WHEN LEGACY MEETS PREPAREDNESS – OLUSEGUN ALEBIOSU AS CEO, FIRSTBANK GROUP

By Aniekan Ezekiel

What occurs when legacy meets preparedness? What outcomes from such a mixture? Allow us to not be in a rush to place ahead any solutions but. As an alternative, allow us to take into account first the alternative scenario: When legacy meets unpreparedness.

The world abounds in examples of this distressing scenario. A dynasty that has constructed wealth from technology to technology, with its illustrious heirs offering generational management, finds itself in a wierd part the place an ill-prepared inheritor takes over the reins and in that very same technology, not the subsequent, wipes out your entire household fortune constructed over a number of generations.

We see the identical factor with nations. Historical past is replete with examples of nice nations constructed by nice leaders, which slid into oblivion once they have been hit by arguably the best misfortune that ever befalls humanity – unhealthy management. It’s the motive American creator and management professional John Maxwell asserts, “Every little thing rises and falls with management.”

As with nations, so with organisations. We see organisations which have thrived for many years and over a number of generations, get a brand new chief who shouldn’t be ready for such management, and the chief pushes the organisation to the brink of collapse.

Distinction this image with the scenario at Nigeria’s most enduring company organisation with essentially the most superb legacies of firsts, First Bank of Nigeria Restricted, which witnessed a management transition a couple of 12 months in the past. Confronted with numerous high quality choices in and out of doors the then administration group, the decision-makers on the financial institution and its mum or dad firm FBNHoldings, now First HoldCo Plc, needed to be clear-minded about who might develop into the brand new Chief Government Officer of FirstBank Group.

Equally essential as the necessity for continuity was the non-negotiable requirement for capability to handle the ship of the 130-years-plus establishment to maintain its enviable legacies and consolidate the beneficial properties made in recent times. The search was for somebody with a gradual head and arms (discuss of threat management and mitigation), along with a superb observe file of sterling efficiency and achievements.

Thankfully, destiny was on their facet. They didn’t must look exterior. Proper there earlier than them was somebody who understood every kind of dangers and easy methods to management and mitigate them. He had been with FirstBank since 2016 when he joined as Group Government / Chief Threat Officer. Then in January 2022 he was elevated to Government Director / Chief Threat Officer and Government Compliance Officer.

This man has given almost three many years of his working life to the banking and monetary companies trade. He has underneath his belt a wealthy tapestry of cross-functional expertise in credit score threat administration, monetary planning and management, credit score and advertising and marketing, and commerce. His cross-functional publicity additionally contains company and business banking, agriculture financing, oil and gasoline, transportation, together with aviation and transport, and undertaking financing

Meet Olusegun Alebiosu, the person historical past had ready and the one decision-makers selected among the many high quality choices. He was appointed substantive Chief Government Officer of FirstBank Group in June 2024, having acted in that capability since April 2024 when the previous CEO left.

Decided to construct on the financial institution’s legacies whereas navigating the ever-changing panorama of the monetary companies trade, Alebiosu has proven unwavering dedication to guide the financial institution by means of a transformative interval that locations emphasis on strategic consolidation, technological development and market enlargement.

Alebiosu’s strategy to sustaining the legacies of firsts at FirstBank, which has been on the vanguard of accelerating Nigeria’s digital funds as the primary financial institution to challenge over 13 million playing cards to prospects, attracts from his huge skilled expertise which started with Oceanic Financial institution Plc, now Ecobank Plc, in 1991. Between then and becoming a member of FirstBank in 2016, he had labored at Coronation Merchant Bank as Chief Threat Officer, at African Growth Financial institution Group as Chief Credit score Threat Officer and at United Financial institution for Africa as Group Head, Credit score Coverage and Deputy Chief Credit score Threat Officer.

