Ibukun Awosika graduated from the Chemistry department of the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife). She is also an alumni of the Chief Executive Programme of Lagos Business School and the Global Executive MBA Programme of the prestigious IESE Business School, Barcelona, Spain.

She started her working career with Akintola Williams & Co. as an Audit Trainee during her national youth corps service. Thereafter, she worked at Alibert Nigeria Ltd, a furniture company, as Showroom Manager. Three and a half months after, she resigned her position to go set up her own furniture manufacturing company, Quebees Ltd, from which The Chair Centre Ltd later evolved.

She is the Founder and Chairman of The Chair Centre Ltd, a market leader in the office furniture and banking security systems industries. After the ban on importation of furniture by the federal government of Nigeria in 2004, The Chair Centre Ltd went into a joint venture with Sokoa S.A of France and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc to set up Sokoa Chair Centre Ltd in 2005, and she was appointed the MD/CEO of the company.

In addition, she independently established another ultra-modern furniture facility, Furniture Manufacturers’ Mart, in Ikeja, Lagos in the latter part of 2006. Recent additions to her entrepreneurial exploits are the expansion of The Chair Centre Ltd by opening outlet offices in Accra, Tinapa, and Calabar.

She is the host of a telecast, Business – His Way, where she shares ethical business values and principles, distilled from the word of God, with businesspeople and professionals in Nigeria and neighbouring countries. The telecast is currently being transmitted on 7 different TV stations across the country.

She is an ordained pastor at The Fountain of Life Church. She is also the Founder of Christian Missionary Fund, a non-governmental body dedicated to raising support for Christian missionaries across the country.

She is the immediate past Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of Women in Management and Business (WIMBIZ), a position she held for two consecutive terms. She is also the Chairperson of Intermac, the organisers of SmartCard Conferences in Nigeria. She also a board member of a number of organisations, some of which include: Youths Business Initiative (YBI) and The Convention on Business Integrity.

She is the Chairman of Afterschool Graduate Development Centre (AGDC), a national career centre in Lagos, which was set up in September 2007 to address the high rates of unemployment in Nigeria by providing qualitative trainings to the nation’s teeming graduates in order to make them more employable and good assets to the Nigerian economy. AGDC runs developmental programs and projects that focus on the employability, economic productivity and global relevance of the Nigerian graduate.

Mrs. Ibukun Awosika recently authored two books titled: The “Girl” Entrepreneurs and Business His Way. She is a nominee and recipient of a number of awards, some of which include:

¡        Nominee, Entrepreneur of The Year (2005), THISDAY Newspaper’s Annual Merit Award

¡        Nominee, The Best Female Entrepreneur of the Year (2006) courtesy: Financial Standard and Pan-African Organisation for Women Recognition (POWR)

¡        Female Entrepreneur of the Year 2005, Success Digests Magazine’s Annual Enterprise Award.

¡        FATE Model Entrepreneur Award for the year 2006, courtesy: FATE Foundation.

¡        Golden Heart Award (2007), under the aegis of the International Women Society

¡        Award of Leadership Excellence 2008, courtesy Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Lagos Island Chapter

¡        International Women Entrepreneurial Challenges Award 2008, courtesy: Manhattan Chambers of Commerce and the United States Government

She is married to Abiodun Oludola Awosika, and their marriage is blessed with three children – all boys.