Folake Soetan: Industry leader inspiring greatness, embodying excellence

Warm, hospitable, highly intelligent and a great leader are some of the words commonly mentioned when the name Folake Soetan is mentioned in any room.

Folake is a Business Executive with over 22 years professional experience in the management of start-ups, sales & marketing, change management and over 14 years’ in Leadership roles. Proven track record of successful transformation of struggling businesses into growing, competitive and profitable companies.

Her career spans a memorable stint in the aviation, oil & gas and power sectors working at Sahara Group, British Airways, Virgin Nigeria Airways and most recently Ikeja Electric.

Currently the Chief Executive Officer of lkeja Electric Plc, the largest privately run distribution company in Sub-Saharan Africa and the foremost in Nigeria by revenue and innovation. At Ikeja Electric, Folake oversees the ongoing transformation which has earned the company remarkable recognition.

She is a core believer in teamwork and collaborative leadership. This has been reflected in her high flying achievements as CEO of Ikeja Electric.

Reflecting on her four year anniversary at the organisation, Folake attributed her success to the incredible support and dedication of her bosses, team and customers.

Under her leadership, the company has successfully implemented CIS and bilateral power initiatives to improve service to its customers, substantially reduced Aggregate Technical,Commercial & Collection (ATC&C) loss, recognized as “The Best Electricity Distribution Company” and “Most Gender Diverse Utility Company” amongst others.

As touching teamwork, Folake in a recent post on our LinkedIn page acknowledged that managing a team is not easy, but it’s rewarding.

“It requires dealing with different personalities opinions, expectations, and emotions. You make decisions that affect the performance well-being, and satisfaction of your team members. Two things will help you make a positive impact; Empathy and Objectivity,” she said.

Folake is inspiring a generation of young professionals to value their journey, not just the destination.