A leading and prominent African energy expert and finance executive, Rolake Akinkugbe-Filani provides financial and strategic advisory services to the public and private sector in oil and gas and power, and has built a track record of helping to finance, invest in and successfully scale businesses across Africa’s energy sector. She is also the Senior Nigeria Advisor to IFU, the Danish Investment Fund and sits on the global advisory board of Canadian Private Equity firm, Stonechair Capital advising on its #EnergyAfrica Fund for Sub-Sahara Africa. Prior to this, from 2014 – 2019 she was head of energy and natural resources for FBN Capital and FBNQuest Merchant Bank, investment and merchant banking arm of FBN Holdings PLC, Nigeria’s oldest financial services group, helping energy, and oil and gas raise debt and equity capital.

From 2017-19 she was a member of the private sector economic advisory group in the Office of the Vice President of Nigeria, working closely with the Chief Economic Adviser to the President on a range of national development policy issues. Prior to FBNQuest Merchant Bank, she was head of the energy and oil and gas research team at pan-African Ecobank Group in their London office covering 33 African countries.

Rolake was recognized in the United Nations’ MIPAD Top 100 (Most Influential People of African Descent) Under 40, in the Business & Entrepreneurship Class of 2018, and was listed in the 2017, 2018 and 2019 Choiseul Institute’s (France) top 200 Under-40 Young Economic Leaders in Africa. In 2015, she received the Best Africa Oil and Gas Analyst award from Energy Corporate Africa (US) and was listed in pan-African law firm, Centurion LLP’s, People to Watch in African Oil and Gas in 2016. She has been a regular reviewer of global newspaper headlines on BBC World News TV since 2012, and provides global business, economic and oil market analysis to several media platforms, also writing and publishing extensively on African energy. Rolake has a BSc and MSc degree from the London School of Economics (LSE), and a global executive MBA from TRIUM.