Oge Modie

MD/CEO NOIPolls Limited

Ogechukwu Olufunmilola Modie (born January 12, 1976) is the Present Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NOIPolls Limited. Oge was featured in Business Day (Nigeria) where she was referred to as "a dynamic woman with skills that show in the ways she carries out her work." and "the first woman to head Nigeria’s leading independent opinion polling and research organization"^[1]

Prior to that, she worked over a sixteen year period in the Corporate finance, Management Consulting and Private Equity industries with a focus on the Financial Services and Real Sector. The career move to develop opinion research in the West African country Nigeria was borne out of a desire to provide much needed data on Nigeria.

Education and personal life

Oge Funlola Modie is an Igbo from Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State, Nigeria. She was born at theUniversity College Hospital,Ibadan. Her names shows a link to both the Western and Eastern part of Nigeria, her paternal Grandmother was Yoruba, hence the name. Her parents were astute professionals; her father retired as the Associate Dean School of Medicine at theUniversity of Nigeria Nsukka, and her mother a retired Chief Nursing Administrator at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Enugu.^[2]

Oge Modie grew up in the civil service town of Enugu on the University campus, where she fostered her early years of primary education at University Primary School UNEC, Enugu and her secondary education at Federal Government Girls College, Owerri, Imo State. She is very passionate as an alumnae of her high school and is currently the Vice president for the Abuja Chapter. She studied Economics at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State. During her undergrad years she was active in student groups, joining the AIESEC community, campaigning and winning the Vice President Post for Marketing and being paramount in fund raising for several conferences (Legon,Ghana and Zaria, Nigeria). She also was part of the pioneer group that formed Policy Analysis and Research Group (PARG, a group that held tutorials for fellow students in the Economics department).

After about eight years of working, she went on to study for a Masters in Business administration at the Cranfield University School of Management United Kingdom. She graduated in 2007. Oge also has various certificates in Project Management, Language, a training certificate in Conflict Resolution and has contributed to a range of publications.

An enthusiast of music, an avid reader, she enjoys a bit of sport; plays football and rugby. She loves skiing, sailing, watching movies and is a collector of comics and arts. She is very passionate about children and women causes, Small business development and economic empowerment. She participates and lends her voice to various organisations that are focused on empowering women and children.^[3]

Career

Oge Modie's Corporate Finance career started in 1999 with Agusto & Company Limited, Nigeria’s first indigenous credit rating company. Agusto & Co Limited then partnered its consulting arm with IBFC Consulting to become Alliance Consulting where she worked six years as an Associate consultant building up her skills in West African Mergers & Acquisition Market with a focus on the Nigerian and Ghanaian Financial services Industry(pre-consolidation era).

She was also part of the teaching faculty at the IBFCAGUSTO training school where she taught Treasury Arithmetric and Credit analysis to Nigerian Bankers. She left in September 2003 to join the HEIRS Alliance team a portfolio company founded by Tony Elumelu.

She was the Manager; Corporate Venturing and Incubation at HEIRS Alliance where she was part of the core team that managed the financial services portfolio (over US$ 5bn) of the Standard Trust Bank group of companies now United Bank For Africa UBA group. She was the Project lead on various M & A projects across the West African region

During her time at Heirs Alliance, Oge's key highlight was the planning, execution and management of a one year US$4 million project covering acquisition, restructuring and management of a financial services company in the Insurance sector. Successful planning led to the birth of one of top insurance companies in Nigeria.^[4] In mid 2005, Heirs Alliance was dissolved temporarily and the Management formed a new company called Nextzon Business Services.^[5]

At Nextzon, Oge was key in designing the Nextzon Business Incubator which warranted a grant from the World Bank MSME program.^[6]

On her return from business school, from 2008 to 2011, she was the Fund Director (West Africa) at Makeda Fund Managers LLC],^[7] a US$50million SME private equity start up fund focused on investing in women entrepreneurs across West Africa, the fund was run in partnership with Small Enterprises Assistance Fund (SEAF) based in Washington DC.

As a fund director, Oge generated awareness around investing in women owned/managed SMEs across West Africa. She also provided technical assistance to these women-owned businesses, particularly those that support their journey by obtaining patient capital. She was responsible for fund marketing, relationship building & managing, deal sourcing and managing investor relationships^[8]

In 2009, she founded a company called Alternativ Managers that has partnered with The Ford Foundation, The Nigeria SME Agency (SMEDAN),^[9] LEAP Africa^[10] and Fate Foundation^[11] to build capacity in SMEs and stakeholders in the sector.

Oge Funlola Modie joined NOIPolls Limited as the Chief Operating Officer in February 2012 and was appointed Managing Director and CEO by the Board of Directors in August 2012. NOIPolls Limited works in partnership with Gallup (USA) to champion opinion research in Nigeria and West Africa.^[12]

Non-profit work

Oge Modie has been deeply involved in various nonprofit organizations with a focus on microcredit, entrepreneurship, private sector development and Gender empowerment. More specifically she has supported the following initiatives:

King Solomon’s Fund: A faith based initiative with a focus on Micro enterprises, offering debt funding and management training to micro enterprises. This has now being converted to a Microfinance Bank.^[13]

FATE Foundation: She supported FATE’s Emerging Entrepreneur Program with the primary responsibility of providing consulting advice to start ups on any business issues/challenges faced.

Ford Foundation: She served as a consultant for the West African Office, supporting projects that were focused on entrepreneurship, economic development and poverty alleviation.

LEAP Africa Worked alongside founder Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli at initial start up period.

Speaking engagements

Oge has been a speaker at various events, including;

IFC Women's Conference in Cairo^[14]

Private Equity Conferences in Nigeria, by Henshaw Capital Partners; Speaker alongside Cherie Blair^[15] ^[16]

IFC/Federal Ministry of Health Nigeria Healthcare summit^[17]^[18]

Businessday Women Conference^[19]

Board seats

NOI Polls Limited

KSF Microfinance Bank

Victorious Women