She grew up in Lagos, daughter of two medical doctors, and chose a different path; accounting. After training with Ernst & Young in Lagos and qualifying as a chartered accountant with Coopers & Lybrand in London, she could have built a comfortable career anywhere in the world.Instead, at just 32, she returned home to lead Hygeia Nigeria, expanding health insurance access to over a million Nigerians. A decade later, she founded Health Markets Africa, then co-founded Iwosan Investments in 2021; now the parent company behind Iwosan Lagoon Hospitals, one of Nigeria’s leading hospitals. Across her career, she has helped raise over $100 million in funding for African healthcare; proof that finance and purpose don’t have to be separate paths.This year, Iwosan Lagoon Hospitals was named the NHEA 2026 Private Tertiary Healthcare Facility of the Year; a milestone two decades in the making.Fola Laoye didn’t just balance sheets. She built a system.
