One of the national microfinance banks, Accion Microfinance Bank, has appointed Mrs Adenike Laoye as its new board Chair.
Established in 2006, Accion MfB Limited began operations in May 2007 after obtaining the Central Bank of Nigeria’s licence, and had continuously empowered and supported business owners in Nigeria over the years.
A statement said Laoye was appointed a Non-Executive Director representing Ecobank Nigeria on the board of Accion Microfinance Bank on January 5, 2017. She has a law degree and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1991.
She joined EcobankGroup in 1993, where she rose to become the head of legal and regulatory unit of Ecobank Nigeria in 2000, and subsequently the company Secretary/Chief Legal counsel in 2002.
She has had over 30 years of experience as legal counsel in a financial services company, 17 years of which, was as Chief Legal Counsel.
In March 2019 she took up the role of Chief of Staff to the group Chief Executive Officer, of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, Lome, Togo, the parent company of the Ecobank Group. She also doubled as Group Head, Corporate Communications.
As Chief of Staff, Laoye coordinated and effectively took charge of the office of the GCEO of the Ecobank Group whose direct reports included 33 Managing Directors from across 33 African countries, gaining strong exposure to finance, banking, and macroeconomics across the African continent.
In the role, she also had close interaction with several international multilateral agencies.
She has attended executive programmes at INSEAD, Harvard, and Cranfield among others.
She is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) as well as an honorary member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN).