Mrs. Abiola Bawuah, a Ghanaian national, has been named the first female CEO of UBA Africa, according to a statement from the financial institution.
She joins the group board as an executive director, overseeing the organization’s operations throughout the African continent outside of Nigeria.
According to the lender’s disclosure, Mrs. Buwuah’s appointment demonstrates the lender’s commitment to diversity, bringing the total number of female directors on the UBA Group Board to eight.
Mrs. Bawuah was Regional CEO of West Africa prior to her appointment, overseeing the group’s operations in nine subsidiaries, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Senegal, and Sierra Leone. She previously served as the CEO of UBA Ghana.
Abiola has contributed significantly to the growth of UBA Africa for close to a decade. She brings a wealth of experience in commercial banking and stakeholder engagement.
It also gives me great pleasure that with her appointment, the UBA Group Board has now become a majority female board, the Group Board Chairman of UBA Plc, Mr Tony Elumelu, said.
In addition, Mr. Chris Ofikulu has been named Regional CEO of UBA West Africa by UBA Group. The new executive has more than two decades of banking experience in corporate, commercial, and retail banking.
In addition, subject to local regulatory approvals, Mr. Uzoechina Molokwu will assume the role of Deputy Managing Director (DMD) of UBA Ghana. He has over 23 years of banking experience and was previously the Executive Director for Business Development at UBA Côte d’Ivoire.
Mr. Ayokunle Olajubu has also been asked to take over as CEO of UBA Liberia, subject to local regulatory approvals. He is currently in charge of compliance across African subsidiaries and has 30 years of banking experience in Nigeria and other African countries such as Sierra Leone, Cote D’Ivoire, and the Gambia.
According to the statement, Ms. Theresa Henshaw has been appointed as CEO of UBA UK, subject to local regulatory approvals. She previously served as the DMD, Business Development, UBA America before joining the Group as the ED, Business Development, UBA UK.
Similarly, Mr. Usman Isiaka, the current CEO of UBA Sierra Leone, will be the Deputy CEO of UBA America, subject to local regulatory approvals, and Mr. Adeyemi Adeleke, the former CEO of UBA UK, has been appointed Group Treasurer. He will work to unlock the enormous value in the Group’s multi-jurisdictional balance sheet, leveraging its presence in 24 African countries and beyond.
Meanwhile, UBA announced the retirement of Mr. Samuel Oni, an independent non-executive Director, from the board after his term expired.
He joined the UBA Group in January 2015 and sat on its board for eight years.
Mr. Elumelu thanked him in the statement for his commitment, leadership, and extensive contributions to the UBA Group, and wished him the best in all of his future endeavors.
UBA has operations in 19 African countries in addition to Nigeria, as well as global operations in New York, London, Paris, and the UAE. The company provides retail, commercial, and institutional banking services, as well as financial inclusion leadership and cutting-edge technology implementation.
