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Uwa Festus-Olagbende

CBAP-Certified Business Analyst

Turning operational complexity into clear, practical business solutions.

I combine structured Business Analysis practice with more than 15 years of leadership across operations, hospitality, customer experience and business development — helping organisations understand problems, improve processes and make stronger decisions.

View My WorkLet’s Connect
Based in
Tomball, Texas
Experience across
Nigeria · Canada · United States
Portrait of Uwa Festus-Olagbende, Business Analyst and business transformation professional.

Certified

CBAP — Certified Business Analysis Professional

International Institute of Business Analysis

Professional credibility and impact

Years of leadershipAcross operations, hospitality, customer experience and business development
15+
Countries of experienceProfessional and academic work in Nigeria, Canada and the United States
3
Delegates supportedHospitality operations for international conferences at LoveWorld Inc.
20,000+
Team members ledRecruited, trained and supervised within her own hospitality business
15+

About

From operational leadership to structured Business Analysis

I have spent my career where strategy becomes daily execution — building and running a hospitality business, directing guest operations for international conferences, coordinating employees and vendors, and representing thousands of students in institutional governance.

That work taught me that business problems are rarely caused by one thing. They sit across people, processes, information, customer needs, controls and competing priorities — and they are usually visible long before anyone writes a requirement.

I now bring CBAP-certified Business Analysis practice to that experience: defining business problems, mapping current processes, documenting requirements, identifying gaps and developing recommendations that the people responsible for implementation can actually use.

I improve businesses, operations and processes — not only software.

What makes the analysis different

  • She has run the operation, not only analysed it

    Founding and managing a catering, bakery and events business meant owning staffing, suppliers, cost, quality, service recovery and risk. Operational judgement of that kind is difficult to acquire from documentation alone.

  • She works with executives and frontline teams equally well

    From senior leadership and boards to instructors, cooks and service staff — she adapts the conversation to the audience and gives frontline employees space to explain how the work is really done.

  • She separates facts from assumptions

    Discovery starts with what is known, what is assumed and what is missing. Making information gaps visible early is often more valuable than producing another document.

  • She has worked across three countries

    Nigeria, Canada and the United States — across hospitality, publishing, education and small business — which builds a practical, cross-cultural view of how organisations actually operate.

Why the operational background matters

Operational experience changes what I notice. I can tell when a proposed process will quietly create extra work, when a requirement will be difficult to enforce during a busy shift, when a metric cannot be collected reliably, and when a solution has overlooked the customer or the employee expected to deliver it.

Every recommendation weighs

People
Needs, responsibilities, capability and adoption
Process
Workflow, controls, handoffs and consistency
Data
Evidence, measures, quality and decision support
Technology
Functionality, usability and fit with the business

Industry expertise

Analysis grounded in the industries she has actually run

Hospitality is not unrelated career history — it is the reason the operational analysis is credible.

Hospitality & Food Service

Catering, bakery, restaurant, banquet and large-scale event operations — production workflow, staffing, purchasing, food safety, service standards and customer recovery.

Problems she is equipped to solve

  • Operating procedures that change from shift to shift
  • Front-of-house and back-of-house working from different information
  • Food and labour cost leaking through uncontrolled portions and waste
  • Owner-led activity that cannot scale into repeatable operations

Primary differentiator

  • Business Operations

    Workforce coordination, scheduling, vendor management, inventory, quality assurance and service-delivery monitoring in environments where handoffs decide the outcome.

  • Business Transformation

    Helping organisations move from informal, owner-led practice to measurable, repeatable operations — current-state assessment through to change support.

  • Small-Business Support

    Practical analysis for founders who need better information, documented processes and a prioritised view of which growth decision to make first.

  • Customer Experience

    Enquiry-to-conversion journeys, service failures, complaint handling and the operational causes behind an inconsistent customer experience.

  • Education & Training

    Training facilitation, student representation and turning procedures into guidance that people can follow without supervision.

