Diamond Bank Plc, on Thursday announced the appointment of Rotimi Olayiwola Oyekanmi as an independent director. Mrs. Chizoma Okoli and Chiugo Ndubisi were also named executive directors Business Development and Chief Financial Officer respectively.
The appointments would be ratified at the bank’s next annual general meeting, according to a statement by Nkechi Nwosu, the company secretary and legal adviser.
Prior to her elevation, Mrs. Okoli was head, Corporate Banking Directorate and had served the bank in various capacities since joining in 1992 as Executive Trainee in the operations unit.
A 1989 law graduate of the University of Benin, she is an alumnus of the Wharton Advanced Management Programme of the University of Pennsylvania and the Senior Management Programme of the Lagos Business School. She was called to Bar in December 1990. She is on the board of Diamond Bank, UK.
Ndubisi, a 1994 first class honours degree graduate of Engineering from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, was Acting CFO until July 2016 when he was appointed to the position. He previously functioned as Head, Financial Management Division and former Financial Controller. A chartered accountant and banker, he joined Diamond Bank in 1996, also as Executive Trainee and also holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Lagos.
Oyekanmi is a chartered accountant and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, with 33 years of experience in banking and investment.
With a B.Sc in Economics from the University of Ibadan and M.Sc from the London School of Economics and Political Science, he joined Arthur Andersen & Co (now KPMG Professional Services) in 1983, moving to the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) as Chief Internal Auditor in 1988. His foray into banking started at Prime Merchant Bank Limited in 1991 as Senior Manager. He was at Venture Capital Association of Nigeria as chairman between 2001 and 2009 and director, African Venture Association, among others.
A former Group Head, Investment Banking at Ecobank Capital Nigeria from 2012 to 2013, Oyekanmi was until his appointment, chairman of Rendeavour Group and RenMoney MFB Limited, as well as a partner in Apis Partners LLP, a private equity asset management firm that supports growth stage financial services businesses in Africa and South Asia by providing them with catalytic growth equity capital.