The 2025 BusinessDay Nigerian Business and Leadership Awards occurred in its usual outstanding fashion but among a litany of so many outstanding elements, the event represents the recognised value of Temitope George Ijibadejo whose performance in financial markets landed him a win of the Forex Markets Architect of the Year award.
The award recognition, presented before the attendance of key policymakers, industrial captains, regulators, and market leaders, affirms a professional career that has achieved significant financial results but, more importantly, has transformed the way the foreign exchange markets function in both Nigeria and Africa.
Gleaning from the award citation, reasons why the award winner, Ijibadejo, was chosen include “exceptional role in designing sustainable forex market structures, human capital development, and the attraction of international financial institutions into the emerging markets.”
Ijibadejo’s work is seen as groundbreaking, not just typical forex stuff like trading or brokering. He came up with an impressive hybrid model that mixes business smarts with forex fund management and trading, which got him an award. Prior to his initiative, Nigeria’s forex scene was all over the place with lots of risky trading, bad management, and companies that didn’t last long. Ijibadejo saw that people knew how to trade, but they didn’t know how to run a stable business, handle risks, teach others, or set up solid systems.
So, he brought in business know-how like planning the market, managing clients, good governance, and training that could grow – and mixed it with forex fund management. This made the whole process more stable, turning it from a gamble into a real financial service. According to industry players, it’s known that those under the tutelage of Ijibadejo don’t fail as often. It’s this total makeover of the forex world, not just making money, that makes Ijibadejo a market-maker instead of just another player.
Another benchmark that was brought to light during the award presentation was Ijibadejo’s participation in building an institution. Via Sure-Fire Investments Limited, which he established in 2009, he successfully implemented his hybrid model at a large scale—training thousands of professionals, and mentoring a new generation of forex traders, analysts, and fund managers who are now in leadership positions at global financial institutions.
In particular, more than 5,000 Nigerian youths, most of them through the federal government’s NYSC-SAED programme, were trained under his framework. A number of alumni now hold positions as country managers, regional leaders, and institutional partners for foreign forex brokers—this is a clear indication of long-term structural impact rather than merely winning short-term formats in the market.
The focus on institutional capacity is in strong alignment with the award’s “Architect” classification, which acknowledges contributions that outlive individual careers and set new industry standards.
BusinessDay highlighted Ijibadejo’s crucial role in establishing Nigeria as a trustworthy hub for global forex institutions. While many international brokers were hesitant about the Nigerian market, seeing it as risky and poorly organized, his leadership and focus on governance drew in companies like XM International, Tentrade, CM Trading, and Squared Financial.
Ijibadejo is not just a local face; he acts as a strategic ally—crafting market-entry strategies, setting up compliant local operations, building networks of introducing brokers, and driving impressive revenue growth. Thanks to his efforts, these firms together raked in hundreds of millions of naira, millions of dollars in deposits, and created thousands of new jobs and professional opportunities.
Industry experts point out that his contributions go beyond just business success; they represent a kind of financial diplomacy that has attracted foreign direct investment into Nigeria’s financial services sector.
Continuing with the recognition, Ijibadejo is surely growing from a national leader to a continental leader. He currently works as a Director at Squared Financial. In the African continent where the company is located, he is in charge of projects that seek to develop forex education and broking in 54 countries. This comes as a result of a model that originated in Nigeria and can scale up as BusinessDay reported.
The Forex Markets Architect of the Year Award is designed to recognize those whose influence in the field goes well beyond the mere outcomes of the market to effect changing structures within the market. It is fair for Temitope Ijibadejo to clench the award considering his unrivaled flare for excellence, defined to build the market instead of merely playing in it.
