We are honoured to announce the keynote speaker for the Business in Africa conference: Dr Adesola Adeduntan, Managing Director of First Bank of Nigeria.
Dr. Adesola Kazeem Adeduntan (FCA), Managing Director/CEO, First Bank of Nigeria Limited and Subsidiaries, was appointed to the Board in 2014 as Executive Director/Chief Financial Officer. He brings over 20 years’ experience which spans across various functions in the financial services industry. Before joining FirstBank, he was a Director and the pioneer Chief Financial Officer of Africa Finance Corporation, a start-up operation between November 2007 and June 2014. He bought into the vision of the founding fathers of AFC and built a world-class financial institution that outlived its founders and contributed immensely to the development of Africa. He served on the Board of AFC Equity Investment, Mauritius, Director and Chairman of Board Cabeolica SV, a commercial windpower producer in the Republic of Cape Verde. Adesola was appointed as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Citibank Nigeria Limited in 2005 and left as a Senior Vice President. He was a Senior Manager in the Financial Services Group of KPMG Professional Services and a Manager at Arthur Andersen Nigeria where he managed high profile assurance, financial and risk advisory engagements. Sola also had a brief stint at the defunct Afribank Nigeria Plc (now Skye Bank) as a graduate trainee where he worked mainly in banking operations.
Over the course of his sterling career, he has garnered diverse expertise in Treasury & Financial Management, Risk Management, Accounting/Auditing/Internal Controls, Corporate Governance, Corporate Strategy Development and Implementation, Corporate Finance, Business Performance Management, Business/Financial Advisory, Investors, Regulators and Rating Agencies Relationship Management, Deployment and Management of Information Technology, and Compliance. Sola attended University of Ibadan, where he obtained a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree. A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (FCA), Adesola holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Cranfield University, United Kingdom which he attended as a distinguished “British Chevening Scholar.” He has attended executive programmes at Harvard, Wharton Business School, Cambridge, Oxford and INSEAD. Sola is a member of Sigma Educational Foundation, which is focused on enhancing the quality of tertiary education system in Nigeria, and a member of the prestigious Metropolitan Club. He is happily married with children and loves music.