Main One is owned by the Main One Cable Company Mauritius; a company founded by Main Street Technologies. The company was founded with a Pan-African vision to build a private sector led and funded international telecommunications submarine cable between Africa and the rest of the world. Having secured pioneer fibre optic cable licenses in Nigeria and Ghana, Main One is now well positioned to be the premier and preferred wholesale international bandwidth provider in the West Coast of Africa. The company in Mauritius serves as the holding company for operational subsidiaries to deliver wholesale international telecommunications services and land the cable in various countries. It has operational subsidiary companies in Nigeria, Ghana and Portugal.

Main One Cable Company is led by Ms. Funke Opeke; an experienced telecommunications executive who founded Main Street Technologies. Ms. Opeke returned to Nigeria in 2005 as the Chief Technical Officer of MTN Nigeria Communications (MTN) after a twenty-year career in the United States. Prior to her return, she was the Executive Director of Verizon Communications Wholesale Division. Subsequent to MTN, Ms. Opeke advised Transcorp on the acquisition of NITEL and briefly served as the interim Chief Operating Officer, post acquisition of NITEL. She obtained a first degree in Electrical Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife Nigeria and a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University, New York.

Mr. Bernard Logan is Business Development Executive at Main One Cable Company. Mr. Logan has been involved in submarine cable systems for over 20 years and became a Senior Project Manager for STC (Standard Telephone Company) in 1988 where he held P&L responsibility for subsea projects.  After STC was bought by Alcatel’s ASN, he held positions of both Bid Manager and Senior Projects Manager in France and Singapore on a number of projects including SeaMeWe3, TAT12/13, Telic Phil and Jakarta Surabaya. He joined Tyco Telecommunications in 1998 as Director of Sales and Marketing in the UK, responsible for business development within the EMEA region and contracts, where his specific involvement included Yellow; TWA1; Esat2; Hugo; SMW4; Farice.

Mr. Babatunde Dada is the Chief Finance Officer (CFO) of Main One Cable Company. He is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and was until his appointment, the Group Chief Finance Officer of Hygeia Group. A 1995 Master’s Degree holder in Banking and Finance, Mr. Dada has multifaceted finance experience spanning close to three decades. He started his career at KPMG, formerly Peat Marwick Ani Ogunde & Co as Audit Trainee  and later joined Mobil Oil Nigeria PLC as Internal Auditor in June 1987, rising to the position of Associate Accountant,  Treasury in April 1989.  Mr. Dada joined MBC International Bank Ltd in August 1991 as Head of Internal Audit and worked in various functions within the bank, rising to the position of General Manager and Group Head, Corporate and Investment Banking, a position he held until December 2005 following MBC’s merger into First Bank. He was Head of Aviation and Telecoms Group with the Corporate and Investment Banking Directorate of First Bank until December 2006. Mr. Dada is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nig. (CITN), and an Honorary Senior Member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN).

Mr. Kazeem Olawale Oladepo is the Legal Counsel of Main One Cable Company. Mr. Oladepo who was until his appointment the Director of Corporate Strategy and Development at Starcomms Plc also served as the Manager, Legal and Regulatory as well as the Company Secretary of Starcomms and led the transformation of Starcomms Plc from a private company to a public company.   Mr. Oladepo has experience in legal, regulatory, permitting, commercial activities and transactions and has also been involved in implementing strategic policies within the Nigerian telecommunications industry.  He is on the Board of Trustees of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON).

Mr. Johnnie Coleman is in charge of Network Planning and Implementation. Mr. Coleman worked at the leading edge of communications networks and systems integration for 18 years across West Africa.  He was recently the Chief Technology Officer for Internet Solutions ( A Division of Dimension Data) operations in Nigeria and Ghana and prior to that Group Chief Technology Officer for Accelon’s operations (Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa), Ag. CEO of Silicon Wireless (Broadband Business Unit of Intercellular Nigeria), CTO for ThirdRail Ghana and its West African operations and Technical Manager/CTO for Africa Online Ghana amongst other previous similar occupations.

