Empowering Stories: Conversation with Mrs. Nwando S. Chukwurah.
- 7 hours ago
- 7 min read
Q1. You currently lead Total Facilities Management Limited as Managing Director/CEO. You began your career as an estate surveyor before moving into facilities management.
What inspired this journey, and how did your early experience shape your leadership style?
My passion for facility management began long before it became a career. As a young girl, I loved to draw and wanted to be an Architect. But got addimission to study Estate Management at
University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus. My NYSC placement in a real estate firm (Ora Egbnike & Associates) as a estate surveyor with the responsibility of managing teams and maintaining complex highrise properties deepened my interest in management of buildings.
My Chairman, decided to explore facilities management in the late 1990s, when FM was still
largely foreign to the Nigerian built environment and I was appointed to facilitate the running of Total Facilities Management Limited (TFML). Interestingly, a few days before, I had received a word from my Pastor concerning a promotion in my workplace which provided the confirmation to accept the challenge. With that one decision my career took a defining turn running TFML from inception.
Looking back, my journey into leadership did not begin with a title. From being an Assistant General Manager, to an Executive Director and then the Managing Director in 2006, It all began with a commitment to stewardship understanding that buildings are living assets with lifecycles, risks, and responsibilities. That long-term, detail-oriented perspective still anchors everything I do as a purposeful leader today. I believe structure is not rigidity; it is protection. I believe systems create freedom. And I believe that long-term value will always outweigh short-term visibility
Q2. You hold a B.Sc. in Estate Management, a PGD in Project Management, an MBA, and professional certifications like MRICS and CIWFM. How did your education and professional development prepare you for executive leadership?
Every phase of my academic and professional development strengthened a different dimension of my leadership capability. My B.Sc. in Estate Management gave me technical competence, a rigorous understanding of the built environment that I draw on daily. My postgraduate studies in Project Management refined my ability to execute with precision and manage complexity across multiple workstreams. My MBA has broadened my perspective beyond operations into strategy, finance, and organisational behaviour, helping me think at the enterprise level.
My professional affiliations MRICS and CIWFM have connected me to a global community of
practitioners who play in the highest standard of excellence in our industry. They have deepened my appreciation for governance, ethics, and accountability as the non-negotiables of professional leadership.
Taken together, my education has given me more than credentials. It has given me competence, genuine exposure, and perhaps most importantly the confidence to lead and perform in an industry that has historically been dominated by men. That is why I am an unapologetic advocate for continuous learning. However, I must still acknowledge the grace and help of God at every stage of my career.
Q3. As CEO, you lead over 600 staff nationwide. How do you maintain clarity,
accountability, and operational excellence at this scale?
Scale cannot be managed casually. It must be structured, intentional, and governed. The moment I accepted that truth, my approach to leadership became far more deliberate.
We have invested significantly in building a governance architecture that distributes leadership across departments and regions rather than concentrating it at the top. Every team member understands the company's vision, mission, and core values. Expectations are clear and outcomes are measurable. Accountability flows upward and downward because communication at TFML is never a one-way street.
Operational excellence is driven by our ISO certifications, which provide a standardised
framework that guides how we work both internally and in our client relationships. When new staff join us, structured induction processes ensure they understand the TFML standard from day one.
We also invest heavily in leadership development within the organisation, because sustainable performance cannot rest on one office or one person. When teams operate with clarity, they perform with confidence. That is the principle we are built on.
Q4. Corporate governance is a key focus for you. How do you embed governance,
discipline, and ethical leadership into everyday operations?
I do not treat corporate governance as a formality or a compliance exercise. I treat it as an
institutional safeguard, the foundation on which the survival and long-term success of any
company must be built. Clear policies, transparent processes, proper oversight, and uncompromising ethical standards protect not just the organisation, but everyone who depends on it: employees, clients, and all stakeholders alike.
Culture begins at the top, so when leadership demonstrates discipline consistently in decision-making, in conduct, in accountability, the organisation internalizes that standard. You cannot mandate a culture you do not model. At TFML, we reinforce our values through regular training, strategy sessions, team retreats, and a deliberate checks-and-balances structure at every organisational level.
We have also embraced technology as a governance enabler. Digital tools now allow us to track performance, monitor compliance, and flag issues with far greater speed and transparency than was possible before. Ethical leadership cannot be delegated. But with the right systems in place, it can be sustained.
Q5. What strategies have helped TFML become a premium, resilient brand, and how do you integrate innovation and workplace strategy to deliver value for clients?
Positioning TFML as a premium brand required deliberate, long-term thinking. We were not
chasing quick wins. We were building something durable. That meant investing seriously in our people, standardising our processes, and consistently delivering on our promises because integrity-competence-empathy are what builds trust, and trust is what builds reputation.
