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Tag: Chief Financial Officer

  • 9mobile appoints new Chief Financial Officer

    Telecommunications company, 9mobile has announced the appointment of Mr Phillips Oki as its new Chief Financial Officer.

    The Acting Managing Director of 9mobile, Stephanie Beuvelet, who disclosed this in a statement issued in Lagos on Monday, said that Oki has resumed duty.

    Beuvelet said that Oki emerged as the best person for the position after a meticulous search process.

    “The new Chief Financial Officer brings to 9mobile over two decades of cognate work experience in functional areas across financial accounting and management, audit, business and project management, financial reporting, and budgeting.

    Read Also: 9mobile rewards CodeLagos Hackathon winners

    “With robust experience cutting across private and public sectors, including the academia, Oki possesses a rare blend of invaluable insights and working knowledge in the vast field of finance.

    “Prior to joining 9mobile, Oki’s career progressed steadily over time across organisations where he played strategic roles resolving challenges innovatively and creating commendable solutions,” Beuvelet said.

    He noted that Oki had worked in several companies like KPMG Nigeria, Price Water Coopers (PWC), Royal Merchant Bank, Pepsico International, TBIC Nigeria Ltd and Babcock University.

    Beuvelet added that Oki was an economist and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountant of Nigeria (FCA), and also a project manager, who has delivered projects across multi-disciplinary organisations like Adam Smith International, United Kingdom, among others.

    He said that members of the senior management team were excited to have Oki on board and are positive that his experience would count in providing strategic financial leadership for the organisation.

    “We are excited to have Oki with us. Finance is a huge part of any business, especially one like ours in a competitive telco space where it continues to be imperative to have operational costs within healthy bounds.

    “We are confident that Oki will leverage his wealth of experience to inspire the finance team to deliver on their mandate,” Beuvelet said.

  • Recare introduces instant balance conditioner

    Recare introduces instant balance conditioner

    Recare International, owners of personal style brand, Natures Gentle Touch, introduced the new Instant Balance Hair Conditioner for women during an open house event in Lagos on Wednesday.

    The Instant Balance Conditioner replenishes lost moisture faster with its herbal blend protein complex formula, five minutes after application to the hair, unlike other conditioners that required sitting in the hair accelerator for more processing times over 15 minutes.

    Speaking in a statement, Operations Manager, Recare Limited, Mr. Daniel Anim-Appiah said:  “We wanted to do something special, to celebrate and appreciate customer loyalty, we recognize how precious time is to our women, and we are glad to be proffering the right and quick solution to their hair needs.

    “The Instant Balance Conditioner is blended with 14 natural herbs which are designed for instant results to improve the manageability of the hair. The product is designed for African women of all hair types – both virgin and relaxed. We are currently working on other lines of products that would meet specific virgin hair needs.”

    Similarly, Chief Financial Officer, Eunisell Limited, Mr. Charles Etuk, who was at the event to show his support to the company, whilst commending the Recare team said: “it is very important to stay as a team, the core essence of having the right people and the right strategy is to build a recognized and sustainable brand.”

    The Instant Balance conditioner is designed with African Shea butter and Vitamin E to neutralize any unrinsed relaxer or alkaline shampoo, close the cuticle layer of the hair, and replace vitamins and essential oils to revive the hair and scalp.

  • Aero fires MD, chief financial officer

    Aero fires MD, chief financial officer

    Nigeria’s oldest carrier, Aero Contractors, has  fired its Managing Director, Mr Hugh Fraser and its Chief Financial Officer, Mr Tunde Pampam.

    Their sack, it was learnt, is a fall out of a battle of interest between owners  of the airline, the  Ibru  family and the  Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON).

    Sources said Hugh was often taking some decisions against the wishes of AMCON which is overseeing the running of the airline over alleged debt  running into between N20 and N30 billion.

    Their sack, it was learnt, came on the heels of alleged frustration by the inactions of AMCON and the confusion associated with  the running the airline.

