40 | The Lion King
Experiences
My Milken Global
Conference Experience
I
first heard about the Milken Institute
not too long ago but didn’t make
anything serious about it until an
acquaintance again brought it to my
attention early in the year saying that
they were the American version of
World Economic Forum (WEF).
Though I read up about them, I wanted
to find out more and subsequently
got in touch with Mr. Sam Nwanze,
the Chief Investment Officer at Heirs
Holdings and David Rice, a Director at
the Africapitalism Institute, who I later
found out was only recently recruited
from the Milken Institute. Both Sam and
David were emphatic that the April
Charles Aigbe, Divisional Head Marketing and Corporate Relations attended the
2104 Milken Global Conference in Los Angeles with the GMD/CEO and writes
on his experience at the annual gathering of global leaders organized by the
Milken Institute; an independent think-tank, whose mission is to improve the
lives and economic conditions of people in the US and around the world.
26 - May 1, 2014 conference would
be a good avenue to tell our African
success story especially to an American
audience that still haven’t caught on
with the Africa renaissance.
After a few exchanges of emails with
the Institute, we got the invite to attend
and my GMD/CEO, Mr. Phillips Oduoza
was scheduled to speak on the panel
discussion on Africa. Given our Africa
focus and spread, we have become
the ‘go to’ institution when talking
about financial services in Africa. Not
a lot of banks have the same kind
of spread like UBA with operations in
19 African countries and providing
financial services to more than 7
million customers on the continent and
beyond.
The flight via London was pretty
uneventful. We arrived on the afternoon
of April 26, 2014, at the Tom Bradley
International airport in Los Angeles, after
nearly 18 hours of flying and proceeded
to our hotels. Registration on the follow-
ing day at the venue - Beverly Hilton,
was a very smooth affair. The organiza-
tion was impeccable. The Institute had
multiple registration points, very explicit
conference materials and enough
attendants, including staff of the Milken
Institute to help.
L-R: President
of Rwanda, His
Excellency, Paul
Kagame; Former
Prime Minis-
ter of United
Kingdom, Tony
Blair and GMD/
CEO, UBA Plc,
Phillips Oduoza
at the 2014
Milken Global
Conference
By Charles Aigbe
