“I come from a place where there are opportunities staring you in the eye, but it’s looking for the people who have the heart and the courage to do it and do it right”.
We present to you, Ibukun Awosika. Ibukun Awosika is the current chairman of First Bank Nigeria. She is the first female to be appointed as the chairman of First Bank Nigeria.
She was appointed on September 7, 2015. FirstBank is a Nigerian multinational bank and financial services company headquartered in Lagos. It operates a network of over 750 business locations across Africa, the United Kingdom and representative offices in Abu Dhabi, Beijing, and Johannesburg set up to capture trade-related business between geographies.
She graduated with a Bachelor’s in Chemistry from the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University. She holds a post-graduate and MBA certificates upon the completion of several business programs at the Lagos Business School and IESE Business School.
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During her compulsory one-year National Youth Service, Ibukun worked as an audit trainee at Akintola Williams & Co. She left for Alibert Nigeria Ltd. as a showroom manager because of her love for architecture.
In her quest to be independent, she established a furniture manufacturing company called Quebees Limited in 1989 before it evolved into The Chair Centre Limited and later SOKOA Chair Centre Limited following a venture merges with SOKOA S.A and Guaranty Trust Bank in 2004.
Ibukun is a fellow of the African Leadership Initiative and Aspen Global Leadership Network, she is a member of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, she is a member of the board of Nigerian Sovereign Wealth Fund and former Chairperson, a Board of Trustees of Women in Management, Business and Public Service.
In 2011, she co-founded the Afterschool Graduate Development Centre, a career center established in order to curb the high rate of unemployment in Nigeria.
Ibukun Awosika is member of IESE’s International Advisory Board (IAB), She also sits on the board of Digital Jewel Limited and Cadbury Nig Plc.
Born to a Nigerian father and a Cameroonian mother, Ibukun is the third born of seven children and she recognizes the role they played in raising her to become the woman that she is today.
“Seeing my drive as a young entrepreneur, my father used to say, ‘I have given birth to this one,’ and if anything happened, he was always present to assist me even if it meant selling his house to pay up any debts I may have incurred along the way. He never discouraged me.”
Ibukun is multiple award-winning entrepreneurs and the first Nigerian recipient of the prestigious International Women Entrepreneurial Challenge Award as a nominee of the United States Department of State.
In 2006, she was awarded the FATE Model Entrepreneur of The Year.
In 2007, she was awarded the Golden Heart Award and also the International Women Entrepreneur Challenge Award.
We can boldly say the 58-year-old is living her dreams.
Ibukun who isn’t one to back down easily says against all odds, she became successful at all she does. She currently runs a program called The Life Series with Ibukun Awosika where she shares tips about building a successful career. You can follow the program on IG @thelifeseriesng or get more information from her website https://ibukunawosika.org/life-series/
She is an inspiration to us all especially to young women growing up because she shows us that we can be anything we want to be as long as we work hard for it.