Executive search firms, headhunting and leadership advisory in Nigeria
Nigeria has Africa's deepest pool of commercial and fintech leadership talent and its most competitive retention problem. Headhunting here is as much about closing as it is about sourcing.
What shapes leadership hiring in Nigeria
- Lagos fintech and banking leaders receive frequent international and remote approaches — offers need to be decisive.
- Country leadership for multinationals is often a hybrid of commercial, regulatory and government-relations skill.
- Diaspora returners widen the pool materially when relocation is handled properly.
Sectors I search in
- Fintech, banking and payments
- Technology and telecoms
- Energy, oil and gas
- FMCG, retail and logistics
- Development and impact organisations
Compensation
Packages are frequently split between NGN and USD-linked elements for senior roles; benchmarking both is essential to avoid late-stage offer failure.
How engagements run
Nigeria shares full working-day overlap. Searches run remotely with structured assessment and reference evidence.
Hiring hubs
- Lagos
- Abuja
- Port Harcourt
- Remote across Nigeria
For executives
Nigerian executives register interest for remote global mandates and work with me on positioning for international moves.
Career servicesFor employers and boards
Engage me for country-leadership hires, first talent-function builds, and confidential replacement searches.
Executive search serviceFrequently asked
Do you work with Nigerian startups as well as corporates?
Yes — venture-backed companies hiring a first VP or Head of function are a core part of the work.
Can you attract diaspora candidates back to Nigeria?
Often, when the role, package and relocation support are structured honestly up front. I test that before going to market.
How do executive search and headhunting firms find candidates?
Through direct, confidential headhunting rather than advertising. I map the leaders already doing the job at comparable companies, approach them privately, and assess them against the outcomes of the role — so shortlists include people who were never going to answer a job post.
What is the difference between executive search firms and executive recruiters?
Executive recruiting firms usually work on contingency and volume, and forward profiles from a database. Retained executive search is a partner-led mandate: market mapping, direct approach, structured assessment and referencing, with one accountable advisor on the search from brief to appointment.
How do I find and choose an executive search consultant?
Ask who will actually run the search, how the market will be mapped, what assessment evidence you receive with the shortlist, and how confidentiality is handled. With me the answer is the same on every mandate: I run it personally and you see the evidence behind each shortlisted leader.
What recruitment solutions work best for scaling teams?
It depends on stage. A single critical leadership hire suits retained executive search; three to five priority hires in a quarter suit a hiring sprint; an ongoing hiring plan without a talent leader suits fractional talent leadership or an embedded partner.
How do executives get access to confidential, unadvertised roles?
Most senior mandates never reach a job board. Registering interest puts your profile in front of me directly, and if there is a close match a recruiter emails you to arrange a short call. Nothing goes to a company until you say yes.