Muni Shonibare has over 30 years’ experience in Interior Design. She is the CEO and founder of IO Furniture, its retail line PIQIT by IO Furniture and is also a Director and co-founder of Ethniki, an affiliate to IO Furniture.
She founded Interior Options in 1987, rebranding the company as I.O. Furniture in 2008 as the company expanded its services beyond interior design to include furniture manufacturing. In 2002, she co-founded a spin-off company from IO Furniture Ltd called Ethniki to pursue a line of African inspired furniture and accessories, design, production, and trading. The Ethniki range also promotes ethnic culture, local artisans, and arts and crafts, celebrating the rich and vibrant African lifestyle.
In 2020, she launched a retail line called PIQIT by IO, a subsidiary of IO Furniture, that provides a retail lifestyle concept range of furniture and accessories. The name ‘PIQIT’ is an acronym for the values of IO Furniture (Proactivity, Integrity, Quality, Innovation and TeamWork).
In 1980, Munira graduated with a degree in Industrial Design from Ahmadu Bello University, after which she spent her service year as a Fine art teacher passing on her skills to o-level students. In 1982, she applied for a scholarship and got accepted into the Instituto del Arte il restauro in Florence, Italy for a- postgraduate diploma in Interior Design. She spent 2 years studying and forging links with the Italian design Industry.
In 1984, she moved back to Nigeria to work as an Interior Designer at Habitat Associates in Kaduna for a year before co-founding a company called Avant Garde. Avant Garde was a company that specialised in developing interior design schemes for residences, offices and hospitality outfits in Kaduna and Lagos.
Munira has successfully executed many big projects, most notably being the renovation of the 5-star Hilton Hotel in Abuja in 2007, The Wheatbaker Hotel in 2011, Federal Judicial Service Commission Abuja, Asset and Resource Management Co, Four Points by Sheraton Lagos in 2015, Cummins Head office in 2019 to a name a few. She is the founding president of the Interior Designers Association of Nigeria affiliated to the International Federation of Interior Designers and Architects.
She participates in numerous social and community activities including mentorship programmes at organisations like Fate Foundation, WISCAR, Mara Foundation and Vital Voices. She was a panelist at the Harvard Business School Africa conference in 2013 and at Central Bank of Nigeria’s annual MSME Finance Conference.
Munira speaks 5 languages including English, Italian, Yoruba, Ebira and Hausa.