American Business Council elects Faulkner as president

Country General Manager of IBM West Africa, Dipo Faulkner, has been elected, President of the American Business Council (ABC), and Chairman of the board of directors in Nigeria.

The ABC is the voice of the United States (U.S.) businesses in Nigeria, and the affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.Since its inception in February 2007, the ABC has focused on four broad areas where it hopes its impact would be felt in the medium to long term development of Nigeria’s education, regulatory reforms, infrastructure, and capacity building.

Faulkner’s election, according to ABC fits perfectly into its overall aim given that IBM is at the forefront of capacity building and providing digital infrastructure to businesses across all sectors of the Nigerian economy.

Speaking on the election, Faulkner thanked his peers for nominating him, and assured members that he will continue with the laudable achievements of his predecessor, working alongside members, the U.S. embassy and partners in taking the council to the next phase.
A new Vice President was also elected in the person of Akinsowon Dawodu, the country Chief Executive Officer of Citibank Nigeria.

Working with the U.S. mission and other partners, ABC drives trade and investment opportunities between Nigeria and the U.S. in the interest of its member companies and both countries.

For this reason, the ABC is an integral stakeholder in the on-going US-Nigeria commercial investment dialogue, which is envisioned to deepen trade investment ties between the U.S. and Nigeria, and designed to foster sustained engagement between both governments on concrete issues of importance to the private sector.

Dipo holds a Bachelors’ Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Lagos, and an Advanced Management Programme Certificate from Institute de Empressa (IE), Madrid, Spain.He is responsible for IBM’s overall business in West Africa, with a focus on deploying IBM’s advanced technology capabilities in cognitive, cloud computing, big data and analytics, and mobile security to solve current and future needs of institutions in key economic sectors across the country. He provides leadership for IBM’s relationships and corporate social initiatives in civil society, ICT and academic communities.