Nkiru Olumide-Ojo drives pan-African influence through strategic storytelling, corporate leadership, and measurable social impact.
Long before Dr Nkiru Olumide-Ojo held executive titles and assumed pan-African responsibilities, she was a young girl in Port Harcourt, drawn to advertising and intrigued by how words and images could influence perception. That early fascination followed her into her professional life, beginning during her national youth service when she worked in marketing communications agencies and discovered that storytelling, when done well, could move both people and institutions.
Her early grounding in strategic communications deepened at CMC Connect Burson-Marsteller, where she served as a spokesperson and learned how brands operate under scrutiny. From there, her career expanded across sectors that demanded different kinds of leadership.
She moved on to work at Virgin Nigeria, an aviation company, where trust and reputation are critical. Moving on to Airtel, she navigated telecommunications at scale, learning to manage diverse markets and fast-moving consumer expectations across Nigeria and South Africa.
She then transitioned to the oil and gas sector, working with Forte Oil, which introduced her to the complexities of energy and corporate reputation, before proceeding to IBTC Group, where she sharpened her understanding of financial services, stakeholder engagement, and structured brand leadership.
Olumide-Ojo has served at Standard Bank Group since 2018, where she is currently Executive Head of Africa Regions Corporate Communications, Marketing, and Corporate Social Impact, based in South Africa.
In this role, she oversees teams across multiple African countries, supporting regional heads of marketing to meet business objectives through cohesive brand strategies, customised market-specific content, crisis communication frameworks, and AI-driven consumer insights that enable more targeted and inclusive campaigns. Alongside marketing, she leads corporate social impact across regions, insisting on outcome-based investments that measure long-term effects on communities rather than short-term outputs.
Parallel to her corporate career is a social impact journey that began much earlier. In 2004, she founded the LightHouse Network, later renamed Lighthouse Women’s Network, in Lagos. Built on the principle that “lighting another’s candle does not dim ours,” the organisation operates as an impact and learning institute focused on empowering women through capacity building, mentorship, and professional development.
Through marketplace readiness training, volunteers have trained over 200 female students across institutions, including the University of Lagos, Lagos State Polytechnic, and the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, covering practical skills such as CV writing, job interviews, proposals, and business pitches.
Mentorship circles connect young professionals with experienced mentors, while initiatives like SheBlooms bring together working women aged 22 to 55 across corporate and entrepreneurial paths. Annual conferences and vision board sessions further extend the network’s reach, strengthening employability, leadership confidence, and economic independence.
In terms of advocacy, Nkiru Olumide-Ojo consistently emphasises the inclusion of men in gender conversations as a necessary step toward sustainable change. She pushes for gender equity, anti-harassment policies, pay gap closure, and intentional sponsorship for women, particularly in environments shaped by boys’ clubs and career disruptions linked to maternity.
