There has been an upsurge in the number of female bank chief executives in Nigeria in recent years.

Indeed, this is a welcome development, as over the years, there has been agitation for more female participation in every sector. The banking sector is no exception, clearly.

The rise in the number of bank managing directors who are women could be linked to the growing reputation of women being better managers.

Before now, we have witnessesd the growing number of women who are chairpersons of boards of banks, for instance, GTBank (Osaretin Demuren), Access Bank (Mosun Belo-Olusoga) and First Bank (Ibukun Awosika). All these serves in aligning Nigeria with the global movement toward gender equality.

READ ALSO: Top 10 Richest Women In The World (2021)

Essentially, this reality will provide a great measure of inspiration to young females to try to aspire to the peak of whatever career they have chosen.

In this article, we showcase 7 women (and a notable mention) who have occupied the enviable position of the Managing Director/CEO of a Nigerian bank.



Cecilia Ibru



Cecilia Ibru is the former managing director and chief executive officer of Oceanic Bank (now EcoBank).

Oceanic began as a small family-owned bank, but grew into one of the Nigeria’s largest publicly quoted institutions during Ibru’s stewardship.

Ibru began working with Oceanic Bank in 1990 as general manager. After seven years with the bank, she was promoted to managing director and CEO.

On 13 August 2009 Ibru was amongst five bank CEOs who were dismissed.

In 2009, she was arrested and pleaded guilty to charges of fraud. She was jailed and fined approximately one billion euros.



Faith Tuedor-Matthews



Faith Tuedor-Matthews is a former Group Managing Director / CEO, Mainstreet Bank Limited.

She was appointed as the MD of the bank in August 2011, following the nationalisation of Afribank Plc, Bank PHB and Spring Bank Plc, all known as bridged banks by the Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation and Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria.

Tuedor-Matthews is a Harvard Business School alumnus, and she has an MBA from the Aston University, Birmingham, UK.

In February 2013, the board of Mainstreet Bank suspended Mrs. Faith Tuedor- Matthews over alleged misappropriation of funds.

She was alleged to have transferred funds into her private accounts abroad, an action that irked the bank’s board.


According to the management, it was left with no option than to suspend her. She was however given an option to resign.



Bola Adesola



Bola Adesola is the current senior vice chairman of the Standard Chartered Bank group, a position she assumed in 2019.

Prior to then, she was the CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Limited.

The 1984 graduate of law from Buckingham University in the United Kingdom was made the Managing Director, First Bank of Nigeria Plc (now FBN Holdings Plc) in 2005. She was in charge of corporate banking.

Adesola started working with the Standard Chartered Bank Group in 2010.

She has over 25 years of experience in the banking sector.


Sola David-Borha



Sola David-Borha was the CEO of Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc from May 2011 to November 2012. She joined the board of IBTC in July 1994.

She earned a bachelor's degree in economics in 1981 at the University of Ibadan. She then proceeded to pursue an MBA from the Manchester Business School in 1991.

In January 2017, she took up the position as the chief executive of the Standard Bank Group.

She is the vice chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group since 2015.

On 15 April 2021, David-Borha retired after 31 years at Stanbic IBTC.



Oluwatomi Somefun



Oluwatomi Somefun currently serves as the Managing Director and CEO of Unity Bank plc.

She obtained a B.Ed. in English Language in 1981 from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife in Osun state and an alumnus of Harvard Business school and University of Columbia Business School, New York.

Mrs Somefun had a successful career at the United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA). While at UBA, she managed and sat on the boards of several subsidiaries, including UBA Trustee, UBA Plc, UBA Capital and Trustee Ltd.

READ ALSO: Bill Cosby Show: See How The Cast Of The Famous TV Show Now Look Like

Somefun was the pioneering Managing Director (MD)/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of UBA Pension Custodian Ltd. She managed UBA Pension Custodian Ltd for eight years and also supervised the South-West region of the bank at the same time.

On the 4th of March, 2015, Oluwatomi Somefun was appointed the Executive Director of Unity Bank. Her remarkable performance as Executive Director earned her the position as the MD/CEO of Unity Bank in August 2015.


Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe



On 1 January, 2021, Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe resumed as the managing director of Fidelity Bank Plc after her appointment.

She took over from Nnamdi Okonkwo, former managing director, whose contract formally ended on December 31, 2020.

