the identification of growth opportunities, delivering sustained growth, corporate sustainability and increasing shareholder value.

Adediran is a Chartered Accountant, certified Management Consultant, a PRINCE2-certified Project Manager from APMG International, UK. She also holds an MBA from Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University, Scotland, with a major in Finance and Strategy.

As an extraordinary communicator and adept mentor, she possess a drive to contribute towards solutions that bring about sustainable and life changing impact, transforming the lives and businesses of professionals and business owners.

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On her key achievements, within 6-months of joining the firm, she successfully developed and implemented standardised operating procedures for planning, budget preparation and monitoring adherence, influencing the organisation’s cost management effectively, which facilitated reduction in company’s operating cost by 30% thereby increasing profitability by about 16%.

Also, she spearheaded the collaboration of multifunctional teams to perform extensive financial and investment analysis which played a key role in formulating and implementation of financial strategies that guided the direction of the business growth, including expanding into new investment opportunities, tracking and reporting the financial performance of existing and new businesses, which yielded an increase in the value of those investments by over 300% within 2years.

On important tips to improve your finances, she suggests three. First is to take inventory of your spending, track your spending to bring mindfulness to your day-to-day financial habits and identify serious issues like spending more than you make. The practice of writing down your expenses or tracking them through an app allows you to see whether your spending is actually aligned with your stated goals and priorities.

Secondly, she says you must rethink your savings rate. How much are you saving each month relative to your income? Better yet, calculate your net worth as a percentage of your lifetime earnings: Of all the money that has passed through your hands over the course of your working life, how much of it have you actually kept?

Thirdly, she says you should refresh your social circle because it is hard to grow into the new you while clinging to old relationships that keep you stuck where you are.