There are times when our career journey doesn’t start the way we envision it, but these wrong turns sometimes lead us to the right path and our Woman Crush Wednesday, Tolu Olanipekun, proves this.
Starting off her career in Elizade Toyota Nigeria in HR/Admin, she soon realized this was not the field for her, which led her into her successful journey in marketing. According to her, “I moved on to Reckitt Benckiser in January 2011 which was when my marketing journey began. I started off as a Management Trainee and was promoted to Assistant Brand Manager responsible for Durex, Gaviscon and Strepsils. I worked on the launch of both Durex and Gaviscon into the Nigerian market.”
However successful her time at Reckitt Benckiser was, she soon moved to FrieslandCampina where she worked on the launch of a number of products such as Frisomum (Nigeria’s first maternal milk), Peak Baby and Peak 456. She also relaunched a number of products such as Friso Cereals and Peak 123.
“Towards the end of my career in FrieslandCampina” she says, “I moved over to the Peak Brand Team where I managed the Peak Evaporated Milk LUPPs. I also lead the Peak Unstoppable Project/Campaign series which won a number of awards for the Peak brand both locally and internationally.”
She joined Mouka, Nigeria’s leading manufacturer of mattresses, pillows and other bedding products in February 2019 as a Senior Marketing Manager. Towards the end of the year, she was promoted to an Executive Management Position to head the marketing function.
We celebrate Tolu and her achievements.