The person behind Second Act Advisory
Hello, I'm Funke. And I'm building my second act too.
I'm Olufunke Adeyinka, although most people call me Funke.
I've spent much of my professional life working across finance, technology, project delivery and business transformation. Along the way, I've learned how to make sense of complicated problems, bring structure to ideas and help turn plans into something practical.
And I still enjoy the work I do.
But as I've grown older, I've also started thinking more intentionally about the years ahead. What I want to build for myself, how I want to use everything I've learned, and how I can make that experience valuable beyond my existing career.
Those questions have shaped the work I'm doing through Second Act Advisory.
My career hasn't followed one straight line.
I've worked across different industries, roles and responsibilities, from banking in Nigeria to building a professional career in the UK.
Over the years, I've moved through hospitality, public sector work, technology and business transformation, developing new skills and adapting to different environments along the way.
Some of those transitions were planned. Others came through opportunities I hadn't originally considered.
Looking back, I can see how much of what I know today has been built through those experiences.
And one thing I've learned is that the value of our professional experience isn't always obvious when we're in the middle of living it.
We become good at solving problems, organising people, managing competing priorities, making decisions and helping things work better.
Often, we simply see those abilities as part of doing our jobs.
But sometimes there's much more value in what we've learned than we've stopped to recognise.
I kept noticing something about experienced women.
I've met women who've spent 20 or 30 years building careers, raising families, running departments, solving problems and supporting other people.
Women with knowledge, judgment and abilities developed through years of experience.
Yet when the conversation turns to what they might do for themselves, many find it difficult to identify an opportunity.
They may have ideas, but aren't sure which one is worth pursuing. Some have never considered that their professional knowledge or practical skills could become a service or business.
Others are approaching retirement and beginning to wonder what comes next.
And some, like me, aren't necessarily looking to leave their careers. They simply want to explore what else might be possible.
I became interested in helping women work through those questions.
Not by assuming everyone needs to become an entrepreneur, but by helping them examine the experience they already have, recognise where it could be valuable and make informed decisions about what to do with it.
That's why I started Second Act Advisory.
I bring both strategic thinking and practical experience.
Much of my professional work has involved understanding problems, asking questions, identifying what matters and working out how to move from an idea to implementation.
It's an approach I now bring to the women I work with.
I listen to your experiences, help you see patterns and possibilities you may have overlooked, and work with you to assess which opportunities are worth exploring.
Then we begin putting structure around the strongest ideas.
That might mean developing a service, defining an offer, clarifying who it's for, building the practical foundations of a business or finding a more effective way of working.
I also use technology and AI where they make the work easier, but they're tools within the process rather than the reason we begin.
The starting point is always you, what you already know, what you're trying to achieve and what makes sense for your life.
I'm building mine too.
One of the reasons this work matters to me is that I'm asking myself some of the same questions.
I continue to build my professional career while growing Second Act Advisory, developing my own ideas and thinking about how I want to spend the next chapter of my life.
I'm also thinking about retirement, independence, the work I want to continue doing and the contribution I'd like to make through sharing what I've learned.
I don't see a second act as something that has to begin with walking away from everything you've already built.
For some women, that may eventually be the right decision.
For others, the next chapter starts by creating another opportunity alongside a career they still enjoy.
I think both are worth exploring.
And I believe those decisions deserve proper thought, rather than pressure to follow someone else's version of success.
A practical approach, shaped around you.
When we work together, we start with your experience and your circumstances.
We look at what you know, the problems you can solve, the possibilities available to you and what you realistically have the time and resources to pursue.
Some ideas will be stronger than others. Part of my role is helping you make that distinction.
I don't promise that every idea will become a profitable business. Commercial opportunities need to be examined, tested and developed.
What I offer is the opportunity to work through that process with someone who brings strategic thinking, structure, honest feedback and practical support.
See → Shape → Build → Move → Grow
What I believe
- 1
You are not starting again. You are starting from experience.
- 2
A viable offer begins with the problem, the person and real demand.
- 3
One clear offer beats five half-finished ideas.
- 4
Evidence, not opinion. The market decides what grows.
- 5
You don't have to leave your job to begin.
Why I believe we're Already Qualified.
Alongside Second Act Advisory, I'm developing Already Qualified, my podcast and a space for conversations about experience, identity, reinvention and the possibilities that open up as we move through different stages of life.
The name reflects something I've been thinking about for a long time.
So many experienced women continue looking for more qualifications, more validation or another reason to believe they're ready.
Of course, learning matters. I believe in continuing to develop ourselves.
But I also believe we should examine the value of what we've already learned before assuming we have nothing to offer.
Already Qualified is where I explore those ideas through conversations, personal reflections and the experiences of other women.
I'd love to hear what you've been thinking about.
Perhaps you've been considering doing something with your experience for a while.
Maybe you have several ideas and aren't sure where to focus. Or perhaps you simply want to understand what opportunities might be available to you.
We can start by looking at what you've already built through your years of work and life, and what it could make possible.