42 •
The Lion King
• July - September 2017
I was once told as a young student
that the three key functions of leaders
were to provide direction, empower
people and reward performance.
Over the years, I have developed
these three functions into an assess-
ment tool I use in judging the lead-
ers to follow. I have used the trio
of Leadership View, Capability and
Influence as the barometer for mea-
suring leaders’ effectiveness in build-
ing sustainable institutions. You cannot
be upright in these three key areas
without achieving results and creating
an institution out of any organisation.
Jim Sinegal, the co-founder and retired
Chief Executive Officer of Costco,
the second largest retailer and the
number-one membership warehouse
club with annual net sales of over
$105billion in the United States passed
my leadership test. He was once criti-
cized for ‘putting good treatment of
employees and customers ahead of
pleasing shareholders. Sinegal was
known for leading a company with
the highest level of customer satisfac-
tion and low employee attrition rate.
There is a direct correlation in putting
customers and employees first and
pleasing the stakeholders. I have not
seen any discord in Sinegal’s view as
shareholders will also want the cus-
tomers and employees treated in the
best way to achieve their objectives.
After his retirement, Costco share pric-
es continued to rise and rose by 15% in
2015 with his successor, Craig Jelinek
named as the CEO of the year.
Under KU’s first year as the Group
Managing Director of the United Bank
for Africa, a lot has been achieved
leveraging on the existing culture and
the lessons from the past leaders. From
the last twelve months, UBA has wit-
nessed the following with five lessons
drawn from KU’s year 1.
1. Growth and Result:
The United Bank for Africa grew in the
major parameters within six months of
its new leadership. A growth rate of
22% in gross earnings, 29% in Operating
Income, 32% PBT and 19% in deposit
without any regulatory infraction or
threat to business continuity in the
difficult economic environment for
2016. These growths were achieved
using the existing human resources. A
change of leadership is not a ticket for
automatic growth. Therefore, I see this
as the fallout of the renewed vigour
and focus on the staff.
2.CultureDrivenEnvironment:
The 3Es (Enterprise, Execution and
Excellence) are instructive behaviour,
and core values to put focus on the
customers, the ultimate employer
according to KU. You cannot give
what you don’t have. To give the
customer the required excellent ser-
vice in a competitive service industry,
you must first be the customer. The
Enterprise is simply to have options and
add value to the customers. Execution
is to do the needful at the most effec-
tive and required time. Excellence is
doing the right things and doing them
right. These core values are pointers
to the culture and environment in the
O
n August 1 2016, a
seamless baton exchange
was witnessed in the
leadership of Africa’s global
bank as a ‘UBA Baby’ (Kennedy
Uzoka - KU was part of the UBA
formation from inception) took
over as the GMD of the bank.
The First 365 Days of
KU’s Administration
By Babs Olugbemi
Feature
