About UAC

About Us

Our History

Established in 1879 as a trading company, UAC has evolved to become an investment holding company active in 6 sectors of the Nigerian economy 

[slider]1879|The United African Company was formed from the merger of 4 companies trading on the River Niger;1880-86|National African Company Ltd took over the assets of The United African Company.Renamed to Royal Niger Limited;1900|Royal Niger's charter was revoked and its territories(Southern Nigeria protectorate) transferred to the British government;1914|The Southern Nigeria protectorate and the Northern Nigeria protectorate were united to form Nigeria;1919|The Niger Company was bought by Lever Brothers.;1929|The United Africa Company was formed by the joint agreements of The African and Eastern Trade Corporation and the Niger Company;1931-43|Incorporated in Lagos as Nigerian Motors Ltd. A subsidiary of The United Africa Company which later became UAC International. The company changes its name to United Africa Company Ltd in 1943;1948|Kingsway Stores was established. Nigeria's first chain of department stores;1965|Established MDS Logistics to provide warehousing services to UAC’s merchandising division;1974-77|40% of the company’s shares was acquired by Nigerians in 1974 and 20% in 1977 in compliance with the Nigerian Enterprises Promotion Act. Unilever’s stake in UACI was now 40%;1986- 91|Mr. Bigg’s was launched in 1986. UAC Ltd adopted the name UAC of Nigeria Plc in 1991;1992|UAC acquired 35.7% of CAP Plc from ICI Nigeria Ltd;1994|Unilever divested its interest in UAC to local investors;2010|Entered into strategic partnership with Tiger Foods in its packaged food and beverages segment;2013|Set up UPDC REIT, Acquires 51% of Portland Paints;2018-19|UAC transitions from a centrally run conglomerate to a lean holding company;2020|Sold controlling stake in MDS Logistics to Imperial Logistics[/slider]

UAC Today

We are an evergreen investment holding company that aims to generate attractive long-term returns for investors by growing our businesses into market leaders in their respective segments.

Our investment approach is predicated on the following core principles:

Return Potential

We seek companies that show demonstrated ability to scale and can be transformed through the implementation of operational best practices

Management Team

We prioritise investing in companies with an innovative and collaborative management team which we will work with to drive growth and profitability

Sector Selection

We focus on sectors with long-term growth potential, skill based competition, sound business ethics and are cash generative

We help our companies excel by focusing on these pillars:

Leadership

Daniel Agbor

Chairman
READ BIO

Khalifa Biobaku

Vice Chairman
READ BIO

Folasope Aiyesimoju

Group Managing Director
READ BIO

Funke Ijaiya-Oladipo

Group Finance Director
READ BIO

Suzanne Iroche

Non-Executive Director
READ BIO

Debola Badejo

Executive Director, Investments
READ BIO

Karl Toriola

Non-Executive Director
READ BIO

Bolaji Odunsi

Non-Executive Director
READ BIO

Folasope Aiyesimoju

Group Managing Director
READ BIO

Funke Ijaiya-Oladipo

Group Finance Director
READ BIO

Ayomipo Wey

Group General Counsel / Company Secretary
READ BIO

Debola Badejo

Group Head, Investments
READ BIO
  • +234 1 270 1879
  • +234 808 878 7030
  • info@uacnplc.com 
Daniel Agbor

CHAIRMAN
APPOINTED NOVEMBER 2015

Mr. Daniel Owor Agbor is the Managing Partner of the law firm of Udo Udoma and Belo-Osagie with responsibility for managing the law firm, and with continuing responsibility for leading the firm’s mergers and acquisitions and private equity practices. He brings to the Board a wealth of experience from his distinguished careers in banking and legal practice.

He holds a B.Sc. degree in Political Science and an M.PA (Masters in Public Administration), both from the University of Calabar. He also holds a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) degree of the University of Benin and was called to the Bar in 1986 after passing the Bar Examinations of the Nigerian Law School. He is a member of both the Nigerian Bar Association and the International Bar Association. Prior to joining Udo Udoma and Belo-Osagie in 1990, he held various positions in Nigeria International Bank Limited (now Citibank Nigeria Limited), where he worked in the Corporate Finance Unit and in Gulf Bank of Nigeria Limited, where he was Company Secretary/Legal Adviser.

He is on the Board of Directors of several companies including being the Non-Executive Chairman of FSDH Securities Limited, a Non-Executive Director of FSDH Merchant Bank Limited, Pensions Alliance Limited and Swift Network Services Limited respectively, and an alternate director of Nigerite Limited.

Khalifa Biobaku

VICE CHAIRMAN AND NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Mr. Biobaku is a Non-Executive Director on the Board of UAC. He was appointed Vice-Chairman of the Board effective June 21, 2023.

Mr. Biobaku is a director of Themis Capital Management, UAC’s core shareholder, and the Founder and Director of Dalio Property Development Company Limited, an active real estate investment company in Nigeria with a significant shareholding in UAC.

Mr. Biobaku is a seasoned finance and investment professional with twenty years of experience spanning investment banking, fund management and private equity across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. For almost 10 years, Mr. Biobaku was a co-Managing Partner of Blakeney Management, London, a specialist emerging markets investment firm. He has also worked at Goldman Sachs International, London; Morgan Stanley International, London; Davidson Kempner Partners, London.

He has extensive experience in strategy development and execution, capital raising, corporate actions and restructurings, commercial negotiations and effective team building. Mr. Biobaku graduated with a M.Eng in Engineering, Economics and Management from Oxford University. He has a Post-Graduate degree in Real Estate Economics and Finance from the London School of Economics.

