Following the retirement of Mrs Oluwatomi Somefun from Unity Bank Plc after the completion of her tenure as the chief executive, the board of the financial institution has appointed Mr Ebenezer Kolawole, as her replacement in an acting capacity.
The appointment of Mr Kolawole was announced at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the lender in Lagos on Wednesday.
He will lead the company armed with more than 30 years of industry experience.
The bank has already obtained the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to have the appointee take over the position.
He has the primary responsibility to finalise the company’s ongoing corporate programmes and other strategic business initiatives of the institution.
Mr Kolawole joined Unity Bank in 2015 as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and became the Executive Director for Finance, Operations and Information Technology in February 2018.
While on the board of Unity Bank, he helped in the company’s strategic transformation and cost optimization initiatives, which enhanced the firm’s performance and market feasibility.
The acting CEO began his financial services career at Caribbean Finance Limited (an affiliate of CFL in Cayman Island) in Kaduna in 1992, and later joined Ecobank, rising to the position of Deputy Financial Controller after working in various departments of the bank, both operations and finance suites.
He later moved to Standard Trust Bank (STB) and worked at various strategic areas, including operations, regulatory risk management and finance suites and played a pivotal role in the STB/UBA merger and served as the CFO of the new entity, UBA.
Mr Kolawole, thereafter, worked at Mainstreet Bank as CFO and then moved to Globacom, a telecommunication company owned by Mr Mike Adenuga.
He is a member of several professional bodies, including: Fellow of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (FCA); Fellow, Institute of Credit Administration, (FICA), Honorary Member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (HCIB), Associate Member of The Nigeria Institute of Management (AMNIM); Member of the Institute of Directors etc.
Mr Kolawole graduated from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife with a holds a First-Class (Hons) degree in Accounting.