In line with its growth plan to constantly re-invent the bank for optimal performance, the Board of Afribank Nigeria Plc has approved the appointment of Mr. Osa Osunde, a notable corporate strategist and business technocrat, as the new Chairman of the 48 year-old financial institution. He is taking over from Alhaji Aliyu Kola Belgore, an accomplished banker, who retired as Chairman of the Bank on May 31st 2008 in line with the memorandum and Articles of Association of Afribank Nigeria Plc which stipulates a maximum eight-year tenure for non Executive Directors.
He is a fellow of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and holds MBA (Management) form University of Calabar.
The Bank has also expanded its operational structure at the Executive level and strengthened its Enterprise Risk Management, Retail banking, Public Sector and market facing departments for competitiveness.
The expansion of the operational structure has led to the creation of Risk Management and Strategy as an executive portfolio. Consequently, the Bank beefed up its executive team with the appointment of a seasoned and widely experienced banker, Mr. Henry Arogundade, as an Executive Director in charge of the new portfolio. It also beefed up its management and middle level cadres with talented professionals in different aspect of banking to enable it grow the institution on all fronts and take a lead in the market.
The developments are part of the broad strategy designed to ensure that the huge resources available to the Bank following its successful recapitalization to =N=140billion capital base translate to superior performance and bountiful returns to shareholders.
The Bank has continued to implement the contents of its five-year strategic growth plan which is expected to lead to the holistic growth and competitiveness of the Bank in the post-consolidation era.
Osa Osunde
Osa Osunde, a consummate corporate player, is noted for his profound managerial skill and expertise in turning around fortunes of companies. He has demonstrated his ability to give focused leadership and vision in a number of companies he has served as Director.
He was a Council Member of the Nigerian Stock of Exchange. He has also used his wide experience in accounting, deep understanding of capital and money market operations, restructuring and market development to transform many firms to attain industry leadership.
His over 25 years experience in the corporate world which spanned finance, maritime, energy, agriculture and manufacturing, would be brought to bear in his new role.
Market watchers are already hailing the appointment of Mr. Osunde as being eminently qualified to lead the new Board of Afribank. Corporate practitioners praised the decision of the Board of Afribank for choosing the caliber of Mr. Osunde, a serving Director, to lead the Board describing it as a right move to sustain the growth tempo of the financial institution. They expressed the view that the development would engender continuity in the policies that have successfully improved the fortunes of the Bank.
The new Chairman of Afribank has at various times served on the Nigerian Stock Exchange’s Quotations, Finance & General Purpose and Merit Award Committees. He is a member of the Capital Market Committee of the Securities & Exchange Commission.
He holds a Higher National Diploma in Accountancy. He is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers. He is also a member of many prestigious professional institutions and business groups such as: the Institute of Management Consultants, the Nigerian Institute of Management, the Institute of Directors, the Association of Arbitrators of Nigeria, the Chartered Institute of Taxation, the Certified Institute of Pensions Management, the Institute of Administrative Management of Nigeria, the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce. He is a Council Member of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers.
He has attended various management and professional training in Nigeria, Europe, Asia and America.
Henry Arogundade
The new Executive Director, who was until his appointment, the General Manager (Commercial Banking), brings into his new position 27 years experience in diverse areas of banking.
Henry Arogundade has held many top appointments locally and abroad. He was Managing Director/CEO, ANP International Finance, Dublin, Ireland, (a subsidiary of Afribank), Head, Human capital management, Area Credit Officer, Branch Manager at various branches of the Bank among others. He has also being a part member of the Bank’s EXCO and a Director in AIL Securities Limited.
He has also handled many strategic assignments and headed several committees in the Bank. He was part of the team that drew the five-year strategic direction for the Bank, restructured Commercial Banking and the human capital management for effectiveness and service delivery upgrade. Mr. Arogundade’s steady rise was attributable to hard work and knack to achieve results.
He holds M.Sc (1981) from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), MBA (1987) and B.Sc (1978) both from University of Ibadan and PMD (2001) from Harvard Business School, Boston, USA.
The new Executive Director has attended various courses locally and abroad in Management, banking operations, emerging markets, marketing, business re-engineering among others.
He is a Member of several professional organizations which include: the Institute of Personnel Management, the Nigerian Institute of Management and the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria.
Godfrey Ebetaleye
Godfrey Ebetaleye is the new Head of Strategy & Planning. He brings to Afribank over 25 years experience in banking, management, tourism and consulting. Before joining Afribank he has worked at Central Bank of Nigeria, United Bank for Africa, Churchgate Group, Port-Harcourt International Hotel, Ernst & Young Nigeria, Ijewere Consulting, GlaxoSmithkline and PricewaterhouseCoopers as Principal Consultant (Associate Director) in the Advisory practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
A member of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Mr. Ebetaleye holds B.sc Accounting from University of Lagos.
Mike Ogbalu
Mike Ogbalu, a Principal Manager, comes with a background in Electronic/Electrical Engineering. He is a multi-discipline Engineer whose experiences span the fields of Information Technology, Project Management, Electronic Banking and Retail Banking.
Mike spent his early days as a pioneer helpdesk officer at Standard Trust Bank Plc after which he held other positions in IT including Head, Hardware and Networks, Zonal Head of IT in charge of South Bank. He quit banking in 2002 to explore his entrepreneurial ambitions in the area of Telecommunications but returned to banking in 2004 as Head of Electronic Banking at Standard Trust Bank. Mike participated actively in the merger process of UBA and STB as a member of several integration committees. Shortly before leaving UBA, he was the Group Head in charge of UBA’s Remittance and Diaspora business. His team turned around UBA’s remittance business resulting in a consistent year on your growth of about 100%. He has several innovative products designs and implementations to his credit at UBA.
Mike joined Afribank to replicate the feat at UBA as Group Head in charge CID and Funds Transfer.He has also attended several courses both locally and internationally while also facilitating in several local and international seminars on remittance.
Ndidi Adegbite
Ndidi Adegbite, the new head of Training, has worked at Pharez Limited, IBFC Augusto Training Limited, Standard Chartered Bank, First City Monument Bank and Nigeria International Bank in her over 15 years experience before joining Afribank. She has rich experience in performance management, business and product development, management development among others.
She has received trainings on diverse areas of banking and she holds an MBA from the University of Wales, Cardiff.
Yemi Morebise
Yemi Morebise is a Senior Principal Manager and one of the two Deputy Chief Inspectors in the Inspectorate Department of the bank with over 12 years experience. His responsibilities include planning, coordination and implementation of internal control, system/technology audit and process review. He has held various management positions at First Inland Bank, former IMB International Bank, ECOBANK. He is very versatile in cost control, process re-engineering, investigation and fraud control.
donne4real | June 17, 2008