    Hugh was appointed by AMCON about  two years ago.

    It was gathered that he went on leave without the Board’s  approval, while there were allegations of questionable decisions and allegiance.

    Following Hugh’s appointment, two top experts alleged that he was not a suitable candidate to run the airline. They alleged that Aero needed a turnaround specialist  and not a commercial expert.

    The  removal of Pampam, an AMCON appointed staff member, came as a surprise to industry players because he was very strict in maintaining financial discipline in the airline’s finances.

    It is not clear what offence he might have committed.

    Aero is one of Nigeria’s legacy private carriers with solid foundation until the financial crisis of the late 2000s swept it off leading to AMCONs take over.

  • Wema Bank to deploy N40b capital in loan expansion

    Wema Bank to deploy N40b capital in loan expansion

    Wema Bank Plc has said the N40 billion capital raised from shareholders will be channelled into growing its loan volume by over 60 per cent in the next few years.

    Its Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Tunde Mabawonku, said in an interview at the weekend that the lender is committed to growing its loan volume from N89 billion to between N150 billion and N160 billion over the next few years.

    He said managemnt is aware that the expectations of shareholders are extremely high, adding that management is committed to ensuring that such expectations are met. He disclosed that over 90 per cent of the new fund will be used as working capital.

    “We are not spending any money in terms of infrastructure or strengthening of Information Technology (IT) base because they are already in place. As we have got this money now, it will be strictly used for business. And in terms of business plan, our primary market simply remains the Southwest, South-south and the Federal Capital Teritory,” he said.

    He said last year was a challenging one for the lender as it was hampered by lack of capital and adverse effects of loan provisioning. “Those two factors affected our operations in 2012, we had very low capital and were unable to do as much business as we had wanted to,” he said.

    He explained that while that lasted, lending was slowed, but deposit mobilisation continued, adding that with the restrictions lifted, the lender is now on a path of growth.

    Mabawonku said while waiting for the new capital, the bank continued its aggressive deposit drive especially at the retail segment of the market. “Our idea is to go out and open as many accounts as possible and increase our deposit base,” he said.

    According to him, the bank has been able to clean up its loan book with its non-performing loans (NPLs) currently standing at three per cent from NPLs as high as 89 per cent three years ago. “We started pushing the NPLs down gradually, most importantly by putting in place proper structures of risk management. We are also interested in recoveries, but more so in good corporate governance. So, in 2010, we moved from 89 per cent to 56 per cent, to 18 per cent, 14 per cent and three per cent. And we believe we will not go above the three per cent mark in the nearest future,” he assured.

    He said the bank has strengthened its retail structure and workforce within the segment, adding that a customer could now walk into any branch of the bank and get loan approval within 24 hours.

    However, within such period, all the necessary credit checks on the account including the customer’s past loan history and credit rating will be analysed.

    The bank’s cost of funds, Mabawonku said is also impressive. “Our cost of funds in 2012 was 5.6 per cent and at the third quarter, it was 5.8 per cent. We believe that one of the ways to make profit is to reduce the cost of funds. We did not go into taking expensive funds, what we are doing is step by step retail growth,” he said.

    He reiterated the bank’s commitment to ensuring that its public sector deposit does not exceed 10 per cent of its deposit liability. “After the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) policy on public sector funds became effective, we began re-pricing our public sector funds. It hurts us that we lost some funds, but it is better to remain profitable than to be big and unprofitable. We intend to keep our public sector deposits below 10 per cent of our total liability,” he said.

    The CFO said the bank’s first priority remains providing superior returns to its shareholders, adding that in the last few years, the bank has been quiet, carrying out some internal restructuring on its processes, people and technology.

    He said the bank is not applying for national banking licence to operate in all parts of the country but in strategic areas, such as Kano, Kogi, Aba, Port Harcourt where its high-volume customers operate.