The Board of Directors of Access Holdings Plc, on Tuesday morning named Ms. Bolaji Agbede Acting Group Chief Executive Officer, following the unfortunate demise of its former Group Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Herbert Wigwe, on February 9, 2024.
The appointment, the group said in a statement, is subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
With over three decades of professional experience spanning banking and business consultancy services, Agbede was until her recent appointment the company’s most senior founding Executive Director in charge of Business Support.
She began her professional career in 1992 at Guaranty Trust Bank, where she served in various capacities within the Commercial Banking and Operations functions rising to the position of Manager in 2001. She subsequently served as the Chief Executive Officer of JKG Limited, a business consulting outfit in 2003.
Ms. Agbede joined Access Bank Plc in 2003 as an Assistant General Manager, responsible for managing the Bank’s portfolio of chemical trading companies, and later Head, Group Human Resources between 2010 and 2022.
She was appointed the company’s founding Executive Director, Business Support in 2022. She has a track record in successful people integration in business combination and culture transformation.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Lagos (1990) and a Masters of Business Administration Degree from Cranfield University UK in 2002. She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management UK and the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria.
Also, in a notice to the Nigerian Exchange Limited, the Company Secretary, Sunday Ekwochi quoted Abubakar Jimoh, chairman of Access Holdings Plc as saying Ms. Agbede’s appointment aligns with the group’s “robust succession planning practices.
“We are strongly convinced that ms. Agbede, being the company’s most Senior Executive with exceptionally rich, professional and leadership experience and understanding of the Access Culture, would provide the much-needed leadership to steer the company towards the attainment of its strategic vision of building a globally connected community and ecosystem, inspired by Africa for the world.
Ms. Agbede has attended several renowned leadership and professional development programmes including the High-Performance Leadership Programme organised by the IMD and the Strategic Talent Management Programme organised the London Business School.
