UBA names Bawuah first female CEO, Africa, in major executive appointments

By Our Reporter 

• Board makes six other executive appointments

•  As Oni retires from group board

United Bank for Africa, which prides itself as Africa’s global bank having operations in 20 African countries, and global presence in London, New York, Paris and the United Arab Emirates, on Monday announced the appointment of its first female chief executive officer (CEO) for its Africa operations.

Abiola Bahuah, the new CEO of UBA Africa will take responsibility for the bank’s business in 19 African countries excluding Nigeria where the bank’s global headquarter is located. She is also expected to join the bank’s global group board as an executive director in her capacity of leading the bank’s business across Africa.

The appointment was made along with those of six other executives and the announcement of a director, Samuel Oni, from the group board of directors.

The appointment of Bawuah, a Ghanaian national,  according to a statement made available to Business A.M. by the bank, demonstrates UBA’s commitment to diversity, as its group board of directors now has eight female Directors.

Before her appointment Bawuah headed UBA’s West Africa operations as regional CEO where she supervised the group’s operations in nine subsidiaries, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Senegal, and Sierra Leone. She previously held the role of CEO, UBA Ghana.

Tony Elumelu, group board chairman, UBA Group, said: “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 other executive appointments made by the group board of directors are those of Chris Ofikulu; Uzoechina Molokwu; Ayokunle Olajubu; Theresa Henshaw; Usman Isiaka; and Adeyemi Adeleke.

Ofikulu becomes regional chief executive officer, UBA West Africa, taking over the portfolio of the newly appointed CEO UBA Africa, Bawuah. Ofikulu is described as having more than 20 years of banking experience spanning corporate, commercial, and retail banking.

On the other hand, Molokwu will take on the role of deputy managing director of UBA Ghana, subject to local regulatory approvals. He was previously the executive director, business development of UBA Côte d’Ivoire and has over 23 years banking experience.

Olajubu will be resuming as the new managing director and chief executive officer of UBA Liberia, subject to local regulatory approvals. He currently drives compliance across Africa subsidiaries and comes with 30 years banking experience in Nigeria and other African countries, including Sierra Leone, Cote D’Ivoire and the Gambia, the bank said in a statement.

The bank said Henshaw is appointed chief executive officer of UBA UK, again subject to local regulatory approvals, adding that she was previously the deputy managing director, business development, UBA America and joined the banking group as executive director, business development, UBA UK.

Usman Isiaka, who is currently the chief executive officer of UBA Sierra Leone, has now been appointed  as the new deputy chief executive officer, UBA America, again subject to local regulatory approvals.

The sixth executive appointment made by the group board of UBA is that of Adeyemi Adeleke, the former CEO of UBA, UK who is now the Group Treasurer.

The bank said Adeleke will be working to unlock the immense value in the banking group’s multi-jurisdictional balance sheet, leveraging on its presence in 24 countries within and beyond Africa.

The banking group also announced the retirement from its board, Samuel Oni, an independent non-executive director. It followed the expiration of his tenure. Oni joined the UBA Group in January 2015 and served on the board of the group for eight years.

Chairman Elumelu expressed his appreciation to Oni, for his commitment, leadership and extensive contributions to the UBA Group and wished him well on behalf of the board.

With operations in 20 African countries, as well as in the United Kingdom, United States of America, France and United Arab Emirates, the bank provides retail, commercial and institutional banking services, leading financial inclusion and implementing cutting edge technology.

As one of the largest employers in the financial sector on the African continent, it has 25,000 employees across its group operations with 37 million customers globally