BoI's Waheed Olagunju Wins Award At London Event

BEVERLY HILLS, September 10, (THEWILL) - Waheed Olagunju, the Bank of Industry's Executive Director, Small and Medium Enterprises has been conferred with the award of Corporate Ambassador at the 2014 Nigeria Arise Awards ceremony hosted recently by BEN Television of London.

Mr Olagunju was honoured primarily for his services to the Corporate World, most especially his selfless and dedicated service to the Bank of Industry since its inception in 2001 that has enabled the bank make considerable impact on Nigeria's industrial development.

The organizers specifically noted the central role that Olagunju played in the successful New World Nigeria International Campaign that was one of the business and cultural side events of the 2012 London Olympics, the high point of which was the High Level Business and Investment Summit on Nigeria that took place at the Dorchester Hotel.

According to the award citation, Mr. Waheed Abiodun Olagunju who joined the Bank of Industry's precursor institution the Nigerian Industrial Development Bank (NIDB) in 1990 as a Senior Manager rose to the position of Executive Director (Business Development) in 2012. He also acted as Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of the Bank of Industry (BOI) between 11th April and 16th May, 2014 and was recently reassigned as the Executive Director (Small and Medium Enterprises) under the Bank's management team led by Mr. Rasheed Olaoluwa, BOI's new Managing Director and Chief Executive.

While thanking the organisers of the event for the honour and recognition, Olagunju dedicated the award to his professional colleagues at the Bank of Industry. According to him, he was part of a formidable team that worked in concert to build one of Africa's best development finance institutions despite daunting challenges. He expressed his gratitude to the bank's successive Managements and Board of Directors over the past twenty four (24) years for giving him the opportunity to realize his potentials.

Also honoured at the event were Governors Godswill Akpabio, Ibikunle Amosun and Ramalan Yero of Akwa Ibom, Ogun and Kaduna States respectively.

Other recipients included Patsor Tunde Bakare and Dr Nazir Ahmed an educationist who has produced more than 100 high grade Nigerian students from his schools in the United Kingdom.