What to know about Access Holdings’ first female acting CEO

Bolaji Agbede was on Monday appointed as the first female acting group chief executive officer of Access Holdings, a multinational financial services group.

This came two days after the death of Herbert Wigwe, its former group CEO.

The appointment was subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria, according to a statement by the company.

“Agbede was the company’s most senior founding executive director in charge of Business Support. She has nearly three decades of professional experience cutting across banking and business consultancy services,” the statement said.

Agbede’s career encompasses over 27 years of experience in banking and business consultancy, specialising in Human Resources management, customer relationship management, and banking operations.

Beginning in 1992 at Guaranty Trust Bank, she rose through managerial positions, where she held various roles such as relationship manager and vault custodian.

She advanced from an executive trainee in 1992 to a manager by 2001.

In 2003, she assumed the position of chief executive officer at JKG Limited, a business consulting firm.

Transitioning to Access Bank in the same year as an assistant general manager, she took charge of managing the bank’s portfolio of chemical trading companies.

Since 2010, she has been the head of Human Resources for the Access Bank Group, overseeing the group’s human capital development efforts.

She was then elevated to the role of a founding executive director of business support, where she played a role in integrating business units and transforming the company’s culture.

With a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Lagos (1990) and a Master 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.

Additionally, Agbede has participated in renowned leadership and professional development programs, including the High-Performance Leadership Programme by IMD and the Strategic Talent Management Programme by the London Business School.

“The appointment of Agbede is in alignment with our robust succession planning practices. We are strongly convinced that 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,” Abubakar Jimoh, chairman of the company, said.

Access Holding reported an after-tax profit of N250.4 billion in the first nine months of last year, up from a profit of N136.9 billion in 2022.

Interest income increased to N953.4 billion from N497.2 billion and fees and commission income increased to N208.2 billion from N133.5 billion.