TheCable

EnterpriseNGR, a professional policy and advocacy group, has announced the appointment of Obi Ibekwe as its founding chief executive officer.

The company said this in a statement issued on Thursday.

The statement added that Ibekwe would lead the management team in close partnership with the organisation’s board of directors and strategic partners.

It added that Ibekwe has more than three decades of experience in the financial and professional services (FPS) industry.

“EnterpriseNGR is led by a board of seasoned industry professionals with broad experience and expertise across all aspects of the financial and related professional services sector,” the statement said

Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, EnterpriseNGR chairman, said: “We are very pleased to have Ms. Obi Ibekwe leading our management team as our founding CEO. She will lead a world-class team of well trained, experienced, agile and dynamic professionals committed to a culture of execution excellence in delivering on the mission of EnterpriseNGR vision.”

OBI IBEKWE PROFILE

Ibekwe joins EnterpriseNGR from the banking industry with a background in commercial law. The statement said she has had held leadership roles at the defunct Diamond Bank, Zenith Bank Plc and United Bank for Africa Plc, where she retired as an executive director.

She was a member of the senior management team at Accenture Nigeria and a non-executive director of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc and Saroafrica International Limited.

Ibekwe holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations from Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, U.S.A. She earned her Law degree from the University of Lagos, Nigeria and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1986. She also holds an MBA degree from the prestigious Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, U.S.

Speaking on her appointment, Ibekwe says she aims to work with EnterprisNGR to demonstrate the importance and value of the Nigerian FPS sector and its contribution to national development.

“I am passionate about the vision of EnterpriseNGR,” the CEO said.

“It’s a vision of a unified financial and professional services industry in which all sectors are enabled to achieve their potential and contribute to the transformation of Nigeria into the premier financial centre of Africa.

“Our goal at EnterpriseNGR is to work collaboratively with the entire ecosystem of the financial and professional services industry and Government to develop and implement policies that will promote growth, efficiency and transparency in our financial system. I am honoured and feel very privileged to be leading these efforts as our founding CEO and will work every day to help build that one big voice of enterprise™ for the financial and professional services industry.”