Bawuah’s appointment signposts UBA’s commitment to inclusivity
By Oghale Mafuru
The United Bank for Africa Plc, UBA, one of the leading banks in Africa, has appointed Abiola Bawuah as the Chief Executive Officer to oversee its operations across Africa, excluding Nigeria.
According to a statement on the company’s website, Bawuah, a Ghanaian national, is the first female CEO of UBA Africa which further demonstrates the bank’s commitment to diversity.
Her appointment brings the total number of female directors to eight, the others being Erelu Angela Adebayo, Non-Executive Director, Angela Aneke, Independent Non-Executive Director, Owanari Duke,, Independent Non-Executive Director, Caroline Anyanwu, Non-Executive Director, Aisha Hassan Baba, Independent Non-Executive Director, Sola Yomi-Ajayi, Executive Director, Treasury & International Banking and Emem Usoro, Executive Director, North Bank.
Speaking on the new appointment, the Group Board Chairman Mr. Tony O. Elumelu 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.”
Prior to her appointment, Bawuah was Regional CEO, West Africa, supervising the Group’s operations in nine subsidiaries, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Senegal, and Sierra Leone. She previously held the role of CEO, UBA Ghana.
She joined United Bank for Africa (Ghana) Limited (UBA) as Deputy Managing Director in 2013, in less than a year she was elevated to MD/CEO, with two firsts: being the first indigenous CEO of a Pan African Bank and the first female CEO to take the helm. She was later promoted to Regional Chief Executive Officer of UBA West Africa 1, and later to her current position which she holds until now.
Prior to that, she worked in Standard Charted Bank, Cal Bank and Strategic African Securities. In 2012, she was made Executive Director at Zenith Bank Ghana; having previously held positions of General Manager, Marketing and Group Head, Retail Banking.
Mrs. Abiola Bawuah has enormous experience in retail banking and marketing. She holds a BSc in Actuarial Science from the University of Lagos, Nigeria, an LLB with honours from the University of London, a diploma in Marketing from GIMPA and an EMBA (Finance) from the University of Ghana and also has numerous leadership qualifications from Harvard Business School, Columbia, University of New York, INSEAD and Institute Villa Pierrefeu in Switzerland.
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