UBA Appoints New Executives, Announces Project Alpha

United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA), has appointed new executives and announced the launch of Project Alpha – which the bank says is the new focus of its strategic transformation. According to the Bank, “Project Alpha is a 3 year route map of key transformation initiatives, designed to consolidate the Group’s strategic positioning and fully capture the opportunities from Africa’s economic renaissance and the Group’s unique platform.” “Project Alpha is focused on leveraging all aspects of the Group’s footprint, product offerings and operational capability, allowing a commitment to customer service transformation, market share growth, the implementation of key e-banking initiatives across all segments, the growth of corporate and trade finance capabilities and significant investment in the human capital represented by the over twenty five thousand UBA work force. “The Project Alpha initiative is the focus on UBA Africa, whose contribution currently at 20 percent of group performance and is planned to be 50 percent in by 2016.” The Bank appointed new executives to underline its commitment to Project Alpha. Mr. Apollos Ikpobe has been appointed as Deputy Managing Director, Domestic Bank; and Ms. Obi Ibekwe as Executive Director, Human Resources and Customer Service. Both appointments, the bank says, have been approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Mr. Ikpobe, who was until recently an Executive Director at Zenith Bank, a position he held for 7 years, brings over 21 years of experience of the Nigerian banking sector.  Mr. Ikpobe will be responsible for driving UBA’s domestic business in Nigeria. His appointment complements existing Deputy Managing Director, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka, responsible for Resources and Treasury. The new Executive Director Human Resources and Customer Service, Ms. Ibekwe had a distinguished career with Zenith Bank Plc, where she was responsible for Human Resource Management, Customer Services, as well as Credit Risk Management.  She has a background in consulting, banking and customer service, critical for leading the renewed service excellence culture at UBA. Her appointment brings the number of female Directors at the Group board of UBA to five. The Bank also listed other key appointments; Mr. Rasheed Adegoke, General Manager in charge of Group Information Technology. Mr Adegoke joins UBA from First Bank of Nigeria, where he was CIO, a role he has held for over 13 years at different institutions in the Nigerian financial services sector.  He is a technology and process strategist and with hands-on expertise in the design and delivery of high-performance information technology and business process improvement solutions to address complex business problems. Emmanuel Nnorom, Formerly Executive Director, Finance & Risk Management at UBA, has been appointed as the CEO for UBA Africa. In UBA Africa, new appointments include Mrs. Amie Sow, Managing Director, UBA Senegal; Mr. Demola Ogunfeyimi, Managing Director, UBA Tanzania; Mr. Mamadou Sanon, Managing Director, UBA Gabon; Mr. Martin Che, Managing Director, UBA Congo Brazzaville; Mr. Marcel Bitang, Managing Director, UBA DRC; Mr. Stanley Ugwueze, Managing Director, UBA Zambia; Mrs. Abiola Bawuah, Deputy Managing Director, UBA Ghana; Mr. Benedict Nklama, Executive Director, UBA Kenya; Mr. Wilbrod Owor, Executive Director, UBA Uganda and Mr. Chinedu Obeta, Executive Director, UBA Sierra Leone. “UBA is able to recruit the cream of African banking talent and we are proud to be able to provide a dynamic platform for these Africans to contribute to our continent’s transformation,” said the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, UBA, UBA Mr. Phillips Oduoza. Speaking further, he said: “Our people remain our greatest asset and we will continue to strategically retool and resource to achieve and surpass the goals of Project Alpha.” “More broadly, Project Alpha allows us both to build on the existing strengths of our franchise, but more importantly demonstrates that going forward we continue to reinvent ourselves, ensuring we capture and deliver the maximum of value for clients, shareholders and staff,” he explained. United Bank for Africa Plc is a leading financial institutions in Africa, offering banking services to more than 7 million customers across over 700 branches in 19 African countries, and has a presence in New York, London and Paris.