Ayodeji Balogun (born Ayodeji Olaleye Balogun in 1983) is a Nigerian

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

commodity trader A commodity market is a market that trades in the primary economic sector rather than manufactured products. The primary sector includes agricultural products, energy products, and metals. Soft commodities may be perishable and harvested, w ...

and CEO of AFEX,

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

's first private sector commodities exchange, and tech-enabled Agriculture Company. He is a Board of Trustees of The Association of Security Exchange in Nigeria and serves on the board of Capital Market Development Fund.

Education

Balogun was born in

Ijebu-ode Ijebu-Ode is a town in Ogun State, Nigeria, South Western geopolitical zone in Nigeria, close to the A121 highway (Nigeria), A121 highway. The city is located 110 km by road Northeast of Lagos; it is within of the Atlantic Ocean in the ea ...

Ogun Ogun or Ogoun ( Yoruba: Ògún, Edo: Ògún, Portuguese: Ogum, Gu; also spelled Oggun or Ogou; known as Ogún or Ogum in Latin America) is a Yoruba Orisha that is adopted in several African religions. Ògún is a warrior and a powerful spi ...

state,

. He holds a diploma in Heavy Equipment Engineering from Penn Foster University, Scranton and (B.Eng.) in Mechanical Engineering from the

Lagos State University Lagos State University (LASU) is a state-owned university established by the Lagos State government in 1983. Its main campus is situated at Ojo, Lagos State, Ojo, with sub-campuses at Ikeja and Epe. The university was set up "for the advanceme ...

. He furthered his education at

Lagos Business School Lagos Business School (LBS) is the graduate business school of Pan-Atlantic University and is owned by the Pan-Atlantic University Foundation (PAUF), a non-profit foundation registered in Nigeria. LBS was founded by three professionals - Juan Ma ...

, where he earned an MBA and

IESE Business School IESE Business School is the Catholic Church, Catholic graduate business school of the University of Navarra. It was established in Barcelona in 1958 by Opus Dei. From 1963, in collaboration with Harvard Business School, it offers a two-year Maste ...

, Spain.

Career

Balogun began his career as an analyst with

Unilever Nigeria Plc Unilever Nigeria Plc is a publicly listed company with trading and manufacturing interest in the consumer goods market. In 2014, it was listed among the top 20 most valuable companies quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Unilever Nigeria PLC is ...

and later became an associate at Doreo Partners where he contributed to the development of Nigeria’s Agriculture Transformation Plan in 2011. He was the Regional Director, Africa Exchange Holdings for West Africa and then became the Country Manager for AFEX Commodities Exchange Limited (AFEX) in July 2014. He was appointed CEO of AFEX in December 2019.

Personal life

Balogun is married to physician Oluwakemi Balogun, and they have two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balogun, Ayodeji 1983 births Living people Nigerian technology businesspeople 21st-century Nigerian businesspeople Nigerian company founders Lagos Business School alumni