Access Bank Plc, with Herbert Wigwe at the helm as Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, has given a new meaning to the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The seasoned banker has challenged convention by taking CSR a notch higher than the run-of-the-mill interventions in socio-economic projects in the immediate communities where an organization operates.
The bank, under him, has identified leadership or, rather, absence of the right leadership, as the bane of sustainable development not just in Nigeria, but also in Africa, the reason the continent has remained perpetually underdeveloped, despite the fact that it is, arguably, the most endowed continent in the world, in terms of natural resources.

Leadership conference
The biennial leadership conference organized by Access Bank provides the platform on which Wigwe has posed questions that should provide the direction to go in solving the myriad of problems faced by the continent.
The conference is the bank’s effort at articulating the view that Africa must move beyond the supportive role it has played in global debates on matters that affect its people all along to a more central one that will see it dictating the pace. This is in recognition of the fact that whether in the area of technology, entrepreneurship or the impact of financial regulations on growth, Africa is the place where the future direction of the world is being played out. It explains Access Bank’s choice of the conference as the appropriate platform to bring together leaders in the sectors that have direct impact on the lives of the people – politics, economy, technology – to assist in pointing the way forward.

Rallying Africa’s leaders
Access Bank has in the last two editions of its leadership conference rallied Africa’s leaders to shake off their inertia to address the inexplicable paradox of a continent that has the biggest agricultural potential in the world, but is almost permanently plagued by famine, only good, perhaps, as supplier of agricultural produce that leave the continent as raw materials and return as finished products.
Through the conference, Wigwe and the Bank has ensured that while not losing focus on its CSR commitment to improving the socio-economic lives of Nigerians in different areas, Access Bank plays a more prominent role in the affairs of the continent, since Nigeria cannot be an island of prosperity in an ocean of poverty, squalor, disease, illiteracy and underdevelopment. It is the reason he has, perhaps more than any corporate leader on the continent, demonstrated interest beyond the profit motive of business.

Charity begins at home
But since charity must begin at home, the Wigwe led team, as part of the bank’s involvement in the collective effort to build Nigeria, provided a common answer to questions that touch on all facets of life in the country. At the last edition of the conference, Wigwe raised some very interesting statements on possibilities. According to him, he beliefs, for instance, that it is possible to achieve 100 per cent literacy rate in the country. The Access Bank CEO believes that everyone in Nigeria can have access to education. He believes that the country can win the war against malaria and HIV. That it can develop infrastructure that guarantees economic success and opportunities for all Nigerians. But there is a caveat – there must be transformational leadership in the country for it to attain this lofty height. Achievement of these objectives is tied to leadership that inspires confidence in order to achieve a buy-in by citizens.
To him, therefore, there couldn’t be a better time to push forward the issue of transformational leadership in Nigeria than now, when the current leadership, a product of a peaceful political transition and one that promised the much needed change, has properly settled into office. He believes that the current leadership has demonstrated the political will to push through the kind of transformation that is required to guarantee sustainable development in the country.
The 2015 edition of Access Bank’s leadership conference held in Lagos in November, last year, provided the platform for Wigwe to state categorically that the global differences and economic challenges in the world have come with opportunities that must be seized with both hands, if local and foreign investors are to make the difference in the country’s socio-economic landscape.
He says though the changing economic environment will bring new challenges to the business world, such environment will create tenacious leaders, courageous politicians and innovative chief executives, pointing out that leadership in a transformational world not only benefits from innovation, but also demands it. It is, indeed, no longer an option, but an absolute necessity.
Expectedly, Wigwe advocates the crucial role of transformational leadership not just to the country, but also, very importantly, to human development, since a developed population is sine qua non to having the kind of leadership a country needs.


Role of banks
The crucial role of banks in the transformational leadership that Wigwe advocates lies in their willingness and preparedness to come up with innovative and quality products and services at the most affordable prices, to the greatest number of people. It is the reason Access Bank, under him, is involved in various initiatives that encourage financial inclusion for the segment of the population that is generally seen to lack access to banking products and services.

Nice Development! A truly inspirational leader and leadership style

Herbert wigwe is an innovative leader that has distinguished himself in the banking industry