ASK THE EXECUTIVE
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OLIVER ALAWUBA
18 •
The Lion King
• January - March 2016
much needed for the development of Africa.
Africa has the youngest population in the world with almost
200 million people between the ages of 15 and 24. This
means, armed with the right skills, Africa can rapidly improve
its productivity and develop a highly viable domestic econ-
omy we can all be proud of. In the end, it is Africans that
can truly develop Africa.
These are some of the factors that are generating the opti-
mism and the passion for Personal Banking we are demon-
strating in UBA.
Which major business opportunities should banks be on the
lookout for in the coming years?
Banking opportunities in Africa generally follow the growth
sectors driving the African economy. African commodities,
both from the extractive and agricultural sectors, will con-
tinue to be the bed-rock of African economies, presenting
existing and emerging banking opportunities.
The African banking industry also has a significant part to
play as African economies continuously seek ways to add
industrial value to their commodities as they deepen their
manufacturing capacities. This opens up new banking
opportunities for the banking industry as the industrial value
chain expands.
Outside the agricultural and extractive industry, African
governments’ focus on infrastructure development will
continue to generate opportunities in other growth sectors
including telecommunication, construction, transportation
and power.
With these activities, more Africans will become engaged in
economic activities leading to a growing consumer market
with vast opportunities for retail businesses including bank-
ing, fast moving consumer goods, hospitality, and shopping
malls e.t.c.
How do you picture a bank of the future?
A bank of the future to me is one that provides customers
with the flexibility and the ubiquity required to personally
tailor their banking services to their unique needs, similar to
how the airline industry provide customers the opportunities
to select their preferred choice of cabin, the choice of on-
flight entertainment and dining, choice of airport pick-up
and hotels e.t.c.
This bank of the future will be low-cost, agile and provide
customers access to banking services on multiple devices
and integrate numerous ancillary value-added services for
the benefit of the customer.
How does UBA fit into your bank of the future?
In UBA, we are driving towards this vision of the Bank of the
Future. All customer interactions from Account Opening to
transaction processing are progressively being made to be
on a self-service mode, as much as possible.
Towards this vision, the Bank recently adopted the SELFIE
philosophy which stands for:
•
S – Security
•
E – Enticing
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L – Learnable
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F- Flexible
•
I – Innovative
•
E – Easy
This philosophy entails ensuring that the customer’s experi-
ence at every touch point of the Bank is underlined by the
delivery of each of the points above.
What motivates you?
I am driven by a passion to create positive change and
leave the world better than I met it. In the end, positive
change is about how you impact people. So, I am moti-
vated by the need to add value to people and their lives.
Ultimately, this will leave our environment better that I met it.
If you weren’t a banker, what would you be?
That will be teaching. I love knowledge and wisdom. These
are assets you cannot acquire too much of. However, what
I love more than acquiring knowledge and wisdom is shar-
ing it. I see it as way of passing your experience to others so
that they can get the benefits but avoid the pains and the
disappointments of your experiences.
How do you maintain a good work life balance?
The key principle that I have adopted in maintaining a good
work life balance is to understand that ultimately, family
comes first. The acceptance of this notion naturally disposes
you to ensure you deliberately define how to spend quality
time with your family.
Secondly, it is my responsibility to ensure I keep my body
and mind in a healthy state. So, I generally make out time
to ensure adequate rest even in the midst of a chaotic
schedule.
