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Bola Atta
Group Head, Corporate Communications
I have worked in the field of brand building and communi- cations for many years and been working at UBA for almost 4 years. I trained to be a banker with the various relevant qualifications. But I very early on in my career, discovered that I really didn’t want to be immersed in finance or in crunching any sort of numbers.
The one key thing to getting to the top of your career, is not staying in a place where you feel less fulfilled. Passion is key because if you have enough passion for what you are doing, you can basically get through any hurdles that come up in your career. Discrimination will always rear its head. Even men are discriminated against. People get dis- criminated against for their tribe, race, looks, gender etc. It’s not exclusive to the work place. What one has to do is to always ensure you rise above it and focus. It’s very easy to get weighed down when you begin to feel sorry for yourself. There shouldn’t be much time for that if you are passionately pursuing your dreams. Don’t take up a job offer for pay or for position because you could easily get burnt out. Do it for the passion. I mean that with every conviction.
At UBA, I see a lot of women in key positions. There might not be as many women as there are men in suits, but the voices of the women are pretty powerful. It makes up for the num- bers. The strength of a woman... Not meaning to discrimi- nate, but men may never discover where that strength lies.
UBA is truly a legendary institution. There are few Nigerians alive today (above a certain age) who have not heard about the wise men commercial. If one looks back at one’s childhood, UBA is there somewhere as part of the memories. I discovered my Dad’s first UBA savings card a couple of years ago. It was dated 1975! I know that my grandchildren will see my UBA bank cards many decades from now. It will probably look odd to them but vintage is always special. It’s the story of UBA. The bank will be here through the ages.
EMEM USORO
Regional Head, Lagos 2
My name is Emem Usoro, Regional Head, Lagos 2. I was redeployed to the Lagos directorate from the Abuja directorate in June, 2015. I am responsible for the devel- oping, planning and implementing strategies (amongst other things) to improve and turn around the business of the regional bank, supervising and coordinating activi- ties of the branches/units under me, reviewing business activities and market positioning, turning ailing branches around and ensuring the bank becomes No1 choice in my region.
I would like to start by saying that I joined banking because I needed a job, not because of my aspirations, and for me it always felt absolutely natural to be one of the few
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