Co-Founder, Segun Adams

Segun became an Associate Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria in May 1996 and a month later in June 1996, he graduated from the prestigious Yaba College of Technology with an Upper Credit in Accountancy. He holds an MBA in management from Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma and also holds Certificate in Asset Management from FFTW (USA), and a Diploma in Asset Management from BNP Paribas Academy (Paris).

He was a member of the CBN External Reserves Management Exchange Programme between 2007 – 2011 where he led the Central Bank of Nigeria in conjunction with Intercontinental Bank Plc to invest $1.15bn of the country’s external reserves with Francis Fischer Trees & Watts (“FFTW”), a subsidiary of BNP Asset Management. Throughout this period, he was the Co-Fund Manager as he had the responsibility for reporting the performance of the portfolio to the Central Bank of Nigeria on a quarterly basis.

He is reputed to have written the business plan and developed the financial model for the set up of Intercontinental Bank UK, which received the approval of the Financial Services Authority (“FSA”) in October 2008 at first attempt.

Segun has been exposed to various international training programmes in London, New York, Paris and Luxembourg at different times. He was responsible for underwriting deal flow of over $150m in his role as the Group head, Corporate Finance in Intercontinental Bank Plc. He is an expert in M & A having performed as the Merger Coordinator for Gatewaybank Plc in its merger with three other banks in Nigeria (Oct 2005) and subsequently merger coordinator for Intercontinental Bank Plc in its merger and acquisition with Access Bank Plc (Oct 2011), a deal estimated at N755bn, the largest corporate merger deal in Nigeria at the time.

Segun has circa 24 years cognate experience in the Nigerian financial system with specialization in Corporate Finance, Strategy, Asset Management & Insurance with many landmark achievements working in the industry. He founded Sesame Asset Management Ltd in 2012 with the objective of providing wealth management, financial advisory services and fund raising exercise anchored on growing the SME business sector in Nigeria. He was instrumental to the funding and development of the Ogba Shopping Complex, an 11,250 sq m retail outlet in the heart of Ikeja, Lagos. His objective is to nurture a portfolio of SMEs to public companies in the nearest future.

He sits on the board of several companies and is happily married with children.