CEO of First Bank, Adesola Adedutan Honored with Forbes’ Best of Africa Award
Dr Adesola Adedutan, the current Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of First Bank of Nigeria who was recently honoured with Forbes’ Best of Africa Award is our MCM today.
Being an accolade of recognition and excellence awarded to business personalities with proven track records of building, leading and developing multinational businesses that have contributed greatly to the development of Africa, Forbes stated that the award was presented to Adesola Adedutan for his passion and change in the banking and financial sectors, describing him as a catalyst for change.
With over twenty-five years cognate experience in the financial sector, Adesola Adedutan served within various capacities and has gained expertise in diverse areas of management including financial risk management, treasury, performance management, strategy design and execution as well as Information Technology and Compliance.
Adesola Adedutan is an alumnus of the University of Ibadan, where he obtained a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVN) degree. He holds a master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Cranfield University Business School, United Kingdom, which he attended as a British Chevening scholar. Adesola Adedutan also attended executive/leadership programme at Harvard, Cambridge and Oxford.
Prior to his appointment as Managing Director/CEO of First Bank in 2016, he was appointed to the board of the bank in 2014 and served as the Executive Director/Chief Financial Officer, where he handled the financial control and business performance management of the bank.
He currently sits on the board of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group and as a Non-Executive Director of the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Limited (NIBSS). In March 2020, he was awarded the “African Banking Personality of the Year” at the eight “African Leadership Magazine Persons of the Year award dinner,” and recently, honoured with Forbes’ “Best of Africa” award.
Speaking on the award, Forbes said,
“Adesola Adedutan believes strongly in the importance of doing well by doing good. In March 2020, he spoke at the Edinburgh School of Business about financial institutions’ role as drivers of financial inclusion. In his leadership role at First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Adedutan is part of the 126-year legacy of sustained development-oriented services. First bank is the region’s foremost financial inclusion service provider.”
In response to this award, Adesola Adedutan said,
“I am truly humbled to receive the Forbes Best Africa Award and I am grateful to the Forbes team for this coveted recognition and award. I owe profound gratitude to our customers and to the board, management and staff of First of Nigeria Limited, including all our subsidiaries, for their cooperation in delivering the best to our esteemed customers and shareholders and ensuring we give back to the society in which we have sustained our business for over 126 years.”
Adesola Adedutan, whose experience in the financial sector have proved worthy of the award dedicated it to the management, staff, subsidiaries and shareholders of First Bank for their immense contribution towards ensuring quality products and customer service. He sees the award as a means to carry out more corporate responsibility and sustainability in the bank as Africa’s bank of first choice. He believes that their quest to remain beyond comparison will continue to stand and move the bank to achieve more in subsequent years.