Segun Agbaje, the Managing Director of Guaranty Trust Bank of Nigeria has been elected as an independent member of the Board of Directors of PepsiCo, the American owners of popular beverage, Pepsi and Moutain Dew.

According to the press release seen by Nairametrics, the Board of Directors elected Segun Agbaje as an independent member of the Board. Mr. Agbaje, 56, will join the Board and the Audit Committee effective July 15, 2020.

In his remark, PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Ramon Laguarta expressed delight in welcoming Mr. Agbaje to the PepsiCo Board.

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“Segun is a well-respected and proven business leader with a deep understanding of complex businesses and fast-growing markets, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa where we recently acquired Pioneer Foods as part of our strategy to expand in the region. His experience in business transformation and passion for delivering consumer value will serve PepsiCo well as we continue our journey to be the global leader in convenient foods and beverages by winning with purpose,” Laguarta said.

PepsiCo recently acquired Pioneer Foods, makers of Butterfield Bread. Pioneer Foods also acquired a major stake in Food ConceptPioneer, a leading baked goods company. Food Concepts are also the owners of the popular Chicken Republic quick-service restaurant chain in Nigeria.

The Chair of PepsiCo’s Board’s Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, Daniel Vasells remarked,

“We look forward to Segun joining the PepsiCo Board and to the valued global perspective he will add to our team..His knowledge and experience of embracing and scaling new technologies and critical capabilities will be valuable as we continue to invest in opportunities that create shareholder value and deliver long-term sustainable growth.”

Segun Agbaje also currently serves as a director of MasterCard Advisory Board Middle East and Africa. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of San Francisco.

Mr. Lamido Yuguda, the new Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has started work at the capital markets regulatory agency. He assumed duty alongside three new SEC commissioners, namely – Mr Reginald Karawusa, Ibrahim Boyi, and Dayo Obisan.

Mr Yuguda announced that the SEC’s capital market master plan of 2014 will enable Nigeria’s capital markets to accelerate the development of the country’s economy. He added that the SEC in the past 20 years has worked with industry stakeholders to implement initiatives that have improved the regulation and development of Nigeria’s capital markets.

“Many of the initiatives have been successfully implemented while many others are work in progress in line with its objectives. Therefore, the continued implementation of the plan will be one of the major focus of the incoming management, while we also seek possible ways of strengthening it for enhanced impact. We would equally work towards improved market regulation, surveillance and general development,” Yuguda said.

He added that the SEC would make investor protection the focus of the initiatives that will be implemented by the new management. Assuring the public that the new management would do its best to improve capital market regulation for the benefit of all stakeholders and warned defaulting operators would be punished.

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“We want to assure investors that this market is for them and we are ready to do everything to ensure that we increase investor enlightenment through education, robust regulation and fair dealing. For those that want to defraud investors, there would be no respite,” he added.

The outgoing Acting Director-General, Ms Mary Uduk said she was confident in the new management would improve on the achievement the SEC has built so far. Adding that the SEC has introduced reforms in the past few years that have led to regulatory milestones.

Mr. Lamido Yuguda is a holder of the CFA Charter and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), with a B.Sc. degree in Accounting from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and an M.Sc. in Money, Banking and Finance from the University of Birmingham.

He is holds a Certificate in Financial Asset Management and Engineering from the Swiss Finance Institute, Geneva and a Certificate in Investment Performance Management from the CFA Institute, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA. 

United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA), the leading pan-African financial services group, is pleased to announce the appointments of Ayoku Liadi and Oliver Alawuba as Deputy Managing Directors in charge of UBA’s Nigeria and Africa businesses, respectively.

The creation of the new positions, reporting to Group CEO, Kennedy Uzoka, represents further strategic recognition of the growth of UBA’s pan-African business, now representing in excess of 40% of Group revenue, and the critical importance of Nigeria, the Group’s largest market.  Combined with UBA’s unique International Business, operating from New York, London and Paris, UBA Africa and Nigeria, offer an unparalleled service offering to clients across Africa and globally.

Commenting on the appointments, Group Chairman Tony O. Elumelu said:

“In 2005, we set out our pan-African vision.  Fifteen years later, we are present in 20 African countries, serving over 20 million clients, leveraging our service culture and technology platform, to provide an integrated and seamless customer offering across the continent.  In Africa, we lead in innovation and service, whilst our International Business, operating from New York, Paris and London, provides global and African clients access to treasury, trade finance and corporate banking products, uniquely tailored to the African opportunity.  These senior appointments represent our commitment to optimise our management structure to best serve our clients and drive our business success.”

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Oliver Alawuba has worked with the UBA Group for almost 20 years and was appointed in January 2020, CEO for the Group’s Africa operations.  Oliver’s knowledge of UBA’s business in Africa is unrivalled.  He previously held the role as CEO of UBA in Ghana and more recently, as Regional CEO for UBA in Anglophone Africa.

Ayo Liadi joined the UBA Group in 2014 and was appointed the Executive Director of Lagos and West bank in Nigeria, two years later.  Ayo is widely recognised for his innovation in driving business development.

Also announced today by the UBA Group Board, was the retirement from the Board with effect from August 01, 2020, of Dan Okeke who has been with the UBA Group for 22 years.  Dan served on the board as an Executive Director for three terms and a total of nine years.  According to the Group Chairman, ‘Dan was born for UBA.  He has worked tirelessly for the Group and achieved so much in the past two decades.  We will miss him, but he will still be very much around us’.

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UBA is one of the largest employers in the financial sector on the African continent, with approximately 20,000 employees group-wide and serving over 20 million customers.  Operating in 20 African countries and globally in the United Kingdom, the United States and France, UBA provides retail, commercial and institutional banking services, leading financial inclusion and implementing cutting edge products such as the first-ever banking chatbot in Africa, LEO.