Onyeali-Ikpe joined the bank in 2015 and spearheaded the transformation of the directorate, leading it to profitability and sustained its impressive year-on-year growth across key performance metrics, including contributing over 28 per cent of the Bank’s profit before tax, deposits and loans.




Yemisi Edun



In January 2021, First City Monument Bank Limited named Yemisi Edun as acting managing director, following the stepping aside of embattled Adam Nuhu.

On 4 July 2021, the board of directors of FCMB Group Plc announced appointed Yemisi Edun as the substantive managing director of the bank.

Prior to her appointment, Edun was the executive director/chief financial officer of the bank before serving as the acting managing director.

Edun has a work experience spanning nearly 35 years. She holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Ife, Ile-Ife and a Master’s degree in international accounting and finance from the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom.



Miriam Olusanya



On 14 July 2021, Guaranty Trust Bank announced the appointment of Miriam Olusanya as Managing Director.

Olusanya has over 20 years experience cutting across Transaction Services, Treasury, Assets and Liability Management.

Until her appointment, Olusanya, was an Executive Director at the bank.

Miriam Olusanya joined Guaranty Trust Bank in 1998 and has been in charge of managing the bank’s foreign currency balance sheet, asset and liability position, as well as money market, foreign currency and bonds trading.

Olusanya graduated from the University of Ibadan (UI) with a Bachelors degree in Pharmacy and obtained a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) (majoring in Finance and Accounting) from the University of Liverpool.




Notable Mention:




Mary Akpobome



On March 13, 2015, Heritage Bank appointed its Executive Director, Retail Banking, Mary Akpobome, as the Acting Managing Director of Enterprise Bank.

Akpobome would be the acting MD of Enterprise Bank for a transition period.

She was assigned the role so as to supervise activities during the final round of activities on the time-table for the integration of Enterprise Bank that had been acquired by Heritage Bank, into the mainstream of its processes and operations.

Mary Akpobome is a seasoned banker par excellence with over 2 decades of bank experience. Within that period, she had worked at Citizens Bank and Bank PHB.


Source: https://jojonaija.com/7-women-who-were-appointed-as-managing-directors-of-nigerian-banks/

The real slay Queens

The real slay mamas who can freely say “the future is female”


Not some attention seekers who throws hates around for men after they’ve been overly used by same men who promised heaven and earth to them, but somehow ended up disappointing them in a major way

JojoNaija:
There has been an upsurge in the number of female bank chief executives in Nigeria in recent years.

Indeed, this is a welcome development, as over the years, there has been agitation for more female participation in every sector. The banking sector is no exception, clearly.

The rise in the number of bank managing directors who are women could be linked to the growing reputation of women being better managers.

Before now, we have witnessesd the growing number of women who are chairpersons of boards of banks, for instance, GTBank (Osaretin Demuren), Access Bank (Mosun Belo-Olusoga) and First Bank (Ibukun Awosika). All these serves in aligning Nigeria with the global movement toward gender equality.

READ ALSO: Top 10 Richest Women In The World (2021)

Essentially, this reality will provide a great measure of inspiration to young females to try to aspire to the peak of whatever career they have chosen.

In this article, we showcase 7 women (and a notable mention) who have occupied the enviable position of the Managing Director/CEO of a Nigerian bank.



Cecilia Ibru



Cecilia Ibru is the former managing director and chief executive officer of Oceanic Bank (now EcoBank).

Oceanic began as a small family-owned bank, but grew into one of the Nigeria’s largest publicly quoted institutions during Ibru’s stewardship.

Ibru began working with Oceanic Bank in 1990 as general manager. After seven years with the bank, she was promoted to managing director and CEO.

On 13 August 2009 Ibru was amongst five bank CEOs who were dismissed.

In 2009, she was arrested and pleaded guilty to charges of fraud. She was jailed and fined approximately one billion euros.



Faith Tuedor-Matthews



Faith Tuedor-Matthews is a former Group Managing Director / CEO, Mainstreet Bank Limited.

She was appointed as the MD of the bank in August 2011, following the nationalisation of Afribank Plc, Bank PHB and Spring Bank Plc, all known as bridged banks by the Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation and Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria.

Tuedor-Matthews is a Harvard Business School alumnus, and she has an MBA from the Aston University, Birmingham, UK.

In February 2013, the board of Mainstreet Bank suspended Mrs. Faith Tuedor- Matthews over alleged misappropriation of funds.

