Service to people, the culture of obedience, honesty, integrity, humility and faithfulness are some of the qualities needed for young professionals in the financial industry to develop the right leadership that can impact the society.
Fola Adeola, founder and first managing director of Guaranty Trust Bank (GTbank), made this known at the CFA Society Nigeria maiden Quarterly Leadership Series held on Wednesday.
The Series, which provides the platform for insightful and in-depth conversations with exceptional leaders who have made a mark in the industry, is timely as there are concerns that despite the possession of technical skills by young professionals, they are unable to translate it into the right leadership positions.
Read Also: Nigeria gets $700m World Bank credit for urban-rural water hygiene
“Most people want to lead just for the benefits of the position as against the legacy or impact they will have on the society. And the people who occupy the position don’t have a plan. It cannot be one man for all seasons. At some time, it will expire and others will progress from there and nurture sufficiently and deliberately those other people and put them in the position,” Adeola said.
Apart from his advice on leadership, he also added that when setting a golden seed one should possess the quantities of accountability, self-improvement, reflections, developing the most of your time and the willingness to engage productively.
“Devoting a lot of time, energy and work on people helped me to successfully build GTBank.”
Adeola is an accomplished banker, business leader, strategic thinker, and philanthropist supporting young Nigerian professionals and entrepreneurs.
The platform also provided the opportunity to have an in-depth conversation about his strides in entrepreneurship, his inflection points, and how he decided to start a bank.
The event was moderated by Samuel Sule, CFA, acting chief executive officer, and director, financing group, Renaissance Capital Nigeria, and Paula Benedict-Faniran, CFA, head, risk management, Sigma Pensions Limited.
