Grand Cereals announces Bode Emmanuel’s retirement as board chairman

A leading player in the Nigerian integrated foods industry and a subsidiary of UAC of Nigeria Plc, Grand Cereals Limited (GCL), has announced the retirement of Bode Emmanuel as its board chairman.

Commenting, Daniel Agbor, chairman, Board of Directors of UAC of Nigeria PLC, said the great strides Grand Cereals has made over the years are a testament to Emmanuel’s knowledge, skill, experience, leadership, and dedication.

“A key ingredient for the survival of businesses across the world, over multi-decade timeframes, is leadership. This is particularly true in an emerging market like Nigeria with our unique sets of challenges. That Grand Cereals has not merely survived but thrived is testament to the knowledge, skill, experience, leadership, and dedication of Mr. Bode Emmanuel,” Agbor said.

Emmanuel, a chartered accountant, a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW) and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), has served as chairman of the board of many local and international corporate organizations. These include BoriniProno & Co. Limited, Trevi Foundations of Nigeria Limited, Foundation Construction Limited, Saipem (Nigeria) Limited and Hogg Robinson Nigeria Limited. Others are Nigerian Life & Provident Company Limited, Sterling Assurance Company Limited, Macmillan Nigeria Publishers Limited, among others.

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“Since joining Grand Cereals, Chief Emmanuel has been at the forefront of innovative developments that have taken the company to the leadership position in the industry,” Agbor said.

“For instance, he is credited with playing a leading role in the expansion of the company’s production footprint to Onitsha, Anambra State, via a state-of-the-art plant. This has considerably improved our production capacity leading to a sizeable increase of market share. He was also instrumental to the diversification of the company’s product range to improve returns on a risk-adjusted basis leading to the production of fish, ruminant and pig feed in the livestock category and dog food in the pet category,” he said.

Thanking the board and shareholders of GCL for the opportunity to serve as chairman, Emmanuel said he had overseen a period of controlled growth and he was happy to be leaving the company in its current situation, although he was aware that it was the efforts of all the board members and their teams that got the company to where it is.

“I think it is time for me to rest after a long period of service. I thank you all for the support you have given me. It has not always been easy sitting in this chair, but the best challenges always have their ups as well as downs. I have enjoyed every minute that I have been here, and I am highly convinced that my successor can take the company to even greater heights,” he said.

Bode Agusto, the incoming chairman of the board, is the founding managing director of Agusto & Co., a credit rating agency and a leading provider of industry research. He is a chartered accountant and has over four decades of work experience in both the private and public sectors.

Agusto was an assistant vice president in Citibank Nigeria, a partner in PwC, and director-general & adviser (budget matters) to President Olusegun Obasanjo during his second term in office. He was also a non-executive director of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), the Shell Nigeria Pension Fund, and a member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

GCL is an integrated foods company driven by the objective to create superior value from local raw materials to produce and deliver superior quality brands in the animal feed, edible oils, breakfast cereals, pet food and other intermediate and consumer cereals products to Nigerian and West African markets.