From being a serial entrepreneur, to a consummate corporate and boardroom executive, Mrs. Ibukun Awosika, current chair of First Bank of Nigeria Plc, has grown phenomenally to become a celebrated Personality Brand that resonates achievement, excellence and panache to a teeming base of admirers. This amazon’s versatility and enviable track record made her a BRANDPOWER Golden Icon awardee in 2018. BRANDPOWER is pleased to present the captivating profile of Mrs. Ibukun Awosika…
From her days at the University of Ife (now known as ObafemiAwolowo University), Mrs Ibukun Awosika has been a woman with sterling qualities and a winning mentality. Mrs Awosika has thus, at all times, courageously striven to be outstanding in all her endeavours. Her voyage into purposeful leadership began at age twenty when she became the President of the University of Ife chapter of Jaycees, managing over one hundred members. The appointment taught and instilled in her practical skills for people-management which eventually set the stage for her successful sojourn in the business world.
Being the Chairman, Board of Directors, First Bank of Nigeria Limited as well as the founder and CEO of The Chair Centre Group, Awosika is driven by the need to make companies globally competitive, structurally sound and productively efficient. She has built several successful businesses through her neatly-tailored, courageous and ethically-sound principles, part of which constitutes her strong and enduring brand equity that has endeared her to many reputable companies in Nigeria and across the world.
Awosika’s first stint in the business world was the Chair Centre Limited, which she established decades ago. The company has since metamorphosed into a group under which are:The Chair Centre Limited, Sokao, Furniture Manufacturers Mart, TCC Security Systems as well as Cubes and Boxes Limited. Theconglomerate is involved in manufacturing of household/lifestyle products, retail and bank-way security systems services.
Awosika chairs a number of other corporate and not-for-profit boards amongst which are: House of Tara International and Afterschool Graduate Development Centre (AGDC), a facility which she promoted to help address youth employability and enterprise issues in Nigeria. She sits on the boards of Digital Jewel Limited, Cadbury Nigeria Plc., Convention on Business Integrity (CBI) and the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority. She was Chairman, FBN Life Assurance Limited, FBN Capital Limited and Kakawa Discount House Limited.
Awosika is a graduate of Chemistry and an alumnus of the Chief Executive Programme of Lagos Business School; the Global Executive MBA of IESE Business School, Barcelona-Spain; and Global CEO Programme of Wharton , IESE and China European International Business School (CEIBS).Her high interest in social issues and women development encouraged her to co-found and chair the Women in Business, Management and Public Service (WIMBIZ).
As an ordained pastor and founder of the Christian Missionary Fund, Awosika, through this faith-based organization works with hundreds of missionaries spread across Nigeria to change lives with the provision of medical, educational, and other supplies. She is a fellow of the African Leadership Initiative, Aspen Global Leadership Network, Institute of Directors and Society for Corporate Governance, Nigeria.
Smacking from a burning desire to transform the country economically by raising entrepreneurs to create jobs for the large unemployed youthful population, Awosika has, through her various establishments, contributed immensely to the economic advancement of the country. At present, she is a member of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) and sits on the International Advisory Board of IESE Business School, Barcelona-Spain. She has also served on National Job Creation Committee (NJCC).
From all the boards she serves on to her capacity-building and missionary work, Ibukun Awosika is surely a leading light whose pixels radiate excellence, uncommon courage, leadership and can-do spirit on her contemporaries and the younger generation.
By the virtue of her numerous outstanding accomplishments in the business, economic and social spheres, it is clear that Ibukun Awosika is a sterling Nigerian brand whose impact on the nation is being felt now and will remain so well into the future.
Awosika is a multiple award-winning entrepreneur and first Nigerian recipient of the prestigious International Women Entrepreneur Challenge (IWEC) Award as a nominee of the US Department of State in 2008. She loves to watch investigative and legal series in her leisure time. She is happily married to Mr. Abiodun Awosika and they are blessed with three sons.
In Ibukun Awosika, BRANDPOWER celebrates a Golden Nigerian Icon!
