Victoria Akai

Chief Executive Officer, Duchess Naturals Limited, Abuja, Nigeria

As CEO of Duchess Naturals Limited, Victoria Akai is responsible for steering the company’s strategic direction and ensuring operational excellence. Drawing on her experience from KVS International Limited, she oversees day-to-day operations, resource optimization, and long-term growth strategies. Key aspects of her role include:

• Business Development and Partnerships: Establishing and nurturing partnerships to expand market reach, negotiating contracts, and securing advantageous terms with vendors and clients.
• Operational Leadership: Implementing streamlined workflows, enhancing productivity, and fostering a collaborative work environment to support the company’s mission and goals.
• Financial Oversight: Preparing budgets, managing financial performance, and introducing cost-saving measures that ensure sustainability and growth.
• Innovation and Strategic Planning: Developing and executing business plans, identifying opportunities for diversification, and aligning the company’s activities with market trends to maximize profitability.

Under her leadership, Duchess Naturals Limited has focused on leveraging unique products, fostering innovation, and achieving impactful results in the market.

• Work closely with the board of directors to guide operational strategy
• Responsible for the implementation of the Chamber’s strategic goals and the management of its resources; Give direction and leadership to the achievement of ACCI’s mission, its strategy development and the attainment of its annual goals and objectives
• Effective management of human and financial resources in accordance to the approved policies and procedures of ACCI; Coordinates management of resources of the Chamber, instilling a value for money culture throughout the organization.
• Manage daily operations while overseeing multiple centres to foster increased service delivery and productivity.
• Monitoring office workflow and administrative processes to keep operations running smoothly.
• Spearhead innovative approaches to resource allocation and strategic planning.
• Leverage professional networks and industry knowledge to expand influence.
• Oversee effective communication of the Chamber’s programs and results to collaborating partners, donors and policymakers, as well as ensuring that ACCI has a high and positive organizational profile as a premier Chamber of Commerce in the Region.

• Oversaw operations and provided corrective feedback to achieve daily and long-term goals.
• Monitored office workflow and administrative processes to keep operations running smoothly.
• Aligned center's vision, goals, and objectives with company strategy to achieve consistently high results.
• Drove strategic improvements to enhance operational and organizational efficiencies.
• Represented the Centre by giving presentations and speeches and participating in public events.
• Built relationships with donors, government officials and other organizations to secure funding and support for organization.
• Defined the centres roles and responsibilities to establish and enhance processes.

Specific duties:

• Responsible to start-up the centre
• Led recruitment and development of strategic alliances to maximize utilization of existing talent and capabilities.
• Oversaw procurement and furnishing activities of the centre
• Responsible for identifying and negotiating with potential partners (government, international and private sector)
• In charge of designing and setting up programs for the centre as well as overall coordination
• Secretary to the Governing and Faculty Board of the BEST Centre. Direct liaison between the Board and management of the centre and communicate to the Board on behalf of the centre’s management.
• Superintended over the centre’s administrative and human resources management;
• Oversaw the formulation and implementation of the centre’s strategies, policies and processes in line with the chamber’s regulations, key objectives and applicable laws and regulatory requirement;
• Preparation and implementation of annual budget for the centre
• Established an organizational corporate culture and values.
• Developed a reward system for high performing personnel
• Coordinated performance appraisal, review and drafted performance report for Human Resources.
• Implemented the centre’s long- and short-term plans
• Built strategic alliances that resulted in raising funds and technical support for the centre
• Designed strategy and business plan for the Centre
• Created new revenue streams
• Built and maintained a strong teams by hiring, mentoring and training qualified staff to create positive and productive work environments.
• Partnered successfully with clients to start-up the Centre.
• Strengthened the center's business by leading the implementation of programs
• Created promotional materials and provided insightful information to social media, websites, and print media to educate the public.
• Set the center's goals and objectives to guide and direct focus and achieve mission fulfillment.
• Conducted top-tier media interviews, highlighting key messages of major developments and enhancing the chamber's reputation.
• observed trends and tracked activities to inform decision making.
• Established and maintained strong relationships with strategic partners.
• Directed technological improvements, reducing waste and business bottlenecks.
• Collaborated with legal, accounting and other professional teams to review and maintain compliance with regulations.
• Devised and presented business plans and forecasts to board of directors.
• Managed financial, operational and human resources to optimize performance.
• Represented the centre at industry conferences and events.
• Created succession plans to provide continuity of operations during leadership transitions.

