Name: Abidemi Ademola
Position: General Counsel West Africa and Company Secretary
Company: Unilever Nigeria Plc
Sector: Manufacturing & Marketing
Worked in current position for (number of years/months): 5 years (2 years out of which I did not cover Francophone Africa)
Years in-house: 25 years
An overview of my role is: Overall Legal Oversight of Unilever West Africa Cluster Operations- Legal Business Partnering and Governance.
The best thing about my current job is: Working with a solid team of legal talents and the opportunity to contribute to overall business success through the provision of holistic guidance and creative legal solutions that enable my organization to conduct its business operations in an ethical and compliant manner across West Africa
The most challenging thing about my current job is: Workload can be overwhelming sometimes
My most pivotal career move: The West Africa GC role which I first took on in 2015 and which gave me the opportunity to learn the corporate legal requirements across West Africa
Hardest lesson I have learned as a lawyer: Never rely only on verbal engagements/commitments, always follow through with written documentation
What advice would you give your younger self? Pace yourself and pause to evaluate periodically. Don’t overstay beyond your impact.
Who are the key influencers that have shaped you along the way? Parents, husband and various mentors
My favourite pro bono or volunteer activity is: Spending time with people and helping them to believe in themselves and reach out for more than the ordinary or average in their lives
Most valuable life lesson that I still apply today is … The only limitation in life is the limitation of self. No one else but me, has the power to hold me back. Life holds limitless possibilities…
I achieve work-life balance by: Taking daily walks, spending time with family, serving in my local church and watching wholesome movies
If I were not practicing law, I would probably be: An interior decorator
I’m currently reading: Personality Plus for Parents by Florence Littauer
Top 5 tunes on my current music playlist are:
- “Ajuba Re” – Fragrance
- “Champion” – Bethel Music & Dante Bowe
- “Reckless Love” – Cory Ashbury
- “Lauren Daigle” – You Say
- “Lauren Daigle” – Look Up Child