18 •
The Lion King
• October - December 2016
Two factors have
been particularly
helpful in my
career; job rotation
and positive
attitude towards
learnings and
service excellence.”
Ask The Executive
UGOCHUKWU NWAGHODOH
Group Chief Finance Officer
A
simple gentleman with a calm demeanour, UBA’s Group Chief Finance Officer (GCFO), Ugochukwu Nwaghodoh is a firm believer
in the ideology that hard work and dedication are the sustainable means to career progression. A seasoned scholar in finance,
with extensive experience in audit, financial control and reporting, mergers and acquisitions, transaction advisory, strategy,
performance management, business risk and decision support analysis, Ugochukwu has over two decades hands-on experience and
training in financial modelling, investment analysis, corporate finance & restructuring, project and people management.
He rose through the ranks, from offering business strategies and performance management in pre-merger Standard Trust Bank, to
different roles and positions over the last decade in today’s enlarged UBA Group. Ugochukwu was appointed the Group CFO of UBA
Plc in August 2011, in recognition of his professional competence, commitment and diligence to the UBA vision. He is well-bred in
the UBA culture and exemplifies the core values in his personal and professional life. Notwithstanding accolades and commenda-
tions, Ugochukwu believes in the “Kaizen philosophy” of continuous improvement; he never stops at the “best”, as he continuously
seeks to be “better”. For the second time in a row, Ugochukwu recently emerged ‘CFO of the Year”, ahead of other top nominees in
the banking category at the Nigeria CFO Awards. In this interview, Ugochukwu lets us in on his inner thoughts and shares his views
on investment opportunities in Africa.
How did you get to your current
position as GCFO?
I grew organically through the system
over the past 13 years. This has given
me the opportunity to fully imbibe
the culture and values of the Bank,
whilst also learning from several Senior
Executives, who I have worked closely
with and understudied in the past 13
years. Amongst several, I believe two
factors have been particularly helpful
in my career; job rotation and positive
attitude towards learnings and service
excellence. This coupled with my
background in audit/assurance as
well as corporate finance equips me
with a rich experience of the Group
Finance role. Interestingly, I have also
worked in the strategy and business
transformation office, supporting the
GMD/CEO at some time, in addition
to a stint career in compliance. I
have also served on several project
committees spanning across different
divisions in the Bank, hence my broad
experience and understanding of the
Bank.
What have been your greatest
achievements as GCFO?
Working together with my “A” team,
and by the grace of God, we have
recorded phenomenal improvement
in the quality and process of corporate
reporting, we have entrenched
intelligence and analytics-driven
performance management, we have
also made significant strides in market
engagement through our best-in class
investor relations suite.
From a leadership standpoint, I
am particularly delighted by our
achievements in people development
and creation of a conducive
environment for learning, contribution
and productivity. First, I am happy to
have seen a number of colleagues
we trained and supervised in the
last couple of years, emerge from
Group Finance to become CFOs in
reputable institutions including banks.
This is particularly exciting, because
it further reinforces my emphasis on
human capital development through
learning-on-the-job, formal and
