UK
Nigeria
Benin
Burkina Faso
Cameroon
Chad
Congo Brazzaville
RDC
Cote d'ivoire
Gabon
Ghana
Guinea
Kenya
Liberia
Moçambique
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Tanzania
Uganda
Zambia
France
America
Mali
UAE
Leadership
Growth and strong governance
The Chief Executive Officer is supported by an Executive Management Team, with considerable experience in global and African markets.
Kennedy Uzoka
Kennedy Uzoka holds a BSc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Benin and an MBA from the University of Lagos. Mr. Uzoka has over two decades of experience covering Core Banking, Corporate Marketing Communications, Strategy, and Business Advisory Services.
As the former Group Managing Director/CEO at United Bank for Africa(UBA), he was responsible for leading the development and execution of UBA Group’s long term strategy.
He is an alumnus of Harvard Business School (AMP) in Boston USA, the International Institute of Management Development (IMS) in Lausanne, Switzerland and the London Business School, United Kingdom.
Theresa Henshaw
Theresa Henshaw is currently the CEO, UBA UK. Prior to this appointment, Theresa was the DMD, Business Development, UBA America, and joined UBA UK in November 2020 as Head of Business Development from Crown Agents Bank UK, where she led the Global Markets Sales desk and Africa team. Prior to Crown Agents Bank, she spent 14 years at Habib Bank UK as Head of Treasury with executive oversight and responsibility for all Treasury activities in the UK, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.
Theresa has over 20 years of banking experience, including 14 years working in the City of London, and specializing in all aspects of treasury management including risk management, liquidity management, fixed income, compliance, business development, capital management, funding, and FX dealing.
Theresa is an alumnus of CASS Business School having studied MSc Finance & Investment; a member of the Association of Corporate Treasurers and a member of the Chartered Institute of Securities & Investments and runs a Mentor club for young, female professionals/entrepreneurs in the UK. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, reading, and the arts.
Oliver Alawuba
Oliver, a seasoned banking professional, comes on board with a broad range of strategic and well-grounded experience in Corporate and Institutional Banking, Consumer Banking, Public Sector, Retail and Commercial Banking, Project Management, Corporate Governance, and overall bank management.
Mr. Oliver Alawuba has acquired 25 years of work experience in the banking industry after his short foray into academia. He joined the former Standard Trust Bank (STB) as a pioneer staff in 1997. Over the years, he has demonstrated strong passion for excellence and result-oriented leadership capability.
Prior to his current appointment as the Group Managing Director/CEO of UBA Banking Group, Oliver was at various times country CEO and Regional CEO in the Rest of Africa, Executive Director, East Bank (Nigeria) and later Group Deputy Managing Director/CEO, covering Nigeria and other 19 subsidiaries in the Rest of Africa. He also worked in another bank and rose to the position of Executive Director. Oliver is an effective and self-motivated professional.
Oliver possesses B.Sc and M.Sc degrees in Food Science and Technology and MBA in Banking and Finance. He is an alumnus of the AMP and SEP programmes of the prestigious INSEAD Business School, France and London Business School respectively.
He is also a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) and an Honorary Senior Member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN).
Alexander Trotter
Mr Trotter has significant experience in managing, investing and advising African public and private companies. He was a portfolio manager for over ten years investing in frontier African equities, with a demonstrable track record of strong performance. He is a trustee of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Africa’s leading supporter of entrepreneurship. He has a background in investment management, strategy, and corporate finance, and has held positions with UBS and GAM. He began his career at Linklaters, as a corporate lawyer.
Mr Trotter holds degrees from Oxford University and Imperial College.
Sola Yomi-Ajayi
Sola Yomi-Ajayi is a highly experienced banker with over 28 years of banking experience managing Corporate and Institutional relationships with significant experience in, Regulatory Engagement, Structured Funding, Risk Management, Financial Inclusion, Transaction Banking, Correspondent Banking, and Operations.
As the Executive Director for Treasury & International Banking, Sola is responsible for strategy formulation as well as oversight for various business groups at UBA such as UBA America, UBA UK, UBA France and UBA Dubai. Additionally, she is responsible for the Group’s Treasury function as well as our Financial Institutions, Embassies, Multilateral, and Development Organisations (EMDOs) and Global Investor Services (GIS) businesses. She leads the respective teams in the execution of corporate strategy and delivery of unique best-in-class financial solutions to UBA’s customers across these business segments.
Sola has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, and an MBA from the Aberdeen Business School. She has also attended leadership and executive programs at Harvard Business School and Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
She is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, UK and a Member, Board of Trustees for the US-based Institute of International Banking.
