Ellah Lakes - Building Sustainable Agribusinesses.
Executive Team
Joe Attueyi - Chairman Of The Board
Joe Attueyi is a the Chairman of the Board of Ellah Lakes Plc. He is currently the President of the Nigeria Business Unit for MRI Management Company LLP, a U.K. oil and gas investment company focused on the Africa energy scene. Prior to that, between 2007 and 2017 he was CEO of DWC E & P Company Limited an indigenous Nigerian energy company backed by Private Equity firm Africa Capital Alliance and between 2004 to 2007, he was the Managing Director of Shebah Exploration and Production Company Limited.
Before his entrepreneurial ventures, Joe worked as General Manager Production in Nigeria, for the International Oil Company ConocoPhillips where he worked for 10years between 1992 and 2002.
Joe is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants; an alumnus of University of Nigeria (1984), JMW Europe’s Leader of The Future Program (2001) and Harvard Business School (GMP program 2006).
Paul Farrer - Deputy Managing Director
Paul Farrer is the Deputy Managing Director of Ellah Lakes Plc. Mr Farrer is responsible for the operational growth and development of the Company, and the expansion of Ellah Lakes.
Prior to this appointment, Paul Farrer was the Country Manager for Innscor International, and before then, he was the Group Executive Director & Chief Operating Officer of Food Concepts Plc.
His last Seven (7) Years in Nigerian Private sector, have been spent as the CEO of Nascon Allied Industries PLC, leading a team of over 600 staff. NASCON Allied Industries Plc. is also listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Chuka Mordi - Chief Executive Officer
Chuka has over 20 years’ experience spanning investment management, financial advisory and corporate leadership, acquired in Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
Chuka was a founding partner of CBO Capital and the former Head of Infrastructure Financing at First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Lagos. He began his career at SBC Warburg and subsequently worked as an Equities Analyst for Hardman & Co. Ltd. where he focused on UK AIM stocks, and subsequently, European equities at Société Générale Asset Management (SGAM).
At CBO, Chuka was jointly responsible for servicing over 50 client mandates, with a transaction value in excess of $2bn, whilst deploying over $50 million in the capital as a principal investor. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) and has a B.A. Philosophy from Kings College, University of London.
Kofo Majekodunmi - Director
Kofo Majekodunmi is the Managing Director of MBC Capital Limited, an Issuing House and Investment Advisory Company, with over 30 years of experience in the Banking and Financial Services Industry and a deep knowledge of Issuing House functions and Corporate Financial Advisory. He was the Deputy Managing Director of MBC International Bank Plc (where he successfully oversaw the bank’s merger with FBN PLC). Thereafter, he was pioneer Executive Director responsible for Asset Management at FBN Capital Limited. He was the Executive Director at MBC
Securities Limited, from 2007 to 2011. At MBC, he oversaw the firm’s diversification into a suite of Non-Bank Financial Services (Advisory/Issuing House Services, Bureau De Change, Insurance Brokerage), which complements the Broker/Dealer business of MBC Securities Limited.
He is on the Boards of Custodian & Allied Insurance and Life, and is currently Chairman of First Bank Ghana Limited.
Kofo was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1988 upon his graduation from the London School of Economics & Political Science, where he obtained a degree in law. He is a member of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, the Institute of Directors and holds an MBA from the Lagos Business School (in association with the University of Navarra IESE, Spain).
Jamie Rixton - Chief Agronomist
Jamie has over 35 years’ relevant industry and corporate leadership experience acquired across 22 African countries and the United Kingdom. He specializes in mechanized farming of cash crops and has led mechanization of operations of a single farm in excess of 30,000 hectares. He held leadership positions in leading multinational corporations including Massey Ferguson, Challenger, Valtra Africa, John Deere & Co., and Bara Group.
Jamie has a Bachelors from the University of Reading.
Nnenna Onyewuchi - Director
Nnenna Onyewuchi is a founding partner of Yellow Brick Road, & Blackbox, and has over Fifteen (15) Years of experience in Strategic marketing communications. Starting her career at McCann Erickson, New York, she managed business development activities for the New York office and coordinating offices across the network for global pitches, before moving into Strategic Planning, where she rose to the position of Vice President.
