Meet Marketing Communications Amazon Folashade Ambrose-Medebem, The New Commissioner For CCT&I, Lagos State
It is no longer news that the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has sworn in 37 new Commissioners and Special Advisers who will join him in running the affairs of the state for the next four years. Among the Commissioners and Special Advisers, who took their oath of office at the Adeyemi Bero Auditorium, Alausa Ikeja, recently is marketing communications Amazon, Folashade Ambrose-Medebem.
She joins the Lagos State public service as state commissioner for Commerce, Cooperatives, Trade and Investment (CCT&I). In this position, among other myriads of responsibilities, Folashade is expected to spearhead the initiation, formulation, and evaluation of policies, implementation of programmes and projects relating to commerce, industry, and cooperatives, among others.
Before her appointment by the Lagos state government, Folashade had worked as the Communication, Public Affairs & Sustainable Development Director at Lafarge Africa PLC, a position she held for five years, between 2016 and 2021.
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 has served 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 was a leading catalyst driving Women in Manufacturing Africa (WimAfrica) initiative, all of which Lafarge Africa Plc. is a member.
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.
Over the years, she has come to be known for possessing exceptionally diverse business management skills, very apt at overcoming challenges, coupled with effective organisational skills, excellent stakeholder relationship management, an entrepreneurial mindset to ‘make things happen’, marketing know-how and flair for creativity, innovation and a passion for people development.
She boasts more than 23 years of 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 the board level.
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.
Folashade enables every woman to become her best self and “win” 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.
Medebem has been married for over 25 years to her husband Iyke Ambrose-Medebem and has 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.
