AGAIN, UBA BOSS, PHILLIPS ODUOZA, WINS CEO OF THE YEAR AWARD

Phillips Oduoza, GMD/CEO, UBA Plc

The Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of United Bank for Africa Plc, Mr. Phillips Oduoza, has emerged the 2015 Ai Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) 30 CEO of the year at this year's 8th annual Ai CEO Investment Summit for the second time. The first time he won the award was in 2013. The event took place in New York at the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.


A statement which was made available to Tectono Business Review explained that Mr. Oduoza was named the winner from a long shortlist that included the Chief Executive Officer of Orascom Construction Company, Nassef Sawiris; CEO, MTN Group, SA, Sifiso Dabengwa; CEO, Lafarge Africa, Guillaume Roux; CEO, GTBank, Segun Agbaje; MD, Dangote Sugar, Graham Clark; and Co-CEOs, Standard Bank, Ben Kruger/Sim Tshabalala.

In case you do not know, Africa investor (Ai) is an international investment and communications group based in South Africa. Every year it organises the institutional investment summit as a platform for public and private sector leaders in Africa to dialogue with global counterparts on ways to invest and grow businesses in Africa.

Yes, as an integral part of the summit, Ai also hosts the investment and business leadership awards to reward exceptional business practices, economic achievements and investments across Africa, whilst recognising the institutions and individuals improving the continent’s investment climate.

Tectono Business Review gathered that the summit and awards ceremony was attended by over 250 of Africa’s most prominent and influential business, government and development finance leaders, as well as five African Heads of State. Despite that, Mr. Odozua won the Ai SRI CEO of the Year award in recognition of his exceptional achievements over the last year. According to the summit organisers, Mr. Oduoza’s award is an inspiration for business and government leaders working to raise Africa’s investment profile.

The judging panel considered excellent leadership skills, enhanced organisational image, innovation and originality as well as alignment with the millennium development goals (MDGs) in choosing the SRI 30 CEO of the year.

While speaking on the award, the UBA boss said: “As Africa’s global bank, the United Bank for Africa has operations in 19 African countries and three global financial centres like New York, London and Paris, serving over 9 million customers. This award validates our efforts over the years in building a solid pan-African banking business that is profitable, sustainable and socially responsible. I dedicate it to all UBA people: customers, staff and other stakeholders in Africa and across the globe."