Uwa also contributes to digital-product work — financial services, student housing, culinary education and marketplace concepts — as a Business Analyst defining business and user requirements. Her contribution is analysis, requirements and product definition, not software engineering.

Core competencies

The Business Analysis practice behind the work

Eight capabilities applied consistently across operational engagements, small-business consulting and digital-product discovery.

Requirements Elicitation

Interviews, workshops, observation and structured information requests that surface what stakeholders actually need — and what nobody has written down yet.

Process Analysis & Improvement

Mapping how work really moves between people and stages, then identifying bottlenecks, missing controls and improvements staff can realistically adopt.

Stakeholder Analysis & Alignment

Stakeholder registers, RACI and facilitated discussion to clarify who is affected, who decides and where expectations currently conflict.

AS-IS & TO-BE Analysis

Current-state and future-state process models — including BPMN-style modelling on digital projects — used as the basis for requirements and recommendations.

Business Problem Definition

Separating symptoms from causes, and facts from assumptions, so that a project starts from a defined problem rather than a preferred solution.

Customer Journey Analysis

Following the customer from first enquiry through to delivery to locate where interest, trust or conversion is being lost.

KPI & Data Requirements

Defining the measures a business needs, the fields required to capture them and who is accountable for the data once collection begins.

Solution Evaluation & Change Support

Acceptance criteria, stakeholder validation, SOPs and training material so an approved change is understood and adopted by the people using it.

How change happens

From the process you have to the value you need

Every engagement follows the same line of reasoning — understand the current state, expose what it costs, agree what must change, then design something the organisation can actually operate.

Stage 01

AS-IS Process

Before anything changes, the current process is documented as it genuinely happens — including the workarounds, the informal steps and the knowledge that lives in one person's head.

Typical activity

  • Process observation
  • Stakeholder interviews
  • Document review
  • Current-state map

Services

Six ways I help organisations move forward

Each engagement starts from a business problem rather than a deliverable list — and ends with something the organisation can use after the work finishes.

Operational Business Analysis

You know something is not working — but not what to fix first.

A structured review of how work is currently performed, where information or accountability is missing, and which issues are genuinely affecting customers, employees and performance.

  • AS-IS assessment
  • Problem statement
  • Stakeholder map
  • Prioritised recommendations

Process Analysis & Improvement

Repeated errors, unclear handoffs and work that depends on one person's memory.

I document how work moves between people and stages, find the bottlenecks and missing controls, and design a future state that the employees who use it can realistically sustain.

  • Process maps
  • Gap analysis
  • TO-BE workflow
  • SOP recommendations

Requirements Elicitation & Documentation

Stakeholders expect different things and none of it is written down.

Interviews, workshops and document review that turn ideas and concerns into clear, reviewable requirements — what the business needs, why it matters, who is affected and how success will be judged.

  • Business requirements
  • User stories
  • Acceptance criteria
  • Requirements backlog

Stakeholder Workshops & Alignment

Decisions stall because ownership, priorities and expectations do not match.

Facilitated sessions that help stakeholders define needs, clarify responsibilities and agree next steps — comfortable with executives, owners, frontline employees, vendors and project teams alike.

  • Stakeholder register
  • RACI
  • Workshop notes
  • Decision and action log

Business Case & Growth Analysis

Several ideas on the table and no evidence for choosing between them.

Clarifies the business need, evaluates the realistic options, exposes the risks and assumptions behind each one, and defines how value should be measured before money is committed.

  • Business case
  • Options analysis
  • Risk summary
  • Proposed KPIs

Hospitality Operations Consulting

Inconsistent production, weak service controls and difficulty scaling beyond the owner.

Business Analysis applied with direct hospitality leadership — service delivery, production workflow, food-safety controls, role clarity, inventory practice and the customer journey through your operation.

  • Operational assessment
  • SOPs and checklists
  • Role clarification
  • Improvement plan

Supporting capabilities

SOP and operational documentation · Solution evaluation and implementation support · KPI and data-requirement definition · Training and change communication material

Consultation approach

How an engagement runs

Formal Business Analysis technique without unnecessary complication — explained in practical language, with deliverables the organisation can still use after the engagement ends.

