Wikipedia

Abubakar Suleiman

For the emir of Bade, see Abubakar Umar Suleiman. For the Nigerian politician, see Abubakar Y. Suleiman.

Abubakar Suleiman (born 19 August 1973), popularly called Abu, is a Nigerian banking and economics professional and the current Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer[1][2] of Sterling Bank, a leading nationally licensed commercial bank in Nigeria.

Abubakar Suleiman
Managing Director/CEO, Sterling Bank Plc.
Incumbent
Assumed office
April 2018
Personal details
Born19 August 1973
Nigeria
Alma materUniversity of Abuja
University of Oxford
ProfessionBanker
Economist

He succeeded Yemi Adeola, who retired from the bank on April 1, 2018.

Early life

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Abubakar grew up in Otukpo in the now Benue State. His father was a government worker who also had experience in journalism. His mother was a mother of 7 and trader.

He attended Government Secondary School, Otukpo. He later studied economics after an initial interest to study literature.

In 2019, he revealed in an interview with Arbiterz that he lost his father when he was 11 years old.[3]

Education

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Abubakar has a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree in economics from the University of Abuja, as well as a Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Major Programs Management from Said Business School of the University of Oxford.[4]

Career

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Abubakar's career has spanned roles in Financial Advisory, Treasury, Asset and Liability Management, Risk Management as well as Corporate Finance and Strategy.

Abubakar began his career with Arthur Anderson & Co. (now KPMG Nigeria) in 1996, and later joined MBC International Bank (now part of FBN Holdings) from Feb 1998 till Aug 1999. He later joined Citibank as a Trader, where his functions involved Currency & Securities Trading, Risk Asset Management & Distribution as well as Market Risk Management from January 2000 until October 2003.

Abubakar joined Sterling Bank in November 2003 as the Group Treasurer, a role he held until October 2011. He then transitioned into the double roles of Head, Interim Management, and Integration Director where he managed the acquisition and integration of Equatorial Trust Bank into Sterling Bank.

He then proceeded to become the Executive Director, Retail Banking, a role held between January 2013 till December 2014.[5]

Along with his responsibilities as the Executive Director for Retail Banking, Abubakar was the Chief Financial Officer of the bank until March 2018. In April 2018, Abubakar was announced as the Chief Executive Officer for Sterling Bank.

He is a member of the Institute of Directors, governing council of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria,[6] member of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group committee for Agriculture and Food Security,[7] and also serves on the advisory council of the Lagos Business School.[8]

Publications

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While at Oxford University, Abubakar authored papers on Monetary Theory and Macroeconomic Management in Nigeria[9] and on Gendered Leadership in Major Programs.[10]

Activism and philanthropy

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Abubakar's interests revolve around youth empowerment[11] and economic development,[12] with grand ideas on key sectors to drive economic development and prosperity in Nigeria.[13]

This has guided the design of the H.E.A.R.T. (Health,[14] Education,[15][16] Agriculture,[17] Renewable Energy[18][19] and Transportation[20]) strategy for Sterling Bank, serving as a catalyst for the selection of sectors for investment for the bank, outside of traditional businesses.

Awards and achievements

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Abubakar recently became the first CEO in Nigeria to virtually ring the closing gong[21] for the trading day at the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Under his leadership, Sterling Bank has posted record profits with figures more than doubling the previous financial year's returns.[22] The Bank was named as one of the top 100 places to work in Nigeria for 2018,[23] also winning the Best Quality of Life Award for her human resource management practices under his leadership.[24]

Abubakar was also named as one of the Top CEOs in Nigeria at the Businessday Annual Top CEO and Next Bulls awards 2020[25]

References

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  1. ^ "Abubakar Suleiman". bloomberg. Archived from the original on 2021-05-19. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  2. ^ Ohwovoriole, Onome (2018-01-11). "Sterling Bank appoints Abubakar Suleiman as Managing Director". Nairametrics. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  3. ^ Olorunnisola, Kanyisola (December 17, 2019). "The Lunch Hour – Abubakar Suleiman, CEO, Sterling Bank". Arbiterz.
  4. ^ "Abubakar Suleiman | University of Oxford - Academia.edu". oxford.academia.edu. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  5. ^ Bello, Elijah (2018-01-12). "Sterling Bank appoints Abubakar Suleiman CEO as Adeola retires April". Businessday NG. Retrieved 2023-09-21.
  6. ^ "Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria - Institute Ethics". www.cibng.org. Retrieved 2020-08-28.
  7. ^ "The Nigerian Economic Summit Group | Inauguration-of-the-policy-commission-steering-committees". nesgroup.org. Retrieved 2020-08-28.
  8. ^ "Leadership and Governance". Lagos Business School. 29 May 2018. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  9. ^ "Academia.edu - Share research". www.academia.edu. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  10. ^ Suleiman, Abubakar. "Gendered Leadership in Major Programmes". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  11. ^ "The Case for Youth-Informed Violence Prevention", Preventing Youth Violence, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014, doi:10.1057/9781137365699.0006, ISBN 978-1-137-36569-9
  12. ^ "Sterling Bank's Abubakar Suleiman speaks on job creation". CNBC Africa. 2018-11-15. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  13. ^ "We Don't Want To Be A Successful Business In A Failed Society – Suleiman". Archived from the original on 2020-07-01.
  14. ^ "Sterling Bank launches N1b Health workers' Fund". Vanguard News. 2020-04-07. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  15. ^ Oluwatayo, Adedapo A (2020-07-25). "Entrepreneurial Characteristics of Principal Partners of Architectural Firms in Lagos, Nigeria" (PDF). Journal of Advanced Research in Dynamical and Control Systems. 12 (SP7): 2763–2769. doi:10.5373/jardcs/v12sp7/20202416. ISSN 1943-023X. S2CID 225460149.
  16. ^ "Sterling Bank plans to invest more than N10 Billion in education sector by 2020". guardian.ng. 5 October 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-10-05. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  17. ^ "Agriculture as Pivot for Economic Growth". THISDAYLIVE. 2019-11-07. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  18. ^ Lagos, Kayode Ekundayo (2019-04-11). "ZOLA, Sterling Bank sign deal to deepen solar energy usage". Daily Trust. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  19. ^ "FG, Sterling Bank, others partner on renewable energy". Punch Newspapers. 24 July 2019. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  20. ^ "Sterling Bank launches contactless card for transit payment". Punch Newspapers. 8 April 2018. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  21. ^ Akinmutimi, Tola (2020-05-04). "NSE Digital Closing Gong has shown that the world is changing – Sterling Bank CEO". Daily Trust. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  22. ^ "Sterling Bank posts N11bn profit, to pay N864m dividend to shareholders". Businessday NG. 2020-03-29. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  23. ^ Akuma, Princewill (2018-04-10). "Jobberman Best 100 Companies To Work For in Nigeria 2018". Jobberman Nigeria. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  24. ^ "Sterling Bank wins Best Quality of Life award". guardian.ng. 17 June 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-06-28. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  25. ^ Akintunde-Johnson, Iretomiwa (2020-09-06). "MTN CEO Wins Top CEO Award At Annual Businessday's Top CEO and Next Bulls Awards". BHM. Retrieved 2020-09-11.
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