• Monitored office workflow and administrative processes to keep operations running smoothly.
• Oversaw operations and provided corrective feedback to achieve daily and long-term goals.
• Assisted the Board in determining values, mission, vision, and short- and long-term goals.
• Negotiated new annual contracts and service agreements with vendors to achieve prime pricing.
• Spearheaded successful business development initiatives aligned with company's strategy and core competencies.
• Led change and transformation across business areas to deliver benefits and align company resources.
• Worked closely with organizational leadership and board of directors to guide operational strategy.
• Implemented process improvement to shape organizational culture, optimize procedures for higher efficiency and help company evolve and grow.
• Prepared annual budgets with controls to prevent overages.
• Introduced new methods, practices, and systems to reduce turnaround time.
• Monitored and coordinated workflows to optimize resources.
• Piloted cross-departmental projects to achieve successful delivery of new initiatives.
• Led development of comprehensive business plan to maximize profitability and company performance.
• Trained new employees on proper protocols and customer service standards.
• Assisted in recruiting, hiring and training of team members.
• Trained and guided team members to maintain high productivity and performance metrics.
• Launched staff engagement, gender diversity and cultural programs in addition to robust reporting tool that increased operational quality.
• Mitigated business risks by working closely with staff members and assessing performance.
• Recruited, hired, and trained initial personnel, working to establish key internal functions and outline scope of positions for new organization.

• Oversight of 24 Project Offices in 23 States and Abuja.
• Oversight of Project procurement Office in Kano.
• Prepared and presented reports to management on purchasing trends and cost savings to aid in decision making.
• Negotiated complex corporate procurement contracts by working closely with internal and external contacts.
• Managed supply chain process, from order placement to delivery, to facilitate on-time and accurate fulfillment.
• Conducted spend analysis to identify cost-saving opportunities.

• Helped customers prepare documents required to complete transactions and process requests.
• Cross-sold wide range of services and products to increase new business and expand existing customer relationships.
• Modeled catastrophic market scenarios to aid in business management planning, risk management and trend monitoring.
• Formalized risk assessment models and developed standards for trend analysis for corporate use.
• Counted currency, coins and checks in cash drawer, night depository
• Identified customer desires and goals through needs-based sales tactics.
• Presented products and services to customers using in-depth knowledge to answer questions.
• Opened new accounts and made changes to existing accounts.
• Increased company revenue by selling various investment products.
• Collected cash and checks for deposit or processed withdrawals by examining checks for endorsements, verifying amounts, inputting into computer systems and printing receipts.
• Investigated and resolved account issues by offering applicable options to customers.
• Supported tellers by processing transactions involving money orders, cashiers checks and payments.

• Answered multi-line phone system, routing calls, delivering messages to staff and greeting visitors.
• Restocked supplies and placed purchase orders to maintain adequate stock levels.
• Developed and updated spreadsheets and databases to track, analyze, and report on performance and sales data.
• Received and sorted incoming mail and packages to record, dispatch, or distribute to correct recipient.
• Scheduled office meetings and client appointments for staff teams.
• Sorted and distributed office mail and recorded incoming shipments for corporate records.
• Coordinated and scheduled meetings
• Opened and properly distributed incoming mail to promote quicker response to client inquiries.
• Completed forms, reports, logs and records to quickly handle all documentation for human resources.
• Assisted coworkers and staff members with special tasks on daily basis.
• Performed research to collect and record industry data.
• Managed filing system, entered data and completed other clerical tasks.