Funmi Coker has a BSc in Chemical Engineering from Loughborough University and a PhD from the University of Nottingham. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers in the UK, a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Chemical Engineers and a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Engineers. He started his career working in the technical headquarters of NNPC on refinery projects. He subsequently worked as a Business Development Adviser with Shell International Gas Limited and as the Expansion Co-ordinatior of Nigeria LNG Limited.

He subsequently worked as the Executive Director, Joint Venture Operations of the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) and then as the Managing Director of OKLNG, a joint venture of NNPC, Shell and Chevron established for the development of a LNG and NGLs project in Olokola in Nigeria. Since 2012 he has been an Independent Energy Consultant.