  1. Discovery

    Establish the business context, identify stakeholders, review available information and understand the problem from more than one perspective.

    • Business problem statement
    • Stakeholder list
    • Assumptions and information gaps

  2. Analysis

    Examine processes, data, customer needs, responsibilities, risks and constraints to determine what is causing the problem and what must change.

    • AS-IS process map
    • Gap analysis
    • Root-cause findings
    • Requirements

  3. Recommendation

    Develop and compare practical options against business value, feasibility, stakeholder needs and implementation reality.

    • TO-BE process
    • Business case
    • Prioritised recommendations
    • Success measures

  4. Implementation Support

    Translate approved decisions into clear actions, responsibilities, requirements, procedures and user guidance.

    • Implementation roadmap
    • SOPs
    • User stories and acceptance criteria
    • Readiness checklist

  5. Evaluation

    Assess whether the change addressed the original need, gather feedback and identify the improvements worth making next.

    • KPI review
    • Stakeholder feedback
    • Solution evaluation
    • Lessons learned

Professional experience

Fifteen years of leading operations, teams and service delivery

The roles that shaped the analysis — business ownership, large-scale hospitality, regional sales leadership, student governance and current Business Analysis practice.

  1. 2026 — Present

    Business Analysis consulting

    Requirements Analyst

    OyaSync ConsultingRemote

    Works within a three-person Business Analysis team to define a business problem, establish project foundations and produce structured requirements deliverables.

    • Develops the business problem statement and separates confirmed facts from assumptions and open questions.
    • Plans elicitation activity, documents and validates requirements, and contributes to the requirements backlog.
    • Prepares stakeholder registers, meeting summaries and review materials for decision-maker sign-off.
    • Requirements
    • Problem definition
    • Stakeholder analysis
    • Elicitation planning

  2. July 2026 — Present

    Driver education

    Driving Instructor & Business-Growth Contributor

    Tomball Elite Driving SchoolTomball, Texas

    Delivers driving instruction while contributing Business Analysis to a recently acquired small business that lacked the operational data needed to make growth decisions.

    • Built the AS-IS view of enquiry handling, enrolment, class scheduling and service delivery through observation and owner discussions.
    • Defined the data the business needs to capture — enquiries, conversion, referral sources, class fill rate, instructor utilisation and cancellations.
    • Proposed customer-engagement and community-outreach options with a measurement framework to evaluate them.
    • AS-IS assessment
    • Data requirements
    • KPI definition
    • Customer journey

  3. December 2025 — Present

    Hospitality, catering and consulting

    Hospitality & Culinary Operations Manager

    Korewa's Kitchen & EventsTexas

    Manages private food-service assignments and applies food-safety, operational and process-management practice within a United States operating environment.

    • Gathers client requirements and converts them into menus, quantities, schedules and resource plans.
    • Develops SOPs and food-safety controls, and analyses production and service workflows.
    • Evaluates customer feedback and operational lessons after each engagement.
    • SOP development
    • Requirements
    • Process analysis
    • Food safety

  4. May 2024 — May 2025

    Education and student governance

    President & Chairperson

    Holland College Student UnionPrince Edward Island, Canada

    Elected to represent a student population of more than 5,000 and to participate in institutional governance discussions with senior college leadership.

    • Represented student interests to college executives, faculty and administrators.
    • Coordinated student-union priorities and supported issue resolution across diverse student groups.
    • Participated in governance discussion as a student representative.
    • Stakeholder representation
    • Facilitation
    • Governance
    • Change communication

  5. January 2019 — December 2023

    Catering, bakery and events

    Founder & Managing Director

    Korewa's Kitchen & EventsLagos, Nigeria

    Founded and ran a full-service catering, bakery and events business — owning strategy, operations, staffing, suppliers, cost control, quality and customer delivery.