She was alleged to have transferred funds into her private accounts abroad, an action that irked the bank’s board.


According to the management, it was left with no option than to suspend her. She was however given an option to resign.



Bola Adesola



Bola Adesola is the current senior vice chairman of the Standard Chartered Bank group, a position she assumed in 2019.

Prior to then, she was the CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Limited.

The 1984 graduate of law from Buckingham University in the United Kingdom was made the Managing Director, First Bank of Nigeria Plc (now FBN Holdings Plc) in 2005. She was in charge of corporate banking.

Adesola started working with the Standard Chartered Bank Group in 2010.

She has over 25 years of experience in the banking sector.




Oluwatomi Somefun



Oluwatomi Somefun currently serves as the Managing Director and CEO of Unity Bank plc.

She obtained a B.Ed. in English Language in 1981 from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife in Osun state and an alumnus of Harvard Business school and University of Columbia Business School, New York.

Mrs Somefun had a successful career at the United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA). While at UBA, she managed and sat on the boards of several subsidiaries, including UBA Trustee, UBA Plc, UBA Capital and Trustee Ltd.

READ ALSO: Bill Cosby Show: See How The Cast Of The Famous TV Show Now Look Like

Somefun was the pioneering Managing Director (MD)/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of UBA Pension Custodian Ltd. She managed UBA Pension Custodian Ltd for eight years and also supervised the South-West region of the bank at the same time.

On the 4th of March, 2015, Oluwatomi Somefun was appointed the Executive Director of Unity Bank. Her remarkable performance as Executive Director earned her the position as the MD/CEO of Unity Bank in August 2015.


Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe



On 1 January, 2021, Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe resumed as the managing director of Fidelity Bank Plc after her appointment.

She took over from Nnamdi Okonkwo, former managing director, whose contract formally ended on December 31, 2020.

Onyeali-Ikpe joined the bank in 2015 and spearheaded the transformation of the directorate, leading it to profitability and sustained its impressive year-on-year growth across key performance metrics, including contributing over 28 per cent of the Bank’s profit before tax, deposits and loans.




Yemisi Edun



In January 2021, First City Monument Bank Limited named Yemisi Edun as acting managing director, following the stepping aside of embattled Adam Nuhu.

On 4 July 2021, the board of directors of FCMB Group Plc announced appointed Yemisi Edun as the substantive managing director of the bank.

Prior to her appointment, Edun was the executive director/chief financial officer of the bank before serving as the acting managing director.

Edun has a work experience spanning nearly 35 years. She holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Ife, Ile-Ife and a Master’s degree in international accounting and finance from the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom.



Miriam Olusanya



On 14 July 2021, Guaranty Trust Bank announced the appointment of Miriam Olusanya as Managing Director.

Olusanya has over 20 years experience cutting across Transaction Services, Treasury, Assets and Liability Management.

Until her appointment, Olusanya, was an Executive Director at the bank.

Miriam Olusanya joined Guaranty Trust Bank in 1998 and has been in charge of managing the bank’s foreign currency balance sheet, asset and liability position, as well as money market, foreign currency and bonds trading.

Olusanya graduated from the University of Ibadan (UI) with a Bachelors degree in Pharmacy and obtained a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) (majoring in Finance and Accounting) from the University of Liverpool.




Notable Mention:




Mary Akpobome



On March 13, 2015, Heritage Bank appointed its Executive Director, Retail Banking, Mary Akpobome, as the Acting Managing Director of Enterprise Bank.

Akpobome would be the acting MD of Enterprise Bank for a transition period.

She was assigned the role so as to supervise activities during the final round of activities on the time-table for the integration of Enterprise Bank that had been acquired by Heritage Bank, into the mainstream of its processes and operations.

Mary Akpobome is a seasoned banker par excellence with over 2 decades of bank experience. Within that period, she had worked at Citizens Bank and Bank PHB.


Source: https://jojonaija.com/7-women-who-were-appointed-as-managing-directors-of-nigerian-banks/

What about Sola David-Borha the CEO of Stanbic-IBTC?

There are still employees not Capitalist .

OGWILLS123:
There are still employees not Capitalist .

Where did the article state that they are capitalist? Bad belle.

SavageResponse:


What about Sola David-Borha the CEO of Stanbic-IBTC?

Uncle, you had to quote the entire article to ask this small question?

Esejojo:


Where did the article state that they are capitalist? Bad belle.

you seff eehh .