First Bank Chairman, Ibukun Awosika, becomes IWEC President

&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">The International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge&nbsp&semi;Foundation&comma; IWEC&comma; has announced the appointment of Mrs&period; Ibukun Awosika to their Board of Directors as its New President&period; Awosika is the Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria Limited&comma; Nigeria’s Premier and Leading financial services provider&period; IWEC is a New York-based international economic empowerment organization exclusively for women business owners&comma; formed in 2007 with the assistance of the U&period;S&period; Department of State&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">&nbsp&semi;A statement signed by Folake&NewLine;Ani-Mumuney&comma; Group Head&comma; Marketing &amp&semi; Corporate Communications&comma; and made&NewLine;available to OpenLife states that Awosika was elected to replace Miguel Valls&comma;&NewLine;former president of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce and president of the IWEC&NewLine;Foundation&comma; who passed away last month&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The Foundation is very excited to&NewLine;announce the appointment of our new president&comma;” stated&nbsp&semi;Ruth A&period; Davis&comma; IWEC Chairwoman&nbsp&semi;and distinguished&NewLine;former U&period;S&period; Ambassador&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Ibukun Awosika has been a solid&comma; steady presence at&NewLine;IWEC since its inception&comma; and she is also a past IWEC awardee&period;&nbsp&semi; Ibukun has&NewLine;not missed one IWEC Conference since 2008 and has lent her voice and experience&NewLine;not only to our conferences&comma; but to our meetings after joining our Board in&NewLine;2017&period;&nbsp&semi; We are delighted that our Board of Directors voted on her&NewLine;appointment&comma; and we’ll introduce her as our president at our upcoming 12th&nbsp&semi;Annual&NewLine;IWEC Foundation Conference in New Delhi&comma; on November 10th&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">&nbsp&semi;The Foundation’s 2019 Conference&NewLine;will focus on &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Connecting Women Businesses Globally&colon; Leading the Way to&NewLine;Innovation and Integration”&period; The event would be hosted locally by the FICCI&NewLine;Ladies Organization &lpar;FLO&rpar; of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce&NewLine;&amp&semi; Industry &lpar;FICCI&rpar;&comma; which represents over 5000 women entrepreneurs and&NewLine;professionals across India