For more than seven decades, United Bank For Africa, UBA has been providing superior financial services to small businesses, corporations, governments, institutions and individuals globally. UBA is present in the United Kingdom, the U.S.A. and France.
From the Board of directors to the Management Board, UBA has placed a considerable high priority for women who have proven to be capable to manage the delicate affair of a bank that unarguably position itself at the forefront of Nigeria’s customer-focused financial institution.
With an increasing number of women on its board, the trend towards women in leadership positions seems to be on the rise. In fact, there are more women running the banking affairs in UBA today than at any other bank in Nigeria.
City People brings you 10 of the women who run UBA with Dr Tony Elumelu.
ONARI DUKE
Mrs. Onari Duke has led a distinguished career which has straddled the roles of lawyer, public servant, entrepreneur and philanthropist. The former First Lady of Cross Rivers State, Nigeria, Mrs. Duke used her position to raise awareness and currently serves as the Country Director of EMPRETEC Nigeria Foundation; a United Nations Centre for Trade & Development (UNCTAD) Private Sector Support Initiative that aims to assist Nigerians to achieve high levels of productivity and competitiveness among SMEs.
Mrs. Duke is also the Managing Partner of the law firm Duke and Bobmanuel. She is a certified Mediation/Dispute Resolution Consultant. In addition to this she serves as the Executive Chairman of Allied Merchants & Brokers Limited, a leading merchandising and brokerage firm.
ANGELA ANEKE
Ms. Angela Aneke is a board advisor, banker and a strategic thinker with over 30 years’ experience in financial services, in the areas of financial control, strategy, transaction banking, corporate banking, retail banking, and governance. Ms. Aneke has held executive management and board positions in several international and regional institutions, including Ecobank Transnational Incorporated and the United Bank for Africa.
ERELU ANGELA ADEBAYO
Erelu Angela Adebayo who graduated with an M.Phil in Land Economy from Cambridge University is the former First Lady of Ekiti State in Nigeria. Mrs. Adebayo previously served on the boards of several organizations, including the Dangote Foundation, DN Meyer Plc, Wemabod Estates. Mrs. Adebayo is a council member of the Nigerian Stock Exchange and has worked extensively on real estate development and She is the Chairman of the Erelu Adebayo Foundation for the underprivileged.
AMIE NDIAYE SOW
Amie has over two decades of banking experience, spanning business development, risk management, and broader executive management functions. As the Regional CEO, West Africa 2, Amie oversees the Group’s subsidiaries in Senegal, Guinea, and Mali. Prior to her current role, she was the Managing Director/CEO, UBA Senegal, one of the Group’s flagship subsidiaries that won “Bank of the Year” Award of the Banker’s Magazine (Financial Times) for six consecutive years.
Amie is renowned for her wealth of experience in corporate banking, structured finance, and SMEs lending and relationship management across the CEMAC sub-region. She has strong relationships in West, Central, and East Africa and has deep knowledge of the banking sector and the broader economy of these countries. Amie has three Masters degrees in Economics, Banking & Insurance, and Public Finance from leading universities in Senegal.
ABIOLA BAWUAH
Abiola Bawuah is the Regional CEO, West Africa 1, overseeing the Group’s subsidiaries in Ghana, Benin Republic, Cote D’Ivoire, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Previously, she was the Managing Director/CEO of UBA Ghana, with enormous experience in retail banking and marketing. In 2013, she left Zenith Bank Ghana; where she was the Executive Director; having previously held the positions of the General Manager, Marketing and Group Head, Retail Banking; and joined UBA Ghana as Deputy Managing Director the same year. Mrs. Bawuah also worked with Standard Chartered Bank as the Head of Sales; with CAL Bank as Relationship Manager; Strategic African Securities as an authorized dealing broker and with the then Bentsi-Enchi and Letsa; now Bentsi-Enchil, Letsa and Ankomah law firm as an investment officer.
Bawuah holds a BSc in Actuarial Science from the University of Lagos, Nigeria, an LLB from the University of London, a diploma in Marketing from GIMPA and EMBA (Finance) from the University of Ghana. She also has numerous leadership qualifications from Harvard Business School, Columbia, University of New York, INSEAD and Institut Villa Pierrefeu in Switzerland.
ADESOLA YOMI AJAYI
Adesola has a first degree from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and an MBA from the Aberdeen Business School. Sola is a highly experienced banker with over 22 years of banking experience cutting across Business Development (managing Corporate and Institutional relationships), Structured Lending, Transaction Banking, Commercial Banking, Correspondent Banking, and Banking Operations.