    • Recruited, trained and supervised a team of more than 15 employees.
    • Delivered weddings and corporate functions ranging from private gatherings to events of approximately 1,000 guests.
    • Introduced SOPs, portion standards, stock controls and event checklists that made delivery repeatable as volume grew.
    • Business ownership
    • SOPs
    • Cost control
    • Root-cause analysis
    • Vendor management

  6. January 2013 — December 2023

    International conferences and events

    Head of Hospitality & VVIP Services

    LoveWorld Inc.Lagos, Nigeria

    Directed hospitality and VVIP service operations for major international conferences, coordinating interdependent services across many internal teams and external providers.

    • Supported international conferences involving more than 20,000 delegates.
    • Coordinated accommodation, transportation, food-service and guest-support functions as a single service operation.
    • Established service standards, planned capacity and resolved service issues during live events.
    • Stakeholder requirements
    • Capacity planning
    • Vendor coordination
    • Service design

  7. January 2012 — March 2019

    Publishing, sales and distribution

    Regional Sales & Marketing Executive Director

    LoveWorld PublishingWest Africa

    Led regional sales, marketing, sponsorship and distribution activity, translating organisational objectives into targets that local teams could execute.

    • Supported sales and distribution operations across more than 20 West African countries.
    • Reviewed market performance and addressed gaps between strategy and local execution.
    • Led teams and coordinated sponsorship and distribution partners across the region.
    • Market analysis
    • Performance reporting
    • Stakeholder alignment
    • Decision support

Selected earlier experience

Canadian hospitality placements completed alongside the Culinary Institute of Canada diploma. Included for operational context rather than Business Analysis relevance.

  • August — December 2025

    Culinary Operations Associate

    Delta Hotels by MarriottCharlottetown, Canada

    Banquet and hotel culinary production within structured international operating procedures — standardisation, quality control and audit readiness.

  • August 2024 — August 2025

    Dietary Aide

    Andrews of CharlottetownCharlottetown, Canada

    Meal-service operations in a regulated environment — allergen controls, process adherence and resident service.

  • March — December 2024

    Culinary Intern

    Salvador Dali CaféPrince Edward Island, Canada

    Frontline restaurant workflow across breakfast, lunch and dinner service — demand patterns, production sequencing and service coordination.

  • March — December 2024

    Culinary Intern

    Harmony HousePrince Edward Island, Canada

    Practical culinary training supporting food production and service in a compliance-led dining operation.

Featured case studies

Specific initiatives, described honestly

Professional engagements, operational initiatives and portfolio projects — each labelled for what it is, with proposed work never presented as a completed result.

Professional engagement

Operational and Growth Assessment for a Driving School

Tomball Elite Driving School

A recently acquired driving school knew its monthly revenue but could not see how enquiries turned into enrolments, how classes and instructors were being used, or which services were worth expanding.

Role
Business Analysis contributor (and driving instructor)
Status
In progress — measurement framework proposed
  • Stakeholder interviews
  • Observation
  • Document analysis

View case study

Collaborative BA project

Requirements and Project Foundations for a Consulting Initiative

OyaSync Consulting

The team needed a clearly defined business problem and a controlled project foundation before any detailed requirements or solution design work could responsibly begin.

Role
Requirements Analyst
Status
Ongoing — discovery and requirements in progress
  • Document analysis
  • Stakeholder analysis
  • Interviews

View case study

Operational initiative

Operational Standardisation in a Catering and Events Business

Korewa's Kitchen & Events

Growth across catering, bakery and event work made informal, owner-led practice unreliable. Production, portioning, staffing, purchasing and service quality varied from one event to the next.

Role
Founder & Managing Director
Status
Implemented
  • Observation
  • Root-cause analysis
  • Process mapping

View case study

Operational initiative

Root-Cause Analysis of a Bakery Weight-Control Problem

Korewa's Kitchen & Events

Some bakery portions were finishing below their expected weight, putting product consistency, customer trust and cost accuracy at risk.

