Bolaji Agbede Appointed Acting CEO of Access Holdings Following Death of Herbert Wigwe
Ms Bolaji Agbede's has been appointed acting Group Chief Executive Officer of Access Holdings Plc., following the death of former CEO, Herbert Wigwe. The appointment has been commended as a significant step towards leadership continuity.
Following a statement issued on February 11, 2024, the Access Holdings Plc Board of Directors made this pronouncement on February 12, 2024.
Assuming the Central Bank of Nigeria gives its blessing, Ms Agbede—the most senior founding Executive Director responsible for Business Support inside the company—is expected to take over as CEO of Access Holdings Plc. As the corporation faces the difficulties of an abrupt change in leadership, this transfer represents a watershed moment in its history.
Ms Agbede has a stellar resume spanning over three decades of work in banking and business consulting, where she has amassed a wealth of experience and strategic insight.
Starting her career in 1992 with Guaranty Trust Bank, she worked her way up to management roles by 2001 and then became CEO of the business consultancy company JKG Limited in 2003.
Beginning in 2003, she served as the Assistant General Manager in charge of the chemical trading enterprises that were part of Access Bank Plc's portfolio. She was appointed Head, Group Human Resources of the Bank from 2010 to 2022 due to her strategic acumen and leadership abilities.
After that, she was promoted to the position of founding Executive Director, Business Support at Access Holdings Plc, where she was instrumental in the company's cultural shift and the smooth merger of its many business divisions.
She attended the University of Lagos for her Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Statistics (1990) and Cranfield University in the United Kingdom for her Master of Business Administration (2002). She has memberships in both the Nigerian Chartered Institute of Personnel Management and the United Kingdom's Chartered Institute of Management.
Among Ms Agbede's notable leadership and professional development programmes are the London Business School's Strategic Talent Management Programme and the International Management Development (IMD) High-Performance Leadership Programme.
Tragically, Dr. Herbert Wigwe passed away, leaving Access Holdings Plc devastated. Events like this tend to occur in the business world.
Nonetheless, the hiring of Ms Agbede, will be seen as a deliberate move towards establishing leadership continuity and stability for the organization. Access Holdings Plc will look to her leadership style and extensive expertise to see them through this change.