In today’s exclusive interview, we feature Abeeb Adebayo, a seasoned investment banker, and an alumnus of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) with many years of experience in the financial industry.
Throughout Adebayo’s illustrious career, he has advised clients on numerous high-profile transactions. His expertise spans various sectors.
Join us, as Adebayo gives insights on the current market landscape, trends shaping the investment banking industry, and valuable advice for aspiring professionals.
Can you tell us about yourself?
So, thank you for having me. It’s a pleasure to be with you guys. I advise clients on taking capital raising decisions, not just an acquisition, you know, whether you want to sell your business or acquire a new one or you want to raise money equity or debt, that’s what I do.
I started my career through a summer internship that I did while I was in university with one of the global banks in London. After that, I moved on to do private equity investing in Africa, in Nigeria specifically, and then I was able to, you know, put some money to work, invest in some businesses and also manage some investment as well.
Can you please give us a little look at your educational background?
I did my bachelor’s degree at the University of Ilorin. I studied accounting, but before then I had gone to Lagos State Polytechnic.
I deliberately chose accounting because of my passion for numbers because of, you know, I just, from a very young age, I saw myself as a kid that would love to become an accountant, but, you know, the path changed as I finished my university and I decided to do it in the banking profession, and then after that, after my university, I think about three or four years ago.
I decided to do a master’s from a university in London, Brunel University in London, and basically, that also enabled me to improve my skills, improve my knowledge, and also learn about what is going on in the world of finance and investment, particularly at the time.
I did this course at a time during the COVID period, so there was a lot of impact in business and all that, so the master’s allowed me to look at how this was affecting businesses globally, you know, how supply chain disruptions were affecting businesses as well, how, you know, and what to expect after COVID, so that helped me at that period.
So can you tell me your experience on how that was, how you studied during that period, was it through virtual classes, or did you guys have lectures?
COVID changed everything for us, it was when everything became digital, everything became online, I can remember that I was doing my classes, you know, while in Nigeria.
You know, it was the first time we had to join Zoom classes, even a lot of lecturers at the time didn’t know how to use Zoom actively, you know, because you had to write on the screen or share one or two things on the screen, and, it was a struggle, not just for them, even for us as students as well, because that was about the time when Zoom became a thing.
Before then we used to do Skype and all, but, you know, COVID came, and Zoom became. you know, a big trend, so it was pretty challenging, but it’s something that we quickly adapted to, even the way we did business became digital, we no longer had to go to the office every day of the week, and so it was pretty helpful in that regard, and since then, since COVID, I don’t think anything has changed, right, things have continued to go that path.
What was it like Studying At Unilorin, and what motivated you to go into accounting?
It’s a school that I would recommend to any young, parent out there that are looking for a university in Nigeria for their kids, it offered me the best that I think I could because I had gone to a university before, an institution, a higher institution before, and also, you know, trying to get into maybe some universities in Lagos or another southwestern part of Nigeria.
Till today, I still have friends, you know, amongst them, and I still keep in touch, so the alumni association is also very, very supportive as well, so they’re very supportive, and I would encourage anybody to, you know, register their kids for that school, and this is the reason why the school is the most sought after right now in Nigeria in terms of applications, and that’s also because of the things that they teach, morals, you know, morals, academic excellence, integrity, and all of these things are the things that make the school actually top choice right now.
I can’t remember your other question, please.
What motivated you to pick accounting as your major?
Well, as kids, right, we all have that one dream, you know, dream of becoming something, and I can remember when I was in my secondary school, you know, the time when you had to choose between should I go to commercial or science or art, and I knew very clearly that I was going to be, I wanted to be an accountant because I liked the idea of, you know, accountants, they wake up in the morning.
I had one banker that was living around us at the time in Lagos, and he was always waking up at four, at five, six in the morning, you know, suited up with his tie, and he was always going to the office, so I sort of looked up to that man, and I thought, hmm, I’m going to be an accountant too someday, so it was very clear to me that I was going to study accounting, so every institution that I’ve gone, that I’ve attended, there’s always accounting, so there was no choice about that, and it was also suited to my skills as well.
I like playing with numbers, I like the idea that you use this for decision-making and purposes, so those are the things that actually motivated me. A childhood dream, I’ll just put it that way, and also the environment that I was in at the time based on people that I looked up to.
Did you get experience with your degree, or did you finish school and go straight to master’s?
No, no, of course, I worked for like six, seven years before I decided to do my master’s, right, so I worked with it, definitely, and it was very helpful as an accountant, as an accounting graduate, your knowledge of accounting is actually needed to be able to perform well in your investment banking job, because what we do is, you know, looking at accounting statement, you know, accounting statement, prepare accounting statement whether historical or to make forecast, you need the knowledge of accounting to be able to do that, and so, yes, I used it very well before I decided to go.
As a matter of fact, doing the master’s was more of a bonus, and wasn’t really required for me to do my job, it was just because I was curious about learning and also wanting to know more about, you know, mobile businesses, and how, so the disruptions that we had at the time was affecting them, so that’s on the master’s side.
Were there any challenges while you were doing this course, I would like to know, you know, just out of curiosity, does it live up to the hype to be an accountant, you know, you know, we have all this hype of, I’m an accountant, I’m an engineer, so does it really live up to the hype?
Challenges, first, I don’t think I actually experienced any significant challenge, apart from, you know, the usual stress of, oh, I have this class at seven in the morning, or I have this assignment, these tests that I have to prepare for, you know, the exam is coming, apart from that, there was no challenge.
I had the best experience, starting accounting, and the lecturers were very friendly, I mean, some other people may have a different opinion, but to me, you know, I enjoyed it. Does it live up to the hype? You know, right now, I’m not an accountant, I don’t practice accounting, to say, right, I use the knowledge of accounting in my field.
As a business owner, you can come to me and say you need advice on, you know, what to do and what not to do, because you want to expand to another country, or you’re trying to do something, the first thing I’ll ask for is, I want to look at your statement, your accountant’s statement, let’s see how you have performed, so my knowledge of accounting will help me to be able to read that statement, and it would also help me to say, based on your historicals, okay, let’s prepare forecasts for you, let’s prepare, let’s do what we call financial modelling, you know, and as well, then look at it, and it’s okay, based on that, I think your revenue is going to be this, or your balance sheet would look like this going forward, so I need the knowledge of accounting there.
But trust me, if I was practising accounting full-time, where I was an in-house accountant, or I have my own accounting firm, definitely it would be, it would worth the hype, if that’s the word, because I have friends that are, you know, full-time accountants, and all of that, and they’re doing very well for themselves if it wasn’t living up to the hype.
Nobody would want to go to university to go and study accounting, but accounting is still one of the most sought-after courses in universities today, if you look at, go and look at, maybe, job applications, look at the highest courses that people apply for, accounting is one of those, however, you don’t just get in, if you apply, because it requires a lot of numerical skills, it requires you to, you know, to think, it’s beyond your usual.
In Part 2 of this exclusive interview, Abeeb Adebayo tells us more about Investment Banking.