Role
Founder & Managing Director
Status
Implemented
  • Observation
  • Process review
  • Root-cause analysis

View case study

Portfolio project

E-Banking Loan Application Process Redesign

A loan application process was slow and difficult to follow for both applicants and the operations team handling the requests.

Role
Business Analyst
Status
Portfolio project — concept and requirements package
  • BPMN-style process modelling
  • Gap analysis
  • RACI

View case study

Portfolio project

CampusEase — Student Housing Platform Discovery

Students struggle to find accommodation that is suitable, affordable and trustworthy, and have little reliable information with which to compare options.

Role
Business / Product Analyst
Status
Portfolio project — product discovery and requirements
  • Product discovery
  • Stakeholder analysis
  • User stories

View case study

Toolkit

Tools, techniques, methodologies and deliverables

Four different things, kept separate on purpose. Software is only useful once the technique and the deliverable are clear.

Tools

Working software used to produce and share analysis.

  • Microsoft Word
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • draw.io
  • AI-assisted research and documentation

Jira, Confluence and Trello are in active practice and are described as developing, not established, proficiency.

Techniques

How information is gathered, tested and turned into evidence.

  • Stakeholder interviews
  • Workshops and facilitation
  • Observation
  • Document analysis
  • Process mapping
  • Gap analysis
  • Root-cause analysis
  • Customer-journey analysis
  • Risk, assumptions and constraints analysis
  • KPI identification
  • Requirements prioritisation
  • RACI

Methodologies

The frameworks that shape how the work is structured.

  • BABOK-aligned Business Analysis
  • Structured discovery
  • Business process management
  • Continuous improvement
  • Product discovery
  • Agile and Scrum concepts

Agile and Scrum concepts are applied through training and collaborative practice projects; Uwa is not Scrum certified.

Deliverables

The artefacts a client or delivery team receives.

  • Business problem statements
  • Project charter, vision and objectives
  • Scope, assumptions and constraints
  • Stakeholder registers
  • Elicitation plans
  • Requirements backlogs
  • Business requirements
  • User stories and acceptance criteria
  • AS-IS and TO-BE process maps
  • Risk logs
  • Data-capture and KPI frameworks
  • SOPs, checklists and training guides

Education & certifications

Qualifications behind the practice

Education

  1. Diploma in Culinary Arts

    Culinary Institute of Canada, Holland College

    Prince Edward Island, Canada2023 — 2025

    Hospitality operations · Production planning · Food safety · Cost awareness

  2. Master of Science, Political Science

    International Relations

    University of Ibadan

    Nigeria

    Research · Critical analysis · Institutional and policy analysis · Written communication

  3. Bachelor of Science, Political Science

    University of Ibadan

    Nigeria1994 — 1999

    Research · Analysis · Governance · Organisational and social systems

Certifications

Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP)

International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA)2026

  • Business Analysis planning and monitoring
  • Elicitation and collaboration
  • Requirements lifecycle management
  • Strategy analysis
  • Requirements analysis and design definition
  • Solution evaluation

Operational and hospitality certifications

  • ServSafe Food Protection Manager

    National Restaurant Association2026

  • TABC Seller-Server Certification

    Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission2026

  • HACCP Level 2

    Food safety certification

  • Food Safety Levels 1 and 2

    Canada

  • WHMIS 2015

    Workplace hazardous materials2023

  • First Aid and CPR/AED Level C

    Canada

Red Seal Block 1 and Block 2 examinations completed. This reflects examination progress and is not equivalent to holding the full Canadian Red Seal endorsement.

Let's connect

Tell me what is not working

Whether it is a role, a process that keeps breaking or a business decision without enough evidence behind it — start with the problem and we will work out whether I am the right person for it.

Emailuagbeke@gmail.com

Open to

  • Business Analyst, Operations Analyst and Requirements Analyst roles
  • Process improvement and business transformation projects
  • Hospitality operations consulting engagements
  • Remote, hybrid and Greater Houston area roles
Based in
Tomball, Texas
Curriculum vitae
Available on request

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