Folashade is the Communication, Public Affairs & Sustainable Development Director at Lafarge Africa PLC.
Lafarge Africa Plc is a member of the LafargeHolcim Group is the biggest building and concrete solutions company in the world. It is a publicly quoted company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and serves Nigeria and South Africa with a wide range of building and construction solutions designed to meet housing and construction needs from small projects like individual home buildings to major construction and infrastructure projects.
Folashade is a consummate multi-faceted and proven business leader with an extensive background in finance, strategy, and project/change management, business development, thought leadership, sustainable development and management consulting across a wide industry spectrum in the UK, Nigeria and Europe.
Exceptionally diverse business management skills, very apt at overcoming challenges, coupled with effective organisational skills, excellent stakeholder relationship management, an entrepreneurial mind-set to ‘make things happen’, marketing know-how and flair for creativity, innovation and a passion for people development.
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Medebem has more than 23+ years senior management experience delivering world class strategic business transformation solutions with a variety of global FSTE 100 multinationals including LafargeHolcim Plc., Diageo Plc., PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Ford Motor Company, Zurich Financial Services, Learning & Skills Council UK, Nigeria Ministry of Finance and Department for International Development (DFID) UK.
Throughout her career, she has successfully led and executed robust business transformation strategies pivotal in achieving sustainable growth. She has an excellent record of bottom-line achievements in the deployment of large-scale business solutions and in leading cross functional global teams at board level.
A proven track record in setting clear direction and priorities, addressing non-performance challenges/gaps with sensitivity, pace and a sense of urgency.
She holds a Bachelor of (Hons) Accounting degree from London Guildhall, a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from the Open University, UK and is a certified Financial Management professional with the chartered Insurance Institute (Cii), UK amongst a plethora of other professional certifications.
Medebem was appointed as Director of Communication, Public Affairs & Sustainable Development, Lafarge Africa Plc. in October 2016. Prior to this role, she worked as Integration Business Transformation Consultant for LafargeHolcim (LH) (2015) focusing on enabling a speedy integration (following worldwide merger of LH) in order to deliver the country business ambition as one holistic organization in Nigeria. She also successfully led the culture transformation phase one focused on delivering a safe and high-performance culture.
In addition to her corporate profile, Folashade serves on the NESG 24 Executive Committee, is a member of the UN SDG Nigeria – Private Sector Advisory Group (PSAG) – Cluster 8 Co-Lead to the Federal Government of Nigeria and is the leading catalyst driving Women in Manufacturing Africa (WimAfrica) initiative, all of which Lafarge Africa Plc. is a member.
Having spent the majority of her life and career in the UK, a huge challenge Fola faced was stereotyping however, she quickly learned the best way to respond to criticism is to simply perform and deliver.
Folashade enables every woman to become her best self and “wiin” in her career. WIIN means Women Inspiring Impact Network, a platform Folashade designed to provide insightful guidance and mentorship to young and discerning women to enable them to achieve higher levels of success.
“I am very passionate about helping women succeed in the workplace through discovering and applying their best self. My primary mission is to drive opportunities for impact by encouraging women to speak up in the workplace and by sharing how to implement career winning strategies. This is why I have established Women’s inspiring impact network (WiiN) focusing on enabling winning impact for all interactively.” She said.
Medebem has been married for 25 years to her husband Iyke Ambrose-Medebem and have three beautiful girls. She is a huge classical music fan and in addition to giving back to career women, she is also passionate about mentoring and coaching teenagers to be their best.
