Lady Cheta Nwabuike, FCIS.
Professional Background
Cheta is a Fellow of the Institute and a member of the Institute of Directors of Nigeria (IoDN). Cheta has over 22 years’ work experience in business management and administration, company secretarial practice, corporate governance, statutory compliance, ethics, and business sustainability across various industries. Cheta holds a B.Sc.Ed. (Hons) from the University of Lagos, an MBA from the Lagos State University in which she specialized in Human Resource Management and she currently undergoing another Master degrees studies in Business Administration from the University of East London, United Kingdom. She has attended a training on Sustainable Business Strategy at Harvard Business School and has received numerous trainings in Company Secretarial Practice, Board Dynamics, Corporate Governance, Risk Management, Statutory Compliance, Ethics and Business Sustainability locally.
Cheta’s professional experience cuts across various industries within which she has worked, and these include the communications, manufacturing, oil, gas and power industries. She is currently employed at Globeleq Power Solutions Nigeria Limited (Globeleq),where she serves as an Executive Director and heads the Legal, Complinace and Environmental, Social and Governance (E.S.G.) arms of the business.
Before joining Globeleq she worked with Cummins Power Generation Nigeria Limited, a leading power generation company, where she worked as Company Secretary for many years and was later elevated on the Board of the Company as E.S.G. Director. She seats on the Boards of five Companies in the group and is the first female and first Nigerian employee to be elevated to the status of Director in the group.
Contribution to ICSAN
She currently serves as a member of the Governing Council of ICSAN. Ever committed to ICSAN, she has previously served in the Public Lecture Committee as Vice Chairperson and as a member of the Corporate Members Committee of the Institute. She has also served the Lagos State Chapter in the capacities of Ex-Officio and Honorary Treasurer. During her tenure as Treasurer of the Lagos State Chapter, she revolutionized the financial processes of financial transactions and financial reporting in the Chapter through the introduction of online approvals, online banking, POS terminals and monthly financial reports to the executive team. These went a long way in the judicious management of Exco’s time and the Chapter’s funds. Cheta currently serves on two council committees; Governance and Nominations Committee and Implementation and Monitoring Committee.
As an International Finance Corporation (IFC)/ICSAN trained trainer on Corporate Governance, Cheta facilitates various workshops, trainings and MCPE for the Institute. Her facilitation has been instrumental to revitalizing the spirit of disenfranchised members of the Institute and encouraging non-members to try out the qualifying examinations. She has participated in experience sharing and interactive training sessions as well as mentorship of some of our student members. She is ever ready to serve the Institute in other capacities whenever she is called upon to do so.
Cheta believes strongly in the ICSAN brand and believing in this brand for her means advocating for greater publicity of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators as governance professionals. Cheta has used her position in their group of companies to ensure that Chartered Secretaries are considered first for relevant positions and if deserving, are given employment. So far, she has been instrumental to the employment of three chartered secretaries in their group within the last three years. Through her efforts, her organisation has recently partnered with ICSAN on the internship programme as one of their Social Economic Development programs and has engaged the services of a young chartered secretary as an intern. She makes it a point of duty annually to nominate one or two of her colleagues for trainings in the Institute and has also engaged the services of Chartered Secretaries in providing trainings in her organisation at both the leadership levels and supply chain management levels, bringing the ICSAN brand to the forefront of both the leaders and service providers of their business. She has also assisted the institute both at the Chapter and national levels to help raise funds for various programs.
Industry Contribution
Globeleq Power Solution being a leading power generation company in Nigeria is regulated by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC). Cheta has continued to interface with the Commission to advocate for a quicker response time for the processing of prospective licencees’ applications and for improved power supply in Nigeria through the advent of more independent power producers in the sector.
National Contribution
She is also an international facilitator for the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). She is also a member of the UNGC (Nigerian Network) Working Group on Environment through which advocacies are made to the Nigerian Government for more sustainable actions on the environment in Nigeria.
Intentions
Cheta is re-running for council membership because she has a passion for the Institute and wants to help it break new frontiers by giving visibility to more of its members. She believes she has the ability and the gift to motivate people in general and in particular bring back non interested members to contribute in building the Institute. She believes that through her membership in the Council she will be better positioned to provide the much-needed support to the Institute and its members in particular and to lend a voice to the advocacy of corporate governance and corporate sustainability in Nigeria at large.
She is passionate about leaning and impacting knowledge. She loves to groom and mentor younger people and is currently mentoring younger Chartered Secretaries and Administrators. She is a devoted wife and friend and enjoys being a mum to her beautiful children.