While at McCann, she helped conceive Tag Ideation, a lifestyle marketing practice group, developing a set of proprietary research tools and co-designing a proprietary branding model. She returned to Nigeria in 2004 and worked in experiential marketing, production and pay-TV before returning to advertising in 2007 when she joined ZK Advertsing as Director of Strategy. In 2011, Nnenna and her partners, in an MBO, founded Yellow Brick Road, growing it into one of Nigeria’s most respected agencies.
Hewett Benson - Chief Financial Officer
Hewett Benson has over 30 years’ experience in capital markets, asset management and corporate transformation. Throughout his career, he has advised and delivered on high-impact mandates across a wide range of industries, encompassing project finance, fund management, deal origination and commercial strategy in asset-intensive sectors. He is recognised for his expertise in starting and managing large-scale transformation projects, executing capital raising mandates (both debt and equity) and structuring strategic partnerships that drive sustainable, bottom-line growth.
Prior to joining Ellah Lakes Plc., he was the Group Coordinator/CEO of Royal Exchange Plc, where he oversaw transformation strategy through coordinating recapitalisation of subsidiaries to required regulatory book values, and making the HoldCo company turn a profit for the first time in over 7 years. He also previously worked with 3V Partners Ltd, Enterprise Capital Management Ltd. and Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON). Hewett holds a Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng.) in Aeronautical Engineering from Imperial College London, an S.M. in Aeronautics & Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and a C.P.G.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Cambridge.
Emmanuel Jakpa Esq. - Director
Barrister Emmanuel Jakpa is the Principal Partner at BlackRock Law Chambers, working out of Warri. He is legal practitioner with expertise in Corporate, Commercial, & Litigation law practice areas with over 20 years of experience in the Maritime & Oil & Gas sectors.
He is the current Chairman of Warri Economic Summit Group, and a Director at Kalm Marine & Petroleum Services Limited an upstream Exploration and production company.
Emmanuel holds a Bachelor of Laws degree (LLB) from the University of Benin and a BL from the Nigerian Law School.
Osaro Oyegun - Director
Osaro Oyegun has over 20 years of experience in the Land, Infrastructure & property space in Nigeria. She is an expert on Land Management, & physical Infrastructure, and has worked for several multinational corporations across West Africa, including Airtel, MTN, & the American Tower Company.
She has a B.Sc from the University of Lagos, and an M.Sc. in Facility and Environment Management from the University College London (UCL)
Maxwell Oko - Director
Maxwell Oko currently the CEO of Eraskorp Nigeria Limited (ENL), Logistics services provider in the Oil & Gas and Marine sectors of the Nigerian economy holds a B. Tech in Architecture from the Rivers State University of Science and Technology and a PGD in Architecture from the University of Jos.
He was a former Special Assistant to the Honourable Minister of Energy & Chairman of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, and subsequently, Commissioner of Energy as in Bayelsa State.
He has a strong track record of performance and outstanding capital project delivery. In his role as the Commissioner of Energy, he designed and implemented the Bayelsa State Energy Master Plan, oversaw the development and financing of the state’s IPP projects, and kick-started the state’s Rural Electrification Program.
He has attended various courses, seminars and workshops such as Finance for Non-Finance Executives, EPC Contracts for the Energy Industry, Natural Gas Value Chain as well as Public-Private Partnerships. He is on the Boards of Oloibiri Petroleum Development & Exploration Limited and Secure Records Management Solutions.
Dr. Evans Gbugbemi Jakpa - Director
He has a BSc, Psychology and MA in International Business and Marketing from London Metropolitan University. Has over 10 years’ experience in oil & gas and senior management and leadership roles with a special talent for negotiating solutions to complex situations. Skilled at establishing and maintaining strategy partnership to generate essential business opportunities.
He was the General Manager Business Development at Energy Equity Resources (EER) a London based Exploration and production company, and then worked for Delta State, on Oil & Gas development. He worked on a $45m of direct foreign investment into the state for the acquisition, restructuring & transformation of a 17 acre, moribund state owned timber company, into a 10,000 bpd modular refinery.