The Centre for African Entrepreneurship and Leadership (CAEL) of the University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom has appointed the erstwhile Group Managing Director, FBN Holdings Plc, UK Eke, MFR to its Advisory Board.
In a statement by the director CAEL, Pascal Anosike PhD, it was stated that before this announcement, the highly respected and leading UK based pan-African Centre had conducted extensive search within Africa before settling for the Nigerian finance technocrat.
The main goal of CAEL according to the Centre’s director, Paschal Anosike, is to serve and connect individuals, organisations and government in Africa with its faculties and global networks to help them acquire the knowledge and resources to transform their communities.
According to the statement, CAEL conducts and formulates policy on entrepreneurship and education, devise and implement institutional strategies and templates for income generation. The Centre also train academic staff in pedagogical processes and research proposals.
“CAEL also goes the extra mile apart from designing and delivering bespoke executive education and short courses, it embeds entrepreneurship education into new and existing education systems,” he added.
The terms of reference for this role which has a renewable 3-5 years tenure, is that appointees must ensure that the initiatives and projects they recommend or embark on aligns with the vision and goals of CAEL.
Furthermore, in the announcement, Anosike, who is also the Chairman of the Advisory Board of CAEL, commended UK Eke for accepting the appointment and expressed his desire to work with him towards promoting and advancing CAEL’s mission and priorities in Africa.
With an immaculate record of impeccable service that has marked him out as a pedigreed professional with rich experience spanning about four decades traversing financial services, strategy, auditing, consulting, taxation, process re-engineering and capital market operations, Eke in his acceptance, expressed his appreciation for the honour bestowed on him and to have been found worthy for this appointment by CAEL. He promised to be ‘’guided and pursue the vision of the Centre.’’
Eke is currently the Executive Chairman of the Fairchild Group. He is the recipient of the 2020 Zik Prize in the Professional Leadership category and was the Group Managing Director, FBN Holdings Plc between 2016-2021. He joined the Board of FirstBank, an FBN Holdings Company, in 2011 as Executive Director, Public Sector South and later became Executive Director, South before his appointment as GMD of FBN Holdings. In 2017, he was also appointed to the board of Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (Sovereign Wealth Fund).
UK Eke, a Fellow and elected member of the Advisory Council of the Institute of Directors, Nigeria, he is also a Fellow of the following institutes, the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, and Institute of Management Consultants.
A philanthropist and mentor to many, he is the founder and Chairman, Elder K.U. Eke Memorial Foundation. He is a patron, Lagos State Council, Boys’ Brigade Nigeria and a Major Donor of Rotary International.
Eke is a recipient of the Deloitte Distinguished Alumni Award and Nigeria’s National Honour of Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR).
