Fola Adeola
Fola Adeola is a businessman and investor. He is the Founder of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, a leading African Bank that offers Online/Internet Banking, Retail Banking, Corporate Banking, and Investment Banking. GTB recently announced the successful completion of its re-organization into a Holding Company Structure – Guaranty Trust Holding Co PLC (GTCO), in a bid to strengthen its long-term competitiveness and growth prospects.
Fola Adeola established GTB alongside Tayo Aderinokun in 1990 and worked as the Managing Director/CEO from the same year to July 2002. Today, GTB has branches in other countries including Sierra Leone, Liberia, The Gambia and the United Kingdom. In 1996, the bank was listed on Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
Before GTB, Fola served as Senior Auditor at D.O. Dafinone & Co. before joining NAL Merchant Bank in 1982 as a Manager. In 1986, he moved to Continental Merchant Bank Limited as Deputy General Manager & Divisional Head, Financial Services Division.
Fola is also the Founder of FATE Foundation, a non-profit that aims at curbing the high rate of unemployment in Nigeria through entrepreneurship. Currently, the foundation has empowered over 35,000 young entrepreneurs in Nigeria.
Fola obtained a Diploma in Accounting from Yaba College of Technology in 1975 and became a Chartered Accountant in 1980 following his training with Deloitte, Haskins and Sells, and D.O. Dafinone & Company (both Chartered Accountants). Over the years he has received professional development training at notable institutions worldwide including Harvard Business School, INSEAD, and the International Institute for Management Development in Switzerland. In 1999, he completed a one-year sabbatical at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies in Kuru, Jos, Nigeria, where he researched economic development and job creation policies.
Fola’s impact on public service is quite notable. He was Chair of the Lagos State Disaster Relief Committee and the Ogun State Development Trust Fund Committee. He also served as a member of the Global Advisory Committee on Philanthropy of the World Economic Forum for four years. Subsequently, he was invited to join the Aspen Institute ISIB Annual Business Leaders Dialogue in Aspen, Colorado in 2001. In May 2004, he was appointed Commissioner on the Commission for Africa by Tony Blair, the then British Prime Minister.
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Fola has led the boards of several companies including UTC, Arm Holdings, Lotus Capital, Eterna Oil, CardinalStone Partners Limited, Credit Registry Services, MainOne Cable Company Limited, National Pension Commission. He was a member of the National Honours and Awards Committee, Solid Minerals Committee, council member of Olabisi Onabanjo University, and member of the Lagos State University Governing Council.
Fola has received several distinguished awards for his career impacts and work in the public service including the Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR), awarded in 2002; Honorary doctorate, Nkumba University, Entebbe, Uganda; Distinguished Famous Alumni, Yaba Tech Zik Leadership, 2003; Banker of the Decade, Vanguard Newspaper Group, 2009; and Change Makers in Social Entrepreneurship, This Day.
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and the Institute of Directors of Nigeria.
We are delighted to have Fola Adeola as our MCM feature this week. Connect with him on LinkedIn.