England, Wales accounting body appoints Dafinone to chair africa members advisory board

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) yesterday announced the appointment of Ede Dafinone as Chair of its Africa Members Advisory Board, taking over with immediate effect from Daniel Ndonye (Kenya) who has retired.
“Ede is an accomplished business leader and an experienced board member in both the public and private sectors,” said Michael Armstrong, ICAEW’s Regional Director for the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.

“We are confident that he will add great value to our Africa Members Advisory Board, considering his experience in multiple industries, and that ICAEW will benefit from his insights, judgment and counsel.” said Mr. Armstrong

The ICAEW Africa Members Advisory Board (MAB) is a volunteer advisory board, whose primary aim is to advise, guide and support the ICAEW Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) Regional Director and Africa team to implement ICAEW‘s international strategy.

There are over 1.8m chartered accountants and students around the world, and African chartered accountants make up a considerable portion of ICAEW’s membership. ICAEW trains, develops and supports each one of them so that they have the knowledge and values to help build local and global economies that are sustainable, accountable and fair.

In addition to serving as Chair and CEO, Mr. Dafinone has been on the Africa MAB (representing Nigeria) since its inception in 2016. He is currently the Deputy Managing Partner of Horwath Dafinone based in Lagos, Nigeria. He started his career with Touche Ross & Co in London in 1984 and joined his family firm in 1989.

“Ede’s experience spans audit and consultancy in a wide range of sectors including conglomerates, government parastatals, building contractors, manufacturing, transport and haulage contractors. This experience will be invaluable as the ICAEW seeks to increase its profile across various sectors on the continent,” said Mr. Armstrong. “As the accounting profession undergoes massive changes due to the advancement of technology like Artificial Intelligence and the growing use of the cloud, we feel that it is important for ICAEW to have someone on the ground to guide us on how to implement our strategies on the continent,” he added.

Nigeria’s financial services sector is a diversified one, in which the largest firms follow a universal model and a range of specialised actors tap specific niches. New trends include merchant banks, sector-specific lending vehicles, and from policymakers, increased focus on financial inclusion. These include microfinance, mobile tools, and the establishment of a network of mobile money agents to service this developing financial infrastructure.

Mr. Dafinone said that he was eager to offer his insights while growing ICAEW’s profile on the continent. “I look forward to bringing together the strengths of our members across Africa to support ICAEW’s vision of strong global economies,” said Mr. Dafinone.

Dafinone holds directorships of a number of companies including Sapele Integrated Industries Limited (crumb rubber export manufacturing and rubber plantation development), Ceddi Corporation Limited (development of a premier shopping mall in Abuja) and Highgate Insurance Brokers.
He has held various public and other appointments, including serving as a member of the Federal Government Steering Committee on the Determination and Resolution of Cross Debts between Public Enterprises in 2001.

Through the Dafinone foundation, Ede runs social and community projects to provide scholarships for post graduate education, distribute micro-credit loans to women and support the development of vocational skills within the community.