At the just-concluded Dratech International Conference 2024, held in Lagos, Nigeria, the spotlight fell on one of the country’s most accomplished finance professionals, Ms. Adaobu Amini-Philips, who emerged as the winner of the prestigious Financial Sustainability Innovation Excellence Award 2024.
The award, one of the evening’s most distinguished honours, recognises individuals who are redefining financial leadership through accountability, innovation, and a deep commitment to sustainable growth.
This year’s Dratech Conference attracted global attention, drawing industry leaders, innovators, and policymakers from across Africa and beyond. Themed “Sustainable Growth in a Changing Global Economy,” the event highlighted how African professionals are driving new standards of excellence in technology, finance, and governance. The Financial Sustainability Innovation Excellence Award, in particular, celebrated pioneers who link financial discipline with long-term sustainability, and Ms. Amini-Philips stood out among the continent’s most remarkable names.
Her recognition is not accidental. With over fifteen years of experience at the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited, Ms. Amini-Philips has become a respected voice in corporate finance and procurement, seamlessly blending analytical precision with strategic foresight. Her work at NLNG demonstrates how strong financial systems can be powerful instruments for innovation, transparency, and environmental responsibility.
The Dratech International Innovation Awards have earned a reputation as one of Africa’s most credible recognition platforms, honoring professionals and organizations that advance innovation across key sectors such as finance, energy, and digital transformation. The 2024 edition placed particular emphasis on sustainable finance, environmental resilience, and responsible leadership, spotlighting leaders who are not only driving profit but also purpose.
The Financial Sustainability Innovation Excellence Award recognizes individuals whose strategies promote long-term value creation through responsible finance and transparent governance. Ms. Amini-Philips’ work reflects these ideals with uncommon clarity. At NLNG, she has held key positions including Head of Revenue Accounting, Senior Financial Reporting Accountant, and Procurement Lead, each defining a new chapter in her professional journey.
As Head of Revenue Accounting, she ensured revenue precision, financial transparency, and compliance with international standards. Her approach reinforced NLNG’s commitment to corporate accountability while optimizing reporting systems that underpin one of Africa’s leading energy enterprises. Prior to that, as Senior Financial Reporting Accountant, she played an instrumental role in strengthening the company’s financial control framework, ensuring consistency and reliability in performance reporting.
Her transition into procurement leadership revealed another dimension of her skillset — strategic negotiation and value creation. In that role, she led transparent vendor selection processes, ensuring procurement decisions aligned with both commercial value and ethical standards.
When the global economy faced unprecedented disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ms. Amini-Philips’ leadership helped shape NLNG’s financial resilience strategy. She was part of the internal task force that redefined operational priorities, focusing on cost management, value protection, and continuity of critical financial processes.
Her team’s initiatives improved billing alignment and recovery systems, safeguarded financial accuracy during remote operations, and strengthened internal reporting integrity. In a time marked by uncertainty, her calm precision and strategic clarity were instrumental in keeping NLNG’s financial operations steady and accountable.
This crisis management experience reinforced her reputation as a leader who not only understands finance but also the human and operational dimensions that sustain it.
Beyond finance, Ms. Amini-Philips has been a vocal advocate for sustainability within NLNG’s broader corporate framework. She played a key role in co-creating the finance workstream for NLNG’s Net Zero and decarbonization initiatives, aligning financial decision-making with the company’s long-term environmental goals.
Under her guidance, the finance division helped define frameworks for integrating Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations into financial planning and reporting. This enabled the company to measure and disclose sustainability progress in quantifiable financial terms — a forward-thinking approach that has inspired similar efforts across Nigeria’s corporate sector.
She also contributed to HSE (Health, Safety, and Environmental) awareness campaigns within the company, linking financial accountability to operational safety and environmental responsibility. For Ms. Amini-Philips, finance is not merely an instrument for profit measurement; it is a lens for understanding how corporate actions affect communities, ecosystems, and the future of business.
The Dratech Awards Committee highlighted her pioneering work on the finance workstream for NLNG’s Net Zero target as a defining project that qualified her for this year’s honor. The initiative introduced a new governance structure that ensures sustainability targets are tied to financial performance and capital allocation. Her work demonstrates how a disciplined financial strategy can support climate accountability and corporate transformation at scale.
Speaking after receiving her award, Ms. Amini-Philips expressed gratitude and a quiet sense of purpose.
“This award reminds me that finance is not just about numbers,” she said. “It is about people, impact, and the future we build with our decisions. I am deeply honored to be recognized by Dratech, and I dedicate this to the many professionals who work every day to make finance a tool for sustainability and integrity.”
She described the recognition as a call to continue driving innovation within corporate finance and mentoring younger professionals to approach financial leadership with ethics and empathy.
“Sustainable finance is Africa’s next frontier,” she added. “It is how we ensure that growth is equitable, transparent, and lasting. The work continues, and I am proud to be part of a generation redefining what responsible leadership means.”
Her reflections echoed the spirit of the Dratech Awards, which emphasize not only achievement but also accountability, collaboration, and social impact.
As the applause settled and the 2024 Dratech International Conference came to a close, the organizers reaffirmed their commitment to spotlighting innovators who are shaping Africa’s future across industries. The event continues to serve as a meeting ground for visionaries, executives, and researchers committed to advancing the continent’s innovation narrative.
Plans for the 2025 Dratech International Conference are already underway, promising expanded categories and deeper engagement across the fields of sustainability, digital technology, financial transformation, and inclusive growth. Professionals and innovators are encouraged to participate, share insights, and compete in an environment that celebrates excellence and authenticity.
For many attendees, Ms. Adaobu Amini-Philips’ win served as a reminder of what the Dratech platform represents — not merely recognition but a reaffirmation of Africa’s potential to lead through principle and foresight.
Her story reflects a timeless truth: that sustainable progress is achieved when finance, ethics, and innovation move in the same direction.
As the 2025 edition approaches, the call goes out once again to Africa’s bold thinkers, innovators, and change agents to bring their best ideas forward, to collaborate, and to build the systems that will define the continent’s future.
Adaobu Amini-Philips’ achievement is a symbol of that journey — a story of precision, purpose, and a finance leader whose vision continues to inspire a continent in transformation.
