“Building the best place to work is such a hard thing to do, especially in Nigeria.” – Emmanuel Faith
For Emmanuel Faith, this challenge has defined an eight-year journey transforming human resources from a support function into a driver of culture, innovation, and business success. From Cowrywise, where he helped the fintech startup earn recognition as one of the best places to work in Nigeria, to Big Cabal Media, where his first week saw him organizing creative employee engagement initiatives, Faith has consistently demonstrated that HR, when done strategically, can shape both people and business outcomes.
Now leading people and culture at Africhange and running his HR consultancy, HR Clinic, Faith leverages his experience to help startups and established companies across Africa build workplaces where employees feel valued, recognized, and inspired. As he puts it: “Your job is just an aspect of your career. You are the prize. Focus on building the prize.” His career, now captured in a recently released documentary tracing his eight-year HR journey, highlights how strategic, passionate HR leadership can transform both people and business outcomes.
Speaking with The HR Anchor, Faith said one principle he wished more leaders understood about building a great place to work is that “happy employees are productive employees.”
He added that leaders do not always need to be harsh or forceful in managing people, noting: “You don’t always have to use a hammer to seat a fly off someone’s head. You can just let them know there is a fly.”
Faith also stressed that career growth should not be limited to management roles, saying: “Not everyone needs to be a manager managing people. Individual contributors can be managers too.”
Faith’s career path to HR was unconventional. An economics student who did not enjoy finance, he discovered his people-centered strengths early on. After an internship at Meristem Securities convinced him that finance was not for him, a senior colleague, Funto Koya, recognized his leadership and interpersonal skills and encouraged him to pursue a career in human resources.
“I built the roots of my HR career at General Electric,” Faith said, reflecting on his first professional steps. At GE, he managed third-party transactions and compliance while gradually transitioning into HR. He also began professional certification through the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM), laying a solid foundation for his career.
His work at Cowrywise became a defining chapter. There, Faith partnered with product and marketing teams, shaped company culture, and led initiatives such as *100 Days at Cowrywise* and the Cowrywise Campus Ambassador programme. These initiatives were so successful that they became permanent features of the company’s culture.
“Sometimes culture is not just the document you write; it’s literally you leading by example,” Faith explained.
Colleagues describe him as audacious and strategic. Chiazagom Anisebo, HR Business Partner at Moniepoint, said: “What kept me in awe was his ability to come in and make the system better… he pushed you to fight for people, not just yourself.” Praise Afonja, an executive trainee, added: “Faith has successfully balanced putting people first while still doing the work. That’s rare in HR.”
After Cowrywise, Faith joined Big Cabal Media as Head of Talent, describing it as “the most exhilarating, spontaneously creative, and innovative company I have worked with.” Although his tenure was brief, he introduced impactful programmes, including a Valentine’s Day engagement initiative in his first week and early ideas for the Impact Award.
“When people perceive that you are competent, they listen to you,” he said. “Be extremely competent and be confident about your competence.”
Faith also faced major professional setbacks. He was laid off from Big Cabal Media during a company downsizing exercise. Reflecting on the experience, he said: “One of the worst things that can happen to you as a career professional is to be sacked… Your job is just an aspect of your career. You are the prize.”
That difficult period inspired him to establish HR Clinic, a consultancy offering fractional and rapid HR services to startups and established firms. Through the platform, Faith supports organizations in building policies, compensation structures, and workplace cultures from the ground up.
At the HR Clinic, he has partnered with major organisations and accelerators, including Beyond Limit, in partnership with the U.S. Mission, and MDIF, providing support in HR strategy, employee rewards, and leadership development.
Adedayo Aderohunmu, Talent Manager at Africhange, recalled Faith’s influence: “Faith played a pivotal role in ensuring company leadership approved a new pay structure for employees… he made senior management understand the link between proper employee rewards and strategic objectives.”
Faith continues to advocate for globally competitive workplaces in Africa. “When people are mentioning top places to work globally, a lot of startups should come from Africa,” he said.
His work has earned him several recognitions, including being named among the Top 20 Disruptive People Leaders in Nigeria, winning the HR & Talent Recruiter Award, and being listed among the Top 100 HR Leaders in Africa.
From an economics student uncertain of his career path to a respected architect of workplace culture in Nigeria’s tech and media sectors, Emmanuel Faith’s journey reflects vision, competence, and resilience. His story, captured through both practice and documentary, shows that effective HR is not just about policies and procedures, but about creating environments where people and businesses can truly thrive.
