Meet Nicole Adewale
Dr. Nicole Adewale, principal and co-founder of ABNA Engineering, is a well-known figure in the St. Louis Region for her dedication to opening the eyes young people to careers in STEAM and for mentoring other M/WBE businesses.
She, her Mom, and daughters are all members of Alpha Kappa Alpha. She is a lifetime member of the National Association of Black Engineers and involved on the international level with First Robotics,
She is known and respected in the industry for her role over three decades building ABNA, a highly successful firm which provides services in the civil, environmental, construction management, transportation, structural, land surveying, MEP, GIS/Planning, and Mass Transit spaces.
Nicole Adewale co-founded ABNA in 1994 with Abe Adewale, her partner in business and in life. A graduate of University City High School, she earned her bachelor’s degree in engineering in 1991 from Georgia Tech. While Abe Adewale attended Georgia Tech at the same time, the pair didn’t meet until they both took positions at the Illinois Department of Transportation.
While at IDOT they married, had the first of their four children and began the path that led them today. Both Nicole and Abe and entrepreneurial roots in their families. After spending three years at IDOT — where they could see a lot of big projects in the pipeline – they made the decision to incorporate ABNA. A few years later, after a heart-to-heart conversation during a family gathering, they went all-in on entrepreneurism.
Nicole Adewale said that the pair evolved over the years as leaders by demanding accountability and empowering their team members. She and Abe believe that they are called to give others a place at the starting line and to help them find a career path. They count among their successes the interns and entry-level survey techs who have gone on to become long-term employees or have founded businesses
Her passion to uplift lives translated in 2021 to Nicole’s return to school at UMSL for a doctorate in education. She had received a second bachelor’s in urban Affairs from Harris Stowe earlier that year.
“Of course you have to make money to survive, but at our core, we want to provide excellent service to our community in the way of protecting our nation’s infrastructure.”
“And we also want to add to the landscape of civil engineering, construction services, and land surveying professionals.”