Olayinka Oni

Olayinka Oni doubles up as the Chief Information Officer and the Chief Digital Officer of Sterling Bank, where he leads the execution of the bank’s digital strategy. Instead of being described as an IT professional, he would rather be known as a visionary business leader who automates business processes using information technology.

Yinka, as he is fondly called by colleagues and associates, is an experienced IT professional with over two decades in designing and implementing digital transformation solutions in Nigeria.

A published professional with a background spanning Accenture, Microsoft and some of the largest financial services providers in Nigeria, Yinka has successfully helmed some of the largest and most complex digitization projects in the recent history of financial services in Nigeria.

A fellow of the British Computer Society (now the Chartered Institute for Information Technology), Yinka has also served on the National Broadband Council board and on the consultative committee for partner ecosystems on the National Information Technology Development Agency, both in Nigeria.

He has led the Information Technology and Shared Services division at Sterling Bank, ensuring that the IT architecture is structured to solve business issues while managing costs and risks.

He strongly believes tech has become the business. As such, the CIO role is central to the success of any organisation. Increasingly the role has taken a seat at the leadership table and assists the leadership team in transforming data into insight. At the same time, it enables the right course of action to engage customers better and empower employees in delivering high-performance results.

Oni describes himself as a people’s person because he likes to leave people better than he finds them, and help staff discover their hidden talents. “Often, I’m challenging people and like people who challenge me back and don’t accept the status quo. I’m a huge sponsor of people and very inclusive.

“I’m very passionate around talent and knowledge, we’re a knowledge-driven organisation with all kinds of schemes designed to renew our workforce and make them ‘future ready’. We were working on remote elements before COVID and able to transition to remote roles.”

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