The Board of Unity Bank Plc has announced the appointment of Ebenezer Kolawole as the Acting Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer following the retirement of Oluwatomi Somefun who has completed her tenure.
The appointment was announced at the bank’s 18th Annual General Meeting (AGM), held in Lagos on Wednesday, after securing necessary approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The leadership change comes ahead of the conclusion of its business combination deal with Providus Bank Limited.
Kolawole is a seasoned and consummate Banker with over three decades of industry experience.
He began his financial services career at Caribbean Finance Limited (an affiliate of CFL in Cayman Island) in Kaduna in 1992. He later joined Ecobank where he worked in various departments, both operations and finance suites and rose to the position of deputy financial controller.
He moved to Standard Trust Bank (STB) and worked in various strategic areas including operations, regulatory risk management and finance and played a pivotal role in the STB/UBA merger.
He served as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the United Bank for Africa after the merger. He moved to Mainstreet Bank as the bank’s Group Chief Finance Officer (GCFO) and actively drove the turnaround and transformation initiatives of the bank.
He had a stint at Globacom, a leading indigenous telecommunication giant, where he served in various capacities for corporate business development.
Kolawole joined Unity Bank Plc as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in 2015. He was later, in February 2018, appointed the Executive Director to oversee finance, operations and information technology, where he played a key role in the bank’s strategic transformation and cost optimisation initiatives, which enhanced its performance and market feasibility.
In line with the bank’s succession and business continuity plans, Kolawole is saddled with the primary responsibility of finalising the bank’s ongoing corporate programmes and other strategic business initiatives.
Kolawole holds a first-class degree in accounting from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU). He has participated in several management/executive education programmes at Columbia Business School, New York and The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
He is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, a fellow of the Institute of Credit Administration, an honorary member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (HCIB), an associate member of the Nigeria Institute of Management (AMNIM) and member of the Institute of Directors.