A defining milestone in that journey was becoming the first Nigerian facilities management
company to achieve triple ISO certification: ISO 41001:2018 for Facility Management Systems, ISO 9001:2015 for Quality Management, and ISO 45001:2018 for Occupational Health and Safety. Those certifications represent how we actually operate.
On the innovation side, we have integrated digital tools, performance tracking systems, and
sustainability practices into our service delivery. But what I believe truly differentiates us is how we listen. We do not offer a generic product. We collaborate with each client to understand their specific objectives, and then we align our FM strategy with theirs. Facilities management today is not simply about maintenance, it is a strategic function that shapes workplace efficiency, sustainability, and the environments in which people do their best work. That is the value TFML delivers.
Q6. Sustainability and social responsibility are central to your leadership. How do these
priorities shape TFML and your NGO work with Agathos for the Widows Foundation?
Sustainability is not a trend for me, it is a leadership philosophy and a professional responsibility. I am genuinely encouraged to see the Nigerian government and property owners beginning to take it more seriously. The decisions we make today in the built environment have consequences for people and for the planet, both now and far into the future. Green building practices are reshaping the conversation, and rightly so. They are changing how we design, how we manage, and how we think about our obligations to the next generation.
Within TFML, this translates into green procedures, energy efficiency measures, responsible
waste management, recycling initiatives, and a long-term approach to asset care that extends the useful life of the facilities we manage. We are building responsibly, not just efficiently. Beyond the corporate space, I believe that genuine leadership must contribute to society in tangible ways. Success without responsibility is incomplete. The Agathos for the Widows Foundation (AWF) is an initiative, where that conviction takes its most personal form.
Many widows across Nigeria face profound economic and social isolation after losing their husbands, struggling to provide for themselves and their children with very little support. Since we began, the Foundation has reached approximately 1,000 widows, and we give thanks for every life that has been touched. It is a reminder that our reach as leaders extends far beyond the office.
Q7. As the first female Chairman of the Abuja Zone of the Chartered Institute of Directors, what advice do you have for young women aspiring to leadership in male-dominated industries?
Yes, I am the first female Chairman after the Institute got its Chartered Status. The position came with a weight of responsibility that I did not take lightly. I have being a member of the institute since 2004 and have served in various capacities in the Executive committee of the Abuja Branch. I showed up, made contributions and took up responsibilities.
My advice to young women is to invest in themselves, build capacity, engage, participate, take on responsibilities, and contribute in the growth of their industry. They should develop emotional intelligence, cultivate resilience, because resistance will come sometimes, and it must not be allowed to define their trajectory. They should study the environments they want to lead in and understand the dynamics of power, structure, and performance. When high-stakes moments arrive, decisiveness, strategic thinking, and quiet confidence will serve them far better than noise.
At the same time, do not underestimate what you bring by virtue of your perspective. What some label as "female instinct" is often something far more sophisticated: refined perception, emotional awareness, and relational intelligence. These are not just soft qualities, they are competitive advantages. Own them. Leadership, in the end, is sustained by substance before anything else Build yours without apology.
Q8. 8. What personal values guide your leadership, and what legacy do you hope to
leave in your profession and for African women leaders?
I am guided by a set of values that I return to especially in uncertain times: a commitment to
continuous learning and growth; hard work directed at the right things; integrity as a nonnegotiable; personal discipline; humility that keeps me grounded; empathy that keeps me human; a stewardship mindset that reminds me I am a custodian, not an owner; and an abiding faith that makes God a partner in everything I do.
In terms of legacy, I hope to be remembered as someone who built systems that outlasted her tenure, structures, standards, and cultures that continued to produce excellence long after any individual had moved on. I hope to be remembered as someone who inspired others to pursue their purpose with intention and to lead with both competence and character.
For African women specifically, my deepest hope is that more of them will step into senior
leadership with confidence, not because the path has been cleared, but because they have seen it modelled. If my journey contributes even a small part to that, it will have been worthwhile.
Q9. 9. Finally, what message would you like to share with the WLI community and our
readers this month?
Leadership is responsibility before it is recognition. That is the truth I would want every woman reading this to carry with her. Prepare deeply. Strengthen your knowledge base. Guard your integrity as though your entire future depends on it because it does. Be willing to sacrifice short-term comfort for long-term ambition. The seasons of preparation are never wasted; they are the very seasons that determine whether you are truly ready when the moment comes.
The theme of 2026 International Women’s Day (IWD) is “Give to Gain”, so we should be willing to share knowledge, give support, add value, and collaborate to gain advancement for our women and girls.
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