How Okonkwo Emerged CEO Of The Decade

By GWG Staff

It was a fitting recognition of Nnamdi Okonkwo’s efforts in projecting one of Nigeria’s tier 2 banks into a competitive position among the country’s top lenders that he was last weekend recognized as the banking sector’s CEO of the Decade.

The recognition, remarkably came as Mr. Okonkwo takes a bow from the industry as his tenured appointment as managing director and CEO of Fidelity Bank draws to an end at the end of the year.

Remarkably, his last year at the head of Fidelity Bank came with the COVID-19 and EndSARS headwinds that severely impacted the economy. That Okonkwo and Fidelity Bank came out of the maelstrom caused by the double phenomena would have measurably counted in the recognition accorded the banker and Fidelity Bank.

While Okonkwo won the coveted CEO of the Decade, Fidelity Bank emerged as the Commercial Bank of the Year in the reckoning of the organisers of the BusinessDay Banks and Other Financial Institutions (BAFI) Awards.

The bank’s executive director for operations and technology, Gbolahan Joshua received Okonkwo’s on his behalf while Obaro Odeghe, the executive director for corporate banking received the award on behalf of the bank.

In recognizing Okonkwo’s achievement in the bank, the BAFI Awards orgnaisers said he helped in “transforming Fidelity Bank into one of the fastest-growing and most trusted financial services brands in Nigeria.”

Joshua on behalf of Okonkwo dedicated the award to all stakeholders including, customers, shareholders, board of directors, executive management and staff.

“This comes as a crowning glory to the contributions of Mr Nnamdi Okonkwo to Fidelity Bank, the banking industry and the entire Nigerian economy. As you may be aware, he is retiring as our CEO, after the completion of contract tenure, by December 31, 2020,” Joshua said.

“He has asked me to dedicate this to all the stakeholders of the bank, including his family and mentors. According to him his modest achievements and contributions would not have been possible without their unalloyed support and help.”

Among the achievements credited to Okonkwo by the award organisers included the rebranding project which made the bank to become more attractive to youths, the revamping of the bank’s performance management culture to instil a culture of performance; technology refresh and digital transformation in furtherance of the digital retail strategy he implemented.

Under Okonkwo’s leadership, the bank witnessed a 236 percent growth in profit before tax from N9 billion to N30.4 billion in 2019; customer and savings deposit also grew from N806.3 billion to N1.35 trillion and from N83.3 billion to N312.1 billion respectively.

Other achievements of the Fidelity CEO include net loans and advances growth of 174 percent from N426.1 billion to N1.16 trillion; customer base increase by 121 percent from 2.4 million to 5.3 million and digital banking penetration improvement from 1.0 percent to 50.1 percent, accounting for 28.4 percent of total fee income.

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