Folasope Aiyesimoju

GROUP MANAGING DIRECTOR
APPOINTED APRIL 2019

Fola is a finance professional with experience spanning corporate finance, principal investing and private equity. Over the course of his career he has lived and worked in Sub-Saharan Africa’s most important economies gaining experience of the operating landscape in the region. Fola is the founder of Themis Capital Management, an investment firm focused on concentrating capital and talent on high-potential opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Prior to founding Themis, he worked with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, a leading global investment firm with $168 billion in assets under management. His experience also includes working with the Standard Bank Group, where he led mergers and acquisitions in Nigeria.

Fola spent the early part of his career with Ocean and Oil Holdings Limited, a principal investment firm in Nigeria and ARM Investment Managers, one of Nigeria’s leading investment advisory and wealth management firms.

Mr. Aiyesimoju also sits on the Boards of Chemical and Allied Products(CAP) PLC,MDS Logistics Limited, Grand Cereals Limited, UAC Foods Limited and UPDC Plc.

He holds a B.Sc (Hons) degree in Estate Management from the University of Lagos, where he was awarded a Certificate of Excellence in Real estate development and finance, and earned the right to use the CFA designation in 2006.

Suzanne Iroche

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
APPOINTED AUGUST 2019

Mrs. Iroche , has several years of broad based experience in Merchant and Commercial Banking spanning the areas of Corporate and Institutional Banking, Marketing, Correspondent and International Banking, Treasury and Regional expansion.

She handled back and front office roles at International Merchant Bank after which she moved to Chartered Bank as a pioneer member of staff to set up the Treasury Division and subsequently moved to the Credit and Marketing Sector. She later joined United Bank for Africa (UBA) where she rose to the position of Executive Director Wealth Management and was responsible for Treasury and Correspondent Banking/Multilateral Agency business and UBA subsidiaries (Asset Management, Trustees and Pension Custody).
She graduated with a B.Sc. (Hons) Degree in Economics from The University of Lagos and a Master of Management from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University Illinois USA.

She joined the Board of UAC of Nigeria PLC as an Independent Non-Executive Director with effect from 1st August, 2019.

Debola Badejo

GROUP HEAD, INVESTMENTS

Debola Badejo is an operations and finance executive with over 16 years of experience spanning business management, principal investing and, investment banking across North America, Europe, and Africa. Debola Badejo has core expertise in strategy, commercial operations, capital allocation, and effective team building. He also has extensive experience in advising companies on various corporate actions including, M&A, capital raising, and restructurings.

Debola Badejo is currently the Group Head, Investments at UAC of Nigeria PLC (“UAC”), where he is responsible for driving value creation and growth across UAC’s portfolio companies and seeking new investment opportunities for the group. He also serves as the Executive Vice Chairman at UAC Restaurants Limited (“UACR”), where he is responsible for the growth and financial outcomes of the business. He previously served as the Managing Director of UACR, where he led the turnaround of the business through the roll-out of corporate-owned restaurants across Nigeria. Prior to UACR, Debola was an Investment Executive at UAC where he managed the group’s interests in the Food and Beverage sectors. Debola Badejo sits on the Boards of Chemical and Allied Products PLC, UAC Foods Limited, Grand Cereals Limited, Livestock Feeds PLC and MDS Logistics Limited.

Prior to joining UAC in 2019, Debola Badejo was a Principal at Themis Capital Management (Themis), an active investment company focused on concentrating capital, talent, and expertise on a select number of long-term investments in Africa.

Debola Badejo previously spent over 10 years as a Corporate Finance professional in various leading investment banks, including Standard Bank in Lagos, London, and Johannesburg, where he executed M&A, restructuring and capital raising transactions across Sub-Saharan Africa; and Morgan Stanley in New York, where he worked on multi-billion-dollar transactions for large corporates across North America.

Debola Badejo graduated with a B.Sc in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia in May 2008 and holds MBA degrees from both Columbia Business School and London Business School through the schools’ Joint Global Executive MBA program.

Karl Toriola

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
APPOINTED JANUARY 2020

Karl is the Vice President, West and Central Africa for the MTN Group, with responsibility for operations in the West and Central African region. Karl’s prior role in executive leadership include serving as Group Operations Executive for MTN Group, Chief Executive Officer for MTN Cameroon; Chief Technical Officer (“CTO”) for MTN Nigeria (Where he won the Best CTO Award in 2009); Chief Operations/Regions Officer for Vmobile Nigeria; and Support Manager, West African region for L.M. Ericsson Nigeria Ltd.

His past experience in non-executive capacity on boards of directors include serving as Chairman, MTN/Areeba Guinea, Non-Executive Director, Jumia Africa; Non-Executive Director, American Towers Uganda, Non-Executive Director, MTN Subsidiaries in Francophone West Africa.

Bolaji Odunsi

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
APPOINTED DECEMBER 2018

Mr Odunsi, a financier, has over 25 years of international investment experience in a variety of industry sectors, including manufacturing, security, oil and gas and distribution. He has significant board level experience in Europe and the US, with focus on implementing transformational change encompassing systems and controls, team enhancement, financial and regulatory reporting and business analysis to drive value creation.

He was a co-founder of Stirling Square Capital Partners, a leading mid-market European private equity firm and a partner in Compass Partners and BC Partners. Before joining BC Partners, he worked as a member of the M&A team at Enskilda Securities in London. His prior experiences include stints at Touche Ross & Co and the engineering consultancy firm of Mott, Hay & Anderson.