The activities of the company are governed by a Board of Directors led by:

Mr. Fola Adeola, Chairman, is an entrepreneur, private investor and philanthropist who is the founder and chairman of Fate Foundation, a charitable foundation to promote entrepreneurship among the youth of Nigeria. He is the founder and served as pioneer Managing Director and Chief Executive of Guaranty Trust Bank, Nigeria for twelve years. Mr. Adeola also served in his personal capacity on the Blair Commission for Africa. He sits on the Board as a representative of Main Street Technologies Limited.

Dr. Dapo Oshinusi sits on the Board as a representative of Main Street Technologies Limited. He is the founder and Managing Director of Mansfield Energy. Mansfield Energy is a leading provider of drilling and well completion solutions with sand control services for the oil and gas industry in West and South Africa. He managed the business of Schlumberger for more than 20 years in the Middle East, West and South Africa and Europe. He is an executive member of Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), an association committed to the development of the Nigerian content with the transfer of technology to Nigerians in the oil and gas sector.

Mr. Solomon Asamoah sits on the Board as a representative of the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC); an international organisation established in Nigeria and operating as a hybrid investment and development finance institution. He has over 20 years experience in Investment Banking and Management and is currently the Deputy Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Investment Officer of the AFC. He has worked in various investment advisory capacities within the Development Bank of Southern Africa, Softbank Emerging Markets, HSBC Markets and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). He graduated from Imperial College, London and holds a Masters Degree in Chemical Engineering.

Mr. Timothy Oguntayo sits on the Board as a representative of Skye Bank Plc; one of Nigeria’s foremost banks. He is the General Manager for the Investment Banking group and has over 10 years of core banking experience, with responsibilities in financial advisory services, market and credit analysis, corporate banking, customer relationship management, and foreign exchange treasury Operations. He is a member of the Executive Committee Asset & Liability Management Committee (ALCO) and an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria. He holds a degree in Accountancy and Business Studies, from the University of Uyo, Nigeria.

Mr. Taiwo Okeowo sits on the Board as a representative of First Bank of Nigeria Plc (FBN); one of the oldest banks in Nigeria which has successfully transformed itself to be continually relevant and able to compete with the new-generation banks. Mr. Okeowo is a seasoned professional with over 19 years of investment banking experience. He joined FBN Capital (a subsidiary of FBN) in 2006 from First Bank where he was the Head of the Corporate Finance group. Prior to joining First Bank, he was a pioneer staff of IBTC (now StanbicIBTC). He advised on the two largest non-oil transactions to date in Nigeria namely the $1.2bn acquisition of Vmobile by MTC/Celtel and the $480m project financing of Obajana Cement. He has a first degree in Computer Science and a Sloan Masters (MSc.) in Management) from the London Business School. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria.

Dr Ini Urua also sits on the Board as a representative of the Africa Finance Corporation, where he heads the Heavy Industry Department. He was previously the manager of the NEPAD Division of the African Development Bank in charge of the development and implementation of multi-country infrastructure projects and programs. He worked for more than 10 years with BOC Group plc, England in Process Development and Design, Technology Marketing and Management, Strategic Planning, and Technology Transfer. Mr. Urua holds a bachelors degree (1st Class honors) in Chemical Engineering from the University of Ife, Nigeria, a Masters and Doctorate degree in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London and an MBA in International Business Management from Ecole Europeenne des Affairs (EAP), Paris. He is a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineer, a member of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, UK, and a chartered and registered Engineer.

Mr. Alwyn Wessels sits on the Board as a representative of the Pan African Infrastructure Development Fund (PAIDF) and is the Chief Investment Officer of Harith. Before joining Harith he worked for over 10 years as a Senior Consultant for Absa Capital, where he was responsible for Project and Infrastructure Finance. Prior to this he enjoyed success in various senior positions in the construction and manufacturing industries.

Mr Sipho Makhubela is an Investment Director of Harith and has over 7 years of structured debt experience. Prior to joining Harith, he worked for Investec Bank, Coronation Capital and African Merchant Bank. He spent the last two years running his own investment company with investments in the ICT, Energy and Manufacturing sectors. He has also been involved in investments in Nigeria and Benin. Mr. Makhubela represents Pan African Infrastructure Development Fund (PAIDF) on the Main One Board of Directors.