Ian Greenstreet
Mr Greenstreet has served on public and private corporate boards for the past 14 years including on several financial institutions. His roles have included being a representative of the FMO (the Dutch Development Bank) on the board of Bank of Africa and Alios Capital, serving as a Director for Diamond Bank in Nigeria, and serving as a representative of the IFC on the board of Assupol Life insurance in South Africa. Mr Greenstreet brings diverse management and board experience in banking, finance, risk, managerial and financial technology together with a global network.
He currently sits on the advisory committee of the London Stock Exchange, on the board of Net1 UEPS a Fintech company in South Africa and is the Chair and Founder of Infinity Capital Partners Ltd in the UK. He previously served as regional Head of Risk for ABN AMRO Bank and a board member and Head of Henderson Fund Management in Luxembourg.
Mr Greenstreet has attended a program at Harvard Business School on driving Digital and Social Strategy and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (FCA).
Uche Ike
Mr. Ike is the Group Chief Risk Officer at UBA Plc. He is a Chartered Accountant, with an MBA from the University of Benin. He has been with the Group since 2006 and has served in a number of prominent roles, first as Group Head of Operations in South and South East Banks and then for a period of five years, as General Manager at the Bank’s New York branch.
Mr. Ike has over 27 years of banking experience.
John Coulter
Mr Coulter was appointed to the Board of UBA UK in August 2017. He is an experienced banker having spent most of his career with JP Morgan, and was Regional Head and CEO for Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as holding directorships and senior positions in a number of their African entities. He has also held senior positions with Brait SA as Group CEO, Ndola Capital and Morgan Stanley as CEO Sub-Saharan Africa.
He is an alumnus of Trinity College and University College Dublin. He is an Irish citizen.
Deji Adeyelure
Deji joined the Bank in March 2021. He is a finance professional with extensive experience in strategic finance, business strategy and financial control. His work experience spans several industries, with stints in audit, telecoms, investment, and commercial banking.
Deji has worked across multiple jurisdictions in Finance, Business and Regulatory roles.
He is a fellow of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants, and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria. He holds degrees in Accounting and Applied Accounting from the University of Lagos and Oxford Brookes University in the UK.
Theresa Henshaw
Theresa Henshaw is currently the CEO, UBA UK. Prior to this appointment, Theresa was the DMD, Business Development, UBA America, and joined UBA UK in November 2020 as Head of Business Development from Crown Agents Bank UK, where she led the Global Markets Sales desk and Africa team. Prior to Crown Agents Bank, she spent 14 years at Habib Bank UK as Head of Treasury with executive oversight and responsibility for all Treasury activities in the UK, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.
Theresa has over 20 years of banking experience, including 14 years working in the City of London, and specializing in all aspects of treasury management including risk management, liquidity management, fixed income, compliance, business development, capital management, funding, and FX dealing.
Theresa is an alumnus of CASS Business School having studied MSc Finance & Investment; a member of the Association of Corporate Treasurers and a member of the Chartered Institute of Securities & Investments and runs a Mentor club for young, female professionals/entrepreneurs in the UK. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, reading, and the arts.
Alan Clark
Alan has over 22 years experience in financial services with a background in governance, control and internal audit. More recently has held two Head of Internal Audit positions for small foreign banks.
Prior to moving to the banking sector he managed IT security and law enforcement activities for a central government department.
Alan holds a PG Dip in Internal Audit and Management and is currently the Chief Operating Officer for UBA UK.
Ololade Adekunle-Sanusi
Ololade Adekunle-Sanusi is a Solicitor and Chartered Secretary with extensive experience in Legal Advisory, Corporate Governance and Corporate Secretarial practice. Holding the combined role of Head of Legal & Company Secretary, she oversees the Corporate Governance, Legal and Company Secretariat functions.
Prior to joining UBA UK, Ololade worked in private practice and in-house positions in London and abroad across various sectors such as Oil & Gas, Education, Insurance and Real Estate.
Ololade is a member of the Chartered Governance Institute and Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Chika Patrick
Chika is the Head of Human Resources and a member of the company’s executive management team. In this role, he is responsible for the formulation and execution of the people strategy, aligning people to the business agenda. A seasoned HR professional with over a decade experience across a variety of industries.
Before joining UBA UK, Chika served as the Global HR Lead at Sendwave where he was responsible for the development and execution of the HR strategy aimed at fostering a collaborative and high-performance culture.
Previously he held Senior HR Business Partnering positions at GSMA, Man Group Plc, Barclays Bank, and American Express.
Chika holds a Biomedical Science degree from Sunderland University and an MBA from The University of Strathclyde, and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development.
Alex Alves
Alex joined UBA UK in May of 2021. He has over 10 years experience Compliance . Prior to UBA UK he previously worked for a number of UK banks including ICBC London, BNP Paribas and Bank of America.
Alex is a qualified Certified Fraud Examiner and a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist.