On behalf of the executives of the Nigerian Professional Group (NPG), welcome to the first Annual Gala & Awards. Our welcome is heartfelt as you join us on a journey in celebrating excellence. We are confident that you will enjoy this maiden event, although modest, we have lined up a worthy show.
This has been an extraordinarily challenging year, as we battle the disruptions to our lives and livelihoods due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we continue to have great concern about our health and the health of the people we love.
Yet, despite this hardship many of us have continued to chase our professional careers, working from home, staring at the wall or looking out a window and hopping from zoom call to zoom call.
However, some who work in the Healthcare industry still had to keep working in the “eye of the storm” endangering their lives to save lives. An industry that is too busy to relax and rarely celebrated for the important role they play in keeping us healthy.
Tonight, in addition to launching NPG’s foremost annual event with the theme – inspiring excellence, we want to celebrate all those who helped our society, and our communities endure and overcome these tough times, through their commitment, hard work, and often at great personal sacrifice.
During this difficult year, we at NPG have embraced transformation, innovation, resilience, and a new bias for action. I want to express my gratitude to all our visionary advisers, executives and volunteers for demonstrating all those qualities and much more. We cannot achieve our goals without you. We need your continued participation, feedback, ideas, and yes, even your constructive criticism. NPG was founded for transformative collaboration amongst Nigerian Professionals in the diaspora. Our membership is an unparalleled group of working professionals, entrepreneurs and students.
I personally invite you and everyone in our community to join us in our work and become an active participant in our commitment to the future narrative of Nigerians in the diaspora.
Thank you for joining us, and I hope you enjoy your evening.
ABOUT THE NPG GALA & AWARDS
A baby does not walk at birth, the bundle of joy is carried, nursed, and nurtured till the baby learns to crawl before he can walk. The primary principle is that growth is evident in movement. Since its inception 3 years ago, the Nigerian Professional Group have continued to take bold strides in nurturing its vision of building a thriving, collaborative and formidable professional community.
The NPG Gala & Awards is an annual initiative geared towards promoting the endeavors, exploits, achievements of Nigerian professionals and their impact on their community. Our commitment is to stay in tune with our professional community and help showcase the achievements of Nigerians in the diaspora and celebrate their contributions.
We will take charge of shaping the narrative of Nigerian professionals within the global professional community.
This year, we have taken the leap of faith, and embarked on a great journey. For our first edition, we have chosen the theme: Inspiring Excellence. This is our declaration of what this initiative will represent for our community and within the global awards space.
2021 AWARD CATEGORIES
For our first edition, in a year fraught with the COVID-19 pandemic, our focus is to recognize the outstanding work, and the exploit of remarkable Nigerian healthcare workers in the healthcare sector, with emphasis on our local community within the New England area.
VISIONARY AWARD CATEGORY
The award recognizes leaders whose commitment, support, trailblazing work, visionary inputs, impacts the ongoing drive to shape the foundation of the Nigerian Professional group.
IMPACT AWARD CATEGORY
The award honors leaders whose commitment, sacrifice, and trailblazing work drives positive impacts in our community.
Today, you are making history as you join us in launching one of the biggest, and perhaps the most influential professional event and award ceremonies, for recognizing and honoring the professional achievements of exceptional Nigerians in the diaspora.
Ayodele C. Oguntubi
VP, Global Strategy

VISIONARY AWARD CATEGORY
Olukayode Olatilu is the CEO and co-founder of EpicGRO Corporation.
An organization that helps businesses transform their industries through technology. Mr Olatilu leads the delivery and operations of technology capabilities and services globally, as well as technology risk and information security, for which he has been an active proponent of IT security best practices.
Mr Olatilu establishes IT strategies, policies, and procedures by evaluating organizational outcomes; identifying problems; evaluating trends; and anticipating requirements.
Mr Olatilu works as an advisor, to senior executives, of technologies that can improve their efficiency and effectiveness. Specialties: IT Strategy and Technology Transformation, Virtualization, Infrastructure Optimiza-tion, Data Lifecycle Management, Information Security, Disaster Recov-ery, Cloud initiatives.
He is an author with articles published in the ISACA (Information Systems Audit and Control Association) Journal. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography and Regional planning, University of Lagos; Masters in IT, Bentley University; and an MBA from Emory University.
Olu has been a strong supporter of NPG since inception, his advisory role has been instrumental to setting the foundation of NPG.
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