It’s quite possible to miss your way when heading towards a destination, but there is no way you would pass Bishop Aboyade Cole Street in Victoria Island, Lagos and miss the beautifully positioned and humongous green edifice, The KPMG head office in Nigeria.
From the reception to my final destination, the office of the head, Management Consulting at KMPG, it was easy to tell that the workers have been thoroughly groomed to provide excellent services to customers. She gave me a warm welcome, and after I was served a cup of hot coffee, the interview began.
Bisi Lamikanra, partner and head, Management Consulting at KPMG Nigeria, is my Leading Woman for this week.
The partners and people of KPMG have been operating in Nigeria since 1978, providing multidisciplinary professional services to both local and international organisations within the Nigerian business community. Focused on turning knowledge into value for the benefit of their clients, people and the capital markets, they are committed to working with their clients and cutting through complexities – finding solutions and adding value.
Bisi was admitted as a partner in 1998; she heads the financial services sector across Africa. She has provided advisory services for various public and private sector clients in West Africa. She has over 30 years of experience that spans various industries, including financial services.
For Bisi, morals and endearing principles cannot be compromised. Speaking on the importance of keeping values, Bisi shares on how positive principles have helped her till date. “The striking thing about growing up for me was that the main emphasis was on value, not on what you had. The best thing my parents did for me was to teach me the ability to have so much and not lose your head and the ability to have nothing and be able to adjust. It brings satisfaction and you don’t lose. It’s who you are, what you believe in and the principles that are important,” she tells me.
Bisi has led several advisory projects in the banking sector and other financial services organisations on strategy articulation and development, business integration, customer service delivery improvement and transformation, retail banking repositioning, institutional diagnostics, feasibility and market studies, organisational review, organisational design/transformation and HR advisory services.
“It was clear to us at KPMG that for us to serve our clients better, we had to go beyond individual countries in Africa,” Bisi says. “The major people in the financing sector, for instance, banks, have subsidiaries across countries; it became clear that we needed to be more proactive even in terms of positioning KMPG as an organisation and the opportunities we have in the marketplace.”
As head of Financial Services in Africa, Bisi leads the team in harnessing the pan-African opportunities existing in the financial services industry landscape in Africa. The Project Africa initiative is a platform to build a strong KPMG brand in the continent, while proffering high value solutions to clients in this region. Bisi also champions e-payment services in KPMG Nigeria, in line with the vision of the Central Bank of Nigeria. She has assisted with the development of target operating model for institutional banking electronic services, incorporating leading practices from banks in other jurisdictions, as well as roadmap development.
“Payment landscape is transforming,” she says. “There is a major transformation in payment system; new technology is evolving. At KPMG we pride ourselves in understanding where we are and taking a view of the future. One of the things we are doing in the African team, a payment solution team, is a study on payment systems in Nigeria, how do we see that sector? For us in KPMG, it is an area we are investing in. Mobile payment has transformed Kenya; Nigeria is tapping the surface even in e-solutions. It is important for Nigeria to reduce the cost to serve. If you take a Nigerian from a financial inclusion perspective, this is important.”
Bisi has a degree in Economics from the University of Lagos and completed the Advanced Management Programme of the Lagos Business School (LBS). She is Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria. Bisi is involved in several programmes for educational and institutional bodies. She is a board member of the LBS’ Enterprise Development Centre and an executive committee member of the Corona Schools’ Trust Council.
Despite these feats, she admits that the cohesion between her line of work and her personal values has been a driving force to forge ahead. According to her, “The corporate value and my values go in line, that is why I have been in this profession for thirty years. I enjoy working with my clients and their responses make you want to forge ahead. I find my job intellectually stimulating because you have new ways of treating different issues daily. Over the years I have come to realise this fact and I share with younger ones that even though you have your personal structure, you have to be flexible because if you are not flexible, you may end up being frustrated. But at the same time, do not lose focus of what you want to do.”
One of her greatest passions, Bisi reveals, is education and the next generation. “I have been involved at different levels to help the next generation achieve their potentials now. It’s encouraging to see those you have mentored produce positive results,” she adds.
And so, in line with this passion, she admonishes: “There are some basic principles, and these principles are what you will use to judge whether education can work well in a country or not. Basic principles such as: Are we developing world-class citizens? Are we taking basic education seriously and ensuring that no child is left behind irrespective of their physical, mental, or financial disabilities? Are we developing confident people? A child can be intelligent, but when the child is confident, it is much better because the child will be expressive.”
She further says: “It is also important that we are providing all-round education and ensuring every child reaches their potential and leverage on their talents to get to where they want to be. As parents, ours is to plant and water so that the child can flourish and get all the ‘nutrients’ they need. When you nurture a child positively, you help the child think better and having done all these, please allow your child to choose their careers, not imposing your decision on them.”
And finally, Bisi tells of efforts in managing and balancing issues that concern women. “We provide an avenue for women to share and encourage themselves. We have four women partners in KMPG and we are looking at how things can be better. We have what we call the KMPG network of women; what we do is to address women issues and one way we do that is providing mentorship. When you start a career, someone else has gone through that line so it’s only wise to learn from them. Women are very important in the workforce and grooming women leaders is very important,” she concludes.