Underneath one 12 months of his appointment as substantive CEO of FirstBank, Alebiosu’s strategic consolidation efforts have demonstrated that he’s a worthy successor, not an ill-prepared or unprepared one, proving the decision-makers proper. Understanding the important function of its human capital in sustaining the financial institution’s legacies, Alebiosu has invested himself and the financial institution’s assets in selling employees welfare.

A complete assessment of the financial institution’s compensation construction was undertaken to place it throughout the seventy fifth percentile of the trade, making the financial institution extra retentive of, and enticing to, one of the best skills. The best variety of employees promotions throughout numerous grades within the final 5 years has occurred underneath Alebiosu’s watch, with 1,654 workers being elevated in a single single promotion cycle.

Underneath his management, over 2,186 new hires have been recruited throughout key capabilities and subsidiaries, with a lot of them deployed to the gross sales operate to make sure that retail prospects are adequately served. Workers are actually extra engaged based mostly on the excessive worker engagement rating of 86% achieved within the April 2025 WorkBuzz survey, indicating exceptional progress within the financial institution’s multi-pronged efforts to advertise a optimistic and inclusive office tradition.

This drive to bolster a tradition of inclusion and recognition has been accentuated by the launch of a group-wide tradition transformation initiative with the purpose of embedding the core values of integrity, excellence and innovation. It has additionally been strengthened by a renewed deal with inclusion, collaboration and excessive efficiency. Additionally contributing was the staging of a FirstBank Worker Appreciation Day 2025 that includes, amongst others, a personalised appreciation video message from the CEO to all workers throughout the group all through Africa and past. The inclusion message is additional boosted by the launch of the inaugural version of the financial institution’s pioneering initiative, Mandarin Language School, to bolster the financial institution’s enlargement within the Asian market.

Growth is a important plank in FirstBank’s new strategic planning horizon, underneath Alebiosu’s management. Taking off this 2025, the plan seeks to bolster the financial institution’s market dominance throughout all operational areas and it contains deliberate enlargement into new markets inside and out of doors Africa.

Past geographical and horizontal enlargement, Alebiosu’s plan has additionally focused a skyward enlargement. Or how else does one describe the groundbreaking ceremony in March 2025 for the financial institution’s new green-certified, 44-storey iconic head workplace constructing in Eko Atlantic Metropolis, Lagos State?

Alebiosu can also be prioritising the acceleration of course of automation in recognition of the significance of digital transformation. It’s a large push for technological development that features adopting robotics expertise and synthetic intelligence at scale, to provide the financial institution an unassailable aggressive benefit amongst its friends within the trade.

The financial institution has deployed digital instruments to boost seamless account opening and optimised backend methods and customer support supply. Two further Digital Expertise Centres (DXCs) have been launched – one at Lekki Admiralty Method, Lagos State and the opposite at its UNN department, Nsukka, Enugu State. Additionally, the financial institution’s agent community has expanded to over 280,000, a 50,000 enhance from the 230,000 brokers it had in 2023.

As anticipated, shareholders, amongst different stakeholders, have been observing the strides the financial institution has been making underneath Alebiosu’s management, with a eager eye on the numbers. Thankfully, once more, the financial institution’s outcomes for the monetary 12 months ended December 2024 converse volumes, with after-tax revenue of its mum or dad firm rising to the best level it has reached within the final 12 years, in accordance with the corporate’s newest monetary assertion.

In recognition of his achievements inside such a brief interval and his exemplary management, Alebiosu was honoured on the World Enterprise Outlook Awards as “Banking CEO of the Yr – Nigeria 2025”. He has additionally been honoured with the “Particular African Banking Management Award” by African Management Journal. This was in 2024.

The story of Alebiosu’s management at FirstBank has clearly been one in every of preparedness assembly legacy. Working with the board and administration group, he has persistently sustained the financial institution’s legacies and likewise consolidated its current beneficial properties in methods that can make sure the beneficial properties hold compounding. FirstBank, greater than ever earlier than, is poised for higher intra- and intercontinental development and impression within the years forward.