Access Holdings Appoints Female Acting CEO Bolaji Agbede

The Board of Directors of Access Holdings Plc have announced the appointment of Ms. Bolaji Agbede as the Acting Group Chief Executive Officer of the Company following the tragic demise of its former Group CEO, Herbert Wigwe.

Wigwe died February 9th, in a chopper accident that also took the life of his wife, son, Bimbo Ogunbanjo 61, a former president of the National Council of the Nigeria Stock Exchange and 2 others in California, USA,

The appointment is subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria. Until her appointment, Ms. Agbede was the Company’s most senior founding Executive Director in charge of Business Support.

The appointment should somewhat ease the anxiety of investors following the demise of Wigwe who was the face of the bank. Access shares fell 6.62% in yesterday’s trading session as investors dumped shares in reaction to the news of Wigwe’s death.

Analysts tell MoneyCentral that the death of Wigwe will be a test of institutionalized decision making and execution effectiveness at Access Holdings.

“Investors would actively track the performance of the institution to understand its health, quality of earnings and other fundamentals going forward to determine how the gap left by Mr. Wigwe is being filled, and whether or not there are negative or positive impacts from the succession,” Abiola Rasaq, economist and former head of investor relations at United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, told MoneyCentral.

Ms. Agbede has nearly three decades of professional experience cutting across banking and business consultancy services. She commenced her professional career in 1992 at Guaranty Trust Bank and served in various capacities within the Commercial Banking and Operations functions, rising to the position of Manager in 2001. She subsequently served as the Chief Executive Officer of JKG Limited, a business consulting outfit in 2023.

Ms. Agbede joined Access Bank Plc in 2023 as an Assistant General Manager, responsible for managing the Bank’s portfolio of chemical trading companies.

She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Lagos (1990) and a Masters of Business Administration Degree from Cranfield University UK in 2022.

Commenting on the appointment, Mr. Abubakar Jimoh, the Chairman of the Company said:

“The appointment of Ms. Agbede is in alignment with our robust succession planning practices. 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.”