Elizabeth Oguegbu, nurturing businesses for financial markets across Africa

Elizabeth Oguegbu is the Executive Principal, Financial Markets Corporate Sales, Africa at Standard Chartered Bank.

She is a career banker with significant frontline financial markets experience and a proven track record of financial success.

She has extensive experience of working in the African markets with stints in emerging markets and a proven track record of excellent performance.

Elizabeth was born on the 13th of June, studied at Babcock University, Nigeria and holds a first class honours in Computer Information Systems (2006), in addition she is a CFA level 2 candidate and in 2019 she concluded her Global Executive MBA in INSEAD.

She began her career with Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria, where she started as a graduate trainee in 2006 and over 13 years became an Executive Principal now covering the African markets, responsible for nurturing and growing the global subsidiaries business for financial markets across Africa.

She has contributed immensely to the growth of the bank, her responsibilities involve the provision of derivatives solutions in managing currency, rates and commodity exposures, and she has worked with a number of multinationals, local corporates and financial institutions.

Take us down memory lane of your early years and how it has influenced where you are today

My life was that of a typical 80’s kid. Born to a Nigerian dad and a Russian mum. I am the last of three girls, we are a closely knitted family bounded by love. My growing up days were those days before technology existed. I looked forward to playing outside, climbing trees, playing with the dogs and by 7pm gather home to eat dinner that my mum had prepared.

Surrounded by love, it made my earlier days so much fun, my parents were super involved in our lives, it made the difference. We were a humble family, who were absolutely content with what we had. My dad and mum returned from Russia in the year 1990, settled in Nigeria and setup their hospital, we watched our parents labour hard, they were our role models. Despite the cultural difference, my parents were an item, everything they did together, all decisions taken together and watching that growing up was super cool and encouraging.

Throughout those early years, our parents were our cheerleaders, always saying to us you can do it, just put in your best. Watching my parents work so hard and literally deny themselves the luxuries of life, just to fund our education and give us a comfortable life, was the positive influence I needed to kick-start my journey in life.

How has your career evolved?

I started off my career in 2006 at the age of 18, straight out of university, found my way to the banking sector. I had no clue what I was getting into, people discouraged me, my parents cheered me on, I was a child, but was determined to make some money so as to pay my parents back for all the good they had done, that was my focal point.

I had several offers from different industries, but interestingly the bank offer seemed to me as more attractive, I worried how I was going to cope, considering I had no economics, banking and finance background. When I got in, I told my bosses then to simply trust me and give me the platform to grow, teach me and I will make them all proud. What my parents didn’t prepare me for, was the corporate politics, story for another day.

I attended meetings, was totally clueless when I heard all the various terminologies, and the banking jargon. I borrowed myself some sense and quickly enrolled in CFA, and passed Level 1, and that put me on a totally different pedestal. I began to read and re-read, I asked questions, I researched, and became the best version of myself fitting into the shoes of a banker. I evolved as more responsibilities came my way, new autonomy and bigger targets. It’s now 17 years, I give God all the glory for how far he has taken me.

Would you say you have experienced a speedy career growth?

I have indeed experienced speedy career growth, God has been gracious and kind to me, at a very young age I was determined to get a good job in a reputable organisation, I did my best in making the best grades in school as that was what I was told by my parents could fetch me the dream Job. I can attribute the below to the success:

God’s Grace – The special and divine intervention. Family support: They are my greatest cheerleaders, they kept motivating me. Self-support – I am a driven individual, who never takes no for an answer, my quest for more knowledge has given me the encouragement to keep moving.

How do you handle your personal and professional challenges?

I commit all of it to God. The best way to deal with your problem/challenges is to take action as soon as possible. Once I have acknowledged the problems, I then set up some constructive goals to handle them and then take action to meet those goals.

Regarding personal problems, the first thing is to stay calm, pray, and make a plan, I know at the back of my mind that I am not alone, I ask for help and always accept support. Thinking big with a positive mindset is also very important.

As it pertains to professional challenges, I always tend to stay levelheaded at the moment, I try not to dwell too much on the problem, I split up the challenge into smaller bits and ultimately create an optimistic self-perception.

You didn’t start as a bright student but ended up with a first-class, share with us how that happened and what you did

When I remember my earlier years up to Grade 3, I smile, all I did that drove my parents’ crazy was to build lego blocks. I come back from school, and mum says to me, what did you do at school today? and it consistently was centred around “play”. When an African parent with a mix of Russian parents talks sense into your head, you will naturally conform.

The switch started in Grade 4, I took it upon myself to get serious and graduate with good scores. I studied hard and put in the work. I requested to attempt ‘Common entrance’ from Grade 4, I was 8 years old, and I did absolutely amazing, making my parents super proud. Thereafter, it became part and parcel of me, hard work, focus and determination.

Share a particular experience that you can never forget and why?

My mother’s death. It happened 4 years ago, the woman who shaped me and moulded me into what I am today, died too early to even begin enjoying her dividends. She is irreplaceable, and will never be forgotten, her legacy lives on.

How can women bring global solutions to African problems?

Firstly, if you have the opportunity to travel, please do travel and explore the world. if you don’t, explore via the resources you have, Google is everyone’s friend.

We need to first understand our problems and come up with solutions employing our own perspectives. Knowledge is important to develop a capacity to understand our own problems. Let’s learn from the past and improve our actions to resolve problems in the future.

It is obvious that African people have got the necessary resources and knowledge to address the challenges the continent is facing. Even if the concept needs further development and clarification in terms of defining the problems of Africa and their solutions, we then need to see how the global chain can plug in that gap.

The opportunity is now, how can we drive that change using global solutions, no point in re-inventing the wheel, we can tap and borrow ideas and being them easily into the region.

What advice do you want to give women executives?

Strive to be the best, make your distinction, let nothing set you back, understand your strengths and use them to overcome your weaknesses, talk to people, seek advice, get mentorship and sponsorship, and believe in yourself and your potential. Finally, go for it and give it your all.