Access Holdings Plc has named Bolaji Agbede its acting group chief executive officer (GCEO).
According to TheCable, the appointment was announced in a corporate filing with the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) on Monday.
The development comes three days after the death of Herbert Wigwe, the company’s former GCEO.
Wigwe died in a helicopter crash on Friday, along with his wife, son, and former NGX chairman Abimboloa Ogunbanjo.
The board of directors stated in the corporate filing that Agbede’s appointment is subject to approval by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The bank said:
“Further to its announcement dated February 11, 2024, the Board of Directors of Access Holdings Plc (‘the Company’) has today announced the appointment of Ms Bolaji Agbede as the Acting Group Chief Executive Officer of the Company following the unfortunate demise of its former Group Chief Executive Officer, Dr Herbert Wigwe, on February 9, 2024.”
Commenting on the leadership change, the company’s chairman, Abubakar Jimoh, stated that Agbede’s appointment is consistent with the bank’s strong succession planning practices.
Jimoh said:
” We are strongly convinced that Ms Agbede, being the Company’s most Senior Executive with exceptionally rich, professional and leadership experience and understanding of the Access culture, would provide the much-needed leadership to steer the Company towards the attainment of its strategic vision of building a globally. connected community and ecosystem, inspired by Africa for the world.”
Before her appointment, Agbede was the firm’s most senior founding executive director, in charge of business support.
Agbede has nearly three decades of professional experience in banking and business consulting services. She began her career at Guaranty Trust Bank in 1992 and worked in various capacities within the commercial banking and operations functions before rising to Manager in 2001.
She later became the CEO of JKG Limited, a business consulting firm, in 2003.
Agbede is said to have joined Access Bank Plc (the bank) in 2003 as an assistant general manager, overseeing the bank’s portfolio of chemical trading companies.
She also served as the bank’s head of group human resources from 2010 to 2022 before becoming the company’s founding executive director, of business support in 2022.
Agbede earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and statistics from the University of Lagos in 1990, as well as a master’s degree in business administration from Cranfield University in the United Kingdom in 2002.
She is a member of both the Chartered Institute of Management in the United Kingdom and the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management in Nigeria.