As Design Director and CEO of leading Architecture and Project Management firm, Space Concepts, Sam came into Quality Management Systems in the course of practice. With clients and projects in diverse locations, it was important to develop ways to ensure that, beyond brilliant design, the requisite quality was delivered on each project. Working for clients such as ABB, Chiyoda, Briscoe, including Banks and Government agencies, adoption of a QA programme ensured that, wherever the firm was active, there was assurance of the entire process, from studio to project handover on completion. That discipline, which was natural to him, became part of the practice culture, served well, and continues to serve in all his business activity.

Board leadership too came in the course of service on boards and governing councils, which crystallised with service as an Independent non-executive on the Board of Stanbic IBTC Bank (a member of the Standard Bank Group), and serving as Chairman of the key committees of Risk, Audit, and Remuneration. The extensive training and personal development that came with these roles, and a new fascination with companies and how they work, connected very well with his core competencies, and have blossomed into primary focus in CG & QMS. It was therefore natural to proceed to become an IFC Board Leadership and Corporate Governance Trainer

As Secretary, and later Vice President of the Bank Directors Association of Nigeria, he was responsible for the launch of the 'Bank Director' magazine and the Association website; both of which focused on governance matters affecting the banking industry, and other stakeholders, including interaction with regulators and training institutions. He brings to governance a unique mix of creative methodology and passion to create high performance corporate structures that transform the businesses that form what he calls 'the real GDP'. 

Ope Babalola is an entrepreneur and business adviser and has consulted for a wide range of companies from small businesses, to large corporations and state owned enterprises. He holds a BS in Accounting, a Post Graduate Diploma in Management, and is a UK Chartered Management Accountant. As an accountant and project manager with a background in banking he has experience across the UK, USA and the African Continent with institutions such as the Google Foundation, Cadbury, and Ecobank Group. He served as a Director of ServLed Africa, a ground-breaking business accelerator/incubator based in Ghana.

He has experience in company development and was instrumental in the growth of companies going through the Empretec programme in Ghana. He developed the Client Accounting and Book keeping Service (CABS) that provided accounting services to SMEs. He also designed and led consulting and business development interventions for clients across a very broad range of industries, including retail, construction and financial services.

In the public sector, he has been involved with improving governance and transparency, ensuring that priority initiatives are effectively implemented, increasing international cooperation and access to international financial markets, and designing and implementing national strategies in specific sectors. This has necessarily involved the improvement standards to acceptable international standards. His work has been in Sierra Leone, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria, Rwanda and Liberia, among others.

In the private sector, he has introduced businesses from Asia, the United States and Europe to African partners and helped them to adapt and thrive in their new ventures. He is one of the founders of the Africa South-East Asia Chamber of Commerce based in Singapore, and is an adviser to the African Champions Initiative, among many other local and international engagements.