Mrs Bola Adesola is the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria

Higher Education

She graduated with a degree in Law from Buckingham University in the United Kingdom in 1984, and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1985.

She completed an Advanced Management Programme at the Harvard Business School, and the Chief Executive Programme at the Lagos Business School.

Career Progression – Nigeria to Tanzania, and Back to Nigeria

She started her professional life in corporate legal practice until 1990 when she entered the banking industry, beginning her career with Citibank Nigeria where she would remain for another nine years, and in an industry she has called home for over of 25 years.

Making key career advancements in her chosen new field, she would serve in several leadership and management capacities, eventually becoming the Country Treasurer of Citibank, Tanzania.

In 1999, she became the Managing Director of Kakawa Discount House, incorporated in 1995 and formed by a consortium of eight banks, led by First Bank Nigeria. Due to her impeccable performance in this role, she would be appointed to the Executive Director position at First Bank in 2005, a position she held for five years before her resignation in July 2010.

In her role as Executive Director, she was responsible for the corporate banking business arm, and later, the entire business in the Lagos Directorate which included retail, corporate and commercial banking.

In March 2011, she was appointed Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Limited, and is the bank’s first female and first indigenous CEO, the country being one of the bank’s most promising markets. In her role as MD/CEO, she continues to provide leadership for the group in Nigeria through developing overall country strategy and direction.

Her deep knowledge of the Nigerian market, strong client and regulatory relationships, and broad banking experience which include serving in various capacities involving the development of the Nigerian Money Market, the Interbank Settlement Systems, and the Discount House sub-sector were some of the professional qualities that made her suitable for this high role, and which continues to drive the strength of the bank’s operations in Nigeria.

The Professional Juggernaut

Below is a list of some of the many other professional hats she has donned, and continue to don:

  1. Trustee and Executive Board Member, Financial Markets Dealers Association
  2. Chair, Central Bank of Nigeria Bankers’ Committee on Economic Development, Sustainability and Gender
  3. Member, United Nations Global Compact (appointment by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon) – 2015
  4. Executive Member, Nigeria National Competitiveness Council (2013)
  5. First female Vice President, Lagos Business School Alumni Association (LBSAA)
  6. Board Member, Fate Foundation
  7. Co-founder and Former Chairperson, Women in Business and Management (WIMBIZ)
  8. Member, Advisory Board of Genevieve Magazine
  9. Member, Editorial Board of Rubies Magazine

Honours

Honorary Fellow, Chartered Institute of Bankers Nigeria

Recipient, Africa Business Award (2013)

She once said:

I hope and look forward to a country devoid of the scarcity mentality

And on success, she opines:

Purposefulness, planning, making bold decisions, one’s ability to say No, and the opportunity to celebrate and appreciate one another are the keys to living a successful and inspiring life.

Bola is married and blessed with a set of twin girls.