Dr IJE JIDENMA

Dr Ije Jidenma is an accomplished Management Consultant and Board Director & Advisor. She is the immediate past President & Chairman of the Council of the
Chartered Institute of Directors, Nigeria (CIoD). She holds a PhD in Psychology with a specialization in psychometrics from the University of Lagos. She is the founder and Chief Executive of Leading Edge Consulting, a foremost Human Resources &
Organisational Development firm as well as a partner in Kestria Global, an alliance of leading executive search firms, ranked as the largest and fastest-growing executive search alliance in the world, with footprints in 90 cities across six continents. She has consulted for diverse sectors of the economy. She is committed to building a merit-based and equitable society and has led several psychometric projects.

She has led different international joint venture initiatives, such as her cross-border
involvement in a project for a leading international not-for-profit organization at the
forefront of driving financial inclusion in Nigeria and application of behavioural insights to policy making. She is thus a respected voice in the world of work.

Dr Jidenma is an Independent Non-Executive Director of MoMo Payment Savings
Bank Ltd. (a subsidiary of MTN). A pioneer member of the Nigeria-South Africa
Chamber of Commerce, Dr Jidenma served as one of its directors for some years before she was elected the chairman. She sits on the Council of the Nigeria British Chamber of Commerce and serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Goddy Jidenma Foundation.

An experienced and versatile board player, she has served on different local and
International Boards. These include as an Independent Non-Executive Director of
First Bank of Nigeria Limited and as a Non-Executive Director of First Pension
Custodian Nigeria Limited. She also served as a Director of the African Corporate
Governance Network, ACGN, a network of the Institute of Directors and Governance
Institutes in Africa. She also served as a member of the Pioneer Advisory Board of
BENOLA, a Cerebral Palsy Initiative, and Arthur Mbanefo Digital Research Centre,
University of Lagos. Her aim is always to help bring the local African context and
insights into the global universals, thereby creating meaningful and sustainable
solutions.

She is a Distinguished Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Directors, Nigeria; a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Management (Chartered) (NIM), the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM), and the Institute of Management Consultants of Nigeria (IMCN); and an Honorary Senior Member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (CIBN). She is also a member of the Women Corporate Directors (WCD), an international organization that represents the preeminent women leaders in business today who serve on thousands of boards across six continents. An IFC-Certified Board Assessor and IoD-Certified Independent Director, Dr Jidenma has grown to be a thought leader and is at the forefront of the advancement of Corporate Governance in Nigeria and Africa.

Dr Jidenma has made profound contributions in the area of Human Resources
Management & Organizational Development. Her professional expertise has over the years earned her respectability and recognition in the corporate sphere, both locally and internationally. She is a firm believer in continuous learning and has attended several executive and board-level development programs across the world’s leading centers of excellence, such as the Harvard Business School, IESE Business School, Cranfield School of Management, Kellogg School of Management, and Cornell University HHL-Leipzig Graduate School of Management, Germany, and Lagos Business School, among others.

Earlier on in her career, she worked for local and international companies such as the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Price Waterhouse (now PwC), and Merchant Bank of Africa (MBA). She worked variously as a Training and Development Officer at ITF,
Senior Consultant (Human Resources), PwC, and Head, Human Resources as well
as Head, Strategic Planning at MBA at both operational and executive levels. In
2002, she was appointed a senior lecturer by ESUT Business School, where she
taught Organisational Behavior, Administration, and Human Resources Management to MBA students on a part-time basis. She also helped berth its post-
graduate curriculum in Human Resources Management.

A Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International, Dr Jidenma has been conferred with
several awards such as the Inner Wheel Club of Awka, the Professional Services Award, the Deloitte International Women Award (2013), the Centre for Values in
Leadership (CVL) Role Model Award (2013), the most respected HR personality in
Africa Award (2015) in Nairobi, Kenya, the Global Female Leadership Impact Award
(2018) Dubai, UAE, the Olutoyin Olakunri Woman Director of the Year Award by CIoD (2023) and Distinguished Leadership Award by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management, CIPM (2024). She was also conferred with the “Exemplary Leadership and Service to Humanity Award” by the Heritage for Life Foundation in 2024.

Dr Jidenma is a gender advocate for equity and inclusion of women both at the
grassroots and the corporate sphere and has several mentees across diverse levels
and stations in life. Through the Women Director Development Committee and Youth
Development Forum of the Institute of Directors, she mainstreamed membership of
high-profile female Directors, drove youth inclusiveness, particularly among the SMEs Directors & Founders. Dr Jidenma also meritoriously served as the President of the Soroptimist Club, Surulere, leading the fight against secret cults in tertiary institutions, deworming of school children, and reorientation of market women on health care through proactive wellness measures such as blood pressure screening and other basic medical checks.

Dr Jidenma is a widow. She was married to Arc Goddy Jidenma (of blessed memory) an accomplished Architect who served as a commissioner for works, Housing &
Transport and Commerce & Industry of Anambra State and together with her
husband was conferred with chieftaincy titles, Ugwumba-Nibo and Awelle-
Nibo, respectively, in 2002, by His Royal Highness Dr M.C. Ngene, Ezeike IV of Nibo
and are blessed with wonderful children.

Dr Jidenma deploys her spare time in rendering philanthropic work through various
platforms, including the Goddy Jidenma Foundation, a vehicle for thought leadership and positive change which she founded in 2007 in memory of her husband. She is a
member of Ikoyi Club 1938. She is a published author of a work of fiction, ‘Kasie,’ a
recommended text for secondary and tertiary education in some states, published by
the University Publishing Company. She loves literary works and enjoys travelling and listening to music.

Her personal goal is to contribute to Africa’s renaissance and transformation.