Page 103 - Powerlist 2020

Dr Nneka Abulokwe OBE Technology

Founder and CEO, MicroMax Consulting

Dr Nneka Abulokwe is one of the first black professionals
to sit on the board of a top-five European IT services
organisation. Nneka’s career spans over 25 years, during
which time she rose to become Executive Director of a
billion-pound European organisation.
Nneka, who was appointed an Officer of the British Empire
(OBE) in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services
to business, is an IT governance and delivery execution
specialist. She has delivered large-scale, high-profile
projects for governments and private institutions in the UK,
Europe, Asia, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and America.
In recognition of her service to the IT industry, Nneka
recently became a Freeman of the Technologist Livery
Company. Nneka has received several professional awards
and prestigious fellowships for Royal Chartered Institutions.
While pursuing her career full-time, Nneka earned a
doctorate at the elite Cranfield School of Management. She
obtained the highest-level business qualification possible,
a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) in 2013. She
was one of the first UK black professionals to be awarded a
DBA, and is now one of the most qualified black business
professionals in the UK.
In 2013, Nneka joined the board of Sopra Steria, a
leading European digital transformation organisation,
as an Executive Director with overall accountability for six
corporate functions in the UK and Asia. In 2017, Nneka founded
Martin Ijaha MicroMax Consulting, a consultancy providing advice to global
boards, governments and professional institutions. She is also
Founder, Neyber a board member of the British Computer Society.

Martin’s company, Neyber, has been growing from strength
to strength in the past 12 months, with recognition from
some of the top names in his industry.
In 2018, he expanded its financial services by offering a
range of workplace ISAs. The product allows employees to save
and invest directly into a workplace ISA direct from salary at no
cost to the employer.
Working in conjunction with Smarterly, the ISA provider,
Neyber has ambitions to turn the UK workforce from a nation of
borrowers into a nation of savers. Martin says: “The expansion
of our product range to include savings and investments is a
huge milestone for Neyber as we continue to offer employees
more options to take control of their money like never before.”
Neyber was named one of the leading global Fintech
companies in the KPMG/H2 Ventures Fintech 100 list. In
September 2017, Goldman Sachs invested $100million debt
and equity financing in the company.
Martin set up his company based on African and
Caribbean models of saving and borrowing that he learnt
while growing up.
He initially started with a year-long partnership with the
not-for-profit financial service provider to the police family,
Police Mutual. The company raised £2.5million in seed
financing in 2015 to launch its consumer lending programme
in January 2016.
Neyber, a London-based company with a growing team
of 70 employees, is a cloud-based service that works with
UK employers to offer their employees access to affordable
borrowing directly from their salaries.

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