Adesola is currently the Group Head, Global Financial Institutions for UBA Group operating out of our London office, and has responsibility for managing UBA’s relationships with Banks, Development Financial Organisations and Export Credit Agencies. In addition, she is responsible for originating and negotiating foreign currency debt funding for the Group, as well as forging and managing UBA’s strategic alliances across the globe.
She has benefited from the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge’s executive education program while also attending several industry-specific training in banking and management. Sola is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, UK.
DUPE OLUSOLA
Dupe made Ventures Africa’s 10 Most Influential Nigerian CEOs Of 2015. She is currently the Group Head, Marketing for UBA Group and is responsible for the development and delivery of integrated strategy for all UBA Group Bank and non-bank subsidiaries. Prior to her current role, she was the group Head Embassies, Multilaterals and Development Organizations (EMDOs) and Global Investors Services (GIS) at United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc. Through her leadership, there were meritorious expansion in the Bank’s stake in the EMDOs & GIS sector across Africa and beyond. Dupe has a deep knowledge of several corporate and retail market economies.
Before joining UBA, Dupe had a distinguished career as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Teragro Commodities Limited (an indigenous agricultural company). She spearheaded a partnership with Coca Cola to produce Five Alive Pulpy Orange Juice – making Teragro the sole local material source for the juice in Nigeria.
Her professional experience spans various sectors locally and internationally in capacities that encompass private equity from African Capital Alliance, investments and SME experience from Growing Business Foundation, Bloomberg Financial Markets UK, SecTrust (now Afriinvest), Transcorp Corporation and Northern Trust Corporation of Chicago, UK.
Dupe studied Economics at the University of Leicester, United Kingdom and obtained her M.Sc in Development Economics from the University of Kent. She is Prince 2, PMP and Investor Management Certified (all UK).
BOLA ATTA
Bola Atta was voted one of the top 40 Nigerians under 40 in 2008. She was also celebrated as one of the 100 most influential women in Nigeria in March 2015. A graduate of Economics with MBA in Marketing, she has over 25 years of experience in diverse fields ranging from Banking, Business, Communications, Publishing, Entertainment, and the Media. Approximately 17 out of these 25+ years have been in high-level management and entrepreneurship, enabling her to gain expertise in each of these varied fields of work. She has worked in private enterprise and with government agencies both in Nigeria and South Africa using her expertise in public relations and increasing her wide network within Africa. In 2003, she was invited by the African Leadership Institute in partnership with the UNDP to work on a panel for the development of scenarios for South Africa in 2020. This week-long seminar brought together young leaders from all parts of Africa to map out scenarios for the future not only of South Africa but of the entire continent. It has since evolved into the Bishop Tutu Fellows for young African Leaders.
Former Editor-in-chief of Africa’s leading publication, True Love magazine, Atta who is the Executive Producer of the acclaimed Africa’s Next Top Model series, now works as the Group Head of Communications for the United Bank for Africa. Her role involves, but is not limited to, directing the development and execution of global marketing and communications initiatives for the Bank as well as managing brand delivery and consistency across all markets and for all products line. In furtherance of her duties, she recently attended the High Potential Leadership Programme at the Harvard Business School.
EMEM USORO
mem is currently a Group General Manager. She holds a B.Sc degree in Biochemistry and MBA degree from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. She is also an alumnus of the Lagos Business School and Harvard Business School.
Emem is a member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) and has over 20 years of banking experience. She has strong capabilities in Relationship Management, Effective Communication and Business Development with a track record of winning and executing high-powered transactions. She has won several high-performance awards over the years of her career and has strong competencies in Corporate, Commercial and Public Sector Banking. Prior to joining UBA in 2011, she was a Regional Executive in Bank PHB Plc (now Keystone Bank), where she was responsible for developing the commercial businesses in the Bank’s Victoria Island region. Upon joining UBA, Emem was the Regional Bank Head, Akwa Ibom, and Cross River Bank, from where she became the Directorate Head for Abuja Bank, where she was saddled with the strategic responsibility of sustainably growing revenues, customer base and profitability of the region. She is now the Regional Director, Lagos Island 2 Region.
PATRICIA ADERIBIGBE
Season Human Resources Director and talent management and talent development expert. Passionate about employer branding, employee engagement and well-being, employee experience as well as organisation culture. Exposure to USA Employment practices. Experienced Board Director in several countries in Europe including UK, Belgium, Italy, Spain, France and the Nordic.
Expertise in Labour Law and Employment Tribunals – UK, Mainland Europe, Africa including Francophone and Lusophone countries. Expertise in Leadership development and Executive Coaching. P&L responsibilities and managing a large and diverse workforce across different locations.
