folake Soetan biography; age, career, Networth, Husband, children

Folake Soetan is a professional business manager and the chief executive officer of one of the biggest privately owned electricity distribution companies in sub-saharan Africa and the foremost in Nigeria by revenue and innovation known as the ikeja electric company. She is also popularly known as a Board member of the Women in Energy Network association and the formal head of sales at Sahara group of companies.

Folake is a huge fan of team work and she has always emphasized the importance of it. She also believed that teamwork is what brought her where she is today as an individual.

While she is well known for his position as the CEO of the ikeja electric company, she has achieved so much in her career than just being the chief executive officer of this company.

Folake soetan profile summary

Full Name: Folake soetan

Nickname: Folake soetan

Date of birth: 5th, November, 1973

Age: 48 years

Place of birth: Lagos State

Place of residence: Lagos State

State of Origin: Lagos State

Nationality: Nigeria

Tribe: Yoruba

Skin Complexion: fair

Hair colour: black

Height: 6ft 5 in (1.78m)

Parents:

Religion: Christianity

Sexuality: straight

Marital status: married

Husband: Ladipoe soetan

Children: two kids

Religion: Christianity

Education: university of Lagos and Harvard Business School

Qualifications: Bsc (Hons) in banking and finance and certified Advanced business Manager.

Years of graduation: 1998-2018

Profession: chief executive officer of ikeja electric company.

Political position: None

Networth: $800,000

Instagram: @folakesoetan

LinkedIn: @folakesoetan

Facebook: @folakesoetan

Twitter: @folakesoetan

Biography

Who is Folake Soetan?

Folake is one of the leading women business executives leaders in Nigeria with more than 20 years of unbeatable experience in the management of start-ups, sales & marketing, change management and over 14 years’ in Leadership roles.

She has Proven track records of successful transformation of struggling businesses into growing, competitive and profitable companies. Experience spans the aviation, oil & gas and power sectors.

The CEO lived most of her life in his home state Lagos, which is the root state of where most of her achievements came from. One of the things she derives joy in doing is mentoring young female youths on how to become a successful mother by balancing their careers with marriage.

When she was handed over the CEO position at the ikeja electricity company she wrote a open letter to herself a letter which she ended with the following words of wisdom “stay focused”Her most used word to her mentees is “stay focused”

How old is folake soetan?

Folake is 52 years old. She was born on the 5th of November 1969.

Where is folake soetan from?

Folake hails from Lagos State, a state located in the western part of nigeria.

Educational Background

Folake had her educational life in Lagos. She did her secondary school education at international school Lagos. After that, she got admission into the University of Lagos to study banking and finance In 1994 and she graduated in the year 1998 with Bsc (Hons) in the course.

After her graduation in 1998 Folake did not further her Education not until 2018 when she got admission into the Harvard Business school where she obtained her BA(HONS) in business administration.

According to her, she is no longer pushing for any further degree for now, she just wants to focus on her career to be able to make the most out of it.

Professional Experience and Career History

As a professional and experienced business manager who has been in the business of growing and managing companies for years, Mrs. Folake has worked with up to 4 different companies in her years of being a business manager and leader.

Below are all the companies she has worked with.

Worked at British airways;

Her career kick-started when she first worked with the British airways in the year 2000. At first she worked with them as a telesales agent from June 2000 to September 2001 before she was promoted to sales executive in September 2001 where she worked till to September 2002. a year later, she was promoted to sales accountant manager position where she worked until April 2005 when she left the company.

Worked with Virgin Nigeria Airways;

After she left the British airways in 2005, she got another job the same year at the virgin nigeria airways where worked as sales accountant manager she worked on this position for a year before he was promoted to regional sales accountant manager where she also worked for another one year and was promoted to national sales manager.

As the national sales manager, her role was to take total for the P&L of the three major Regions in Nigeria through direct training and supervision of the three Regional Sales Managers and the independent sales channels at virgin airways. She took on this particular position for 2 straight years before she was finally promoted to the head of sales in the company.

She only worked for two months in the head of sales position at Virgin nigeria Airways before he left the company.

Worked at Sahara Groups;

After folake soetan left virgin nigeria airways the next job she took was at sahara group of company. In her starting year, she worked as head of sales and marketing where she Led and drove the transformation, turnaround and re-branding of Aviation, Air and Land Services Limited to SO Aviation(Subsidiary of Sahara Group).

Folake was also Responsible for the following in the company;

Stock acquisition

Efficient and effective stock distribution

Client relationship management

Development of the commercial team members

Sales strategy development

Identifying new business opportunities

Profitable revenue generation and debt portfolio management.

After working for over a year in this particular position as the head of sales and marketing with optimal results, she was promoted as the vice president of downstream West Africa (Ghana). At this position she was responsible for;

Strategic development

planning and growth of the business.

Identified and explored export business opportunities for the Group in other West African countries.

She was the chief Leader of the team that started 2 new companies in Ghana(PWSL and SO Aviation) with a turnover to the tune of $86.7M.

She worked in this position at Shara Groups for 3 straight years before leaving the company in 2015.

Working at the ikeja electric;

Folake joined the ikeja electric company the same year as Shara Groups. She was first employed as Chief Commercial Officer in the company where she was assigned the role of;

Improving the revenue collection of the company.

Reducing its commercial losses while improving customer satisfaction.

Strategic development and policy formulation in line with regulatory requirements.

Reduce energy losses associated with power distribution.

Increasing revenues and strengthen the overall performance of the business.

She worked in this position effectively for 3years before she was promoted to the position of Chief Operating Officer where she took on a similar role like that of chief commercial officer she was.

She then took on this role for one year before she was finally promoted to the chief executive officer, CEO of this big company in March 2020. She is still the present CEO of this company till date.

Nominations and Awards won

Folake Soetan has won some awards and nominations throughout her career. Below are the list of the awards she has won;

Africa Safety Award For Excellence (AfriSAFE) CEO of the Year Award

Africa Safety Award For Excellence (AfriSAFE) team of the year award

She was also shortlisted in the top 50 leading ladies in Africa.

Is folake soetan married?

Yes she is married. The Young CEO got married to her heart throb Ladipoe soetan. The two got married and wedded at her Residence in Lagos State nigeria.

Folake seotans husband Ladipoe Soetan is lawyer based in Nigeria and also operates Nigerian law Court in Lagos Nigeria. He went to a Nigerian University where he acquired his degree in law.

According to Folake, her husband Ladipoe is her number one fan, cheerleader and best friend. When Ladipoe celebrated his birthday in 2019, Folake recounted how he has stayed true to her and also motivated her time without number, even when it seems that all hope was lost, he made her see hope in hopeless places.

How long has Folake Soetan been married to her husband?

Folake and her husband Ladipoe has been married for over 10 years

Children

Folake Soetan gave birth to two children which happen to be twins and both of them are boys.

The boys are all grown now and they’re 19 years old as at the time of writing this article in 2022.

Source of wealth

Folake seotans source of wealth came from her expertise and services as a Business executive leader and manager. And as we’ve pointed out earlier in her Biography, she has worked with many big and small companies which she has helped grow from being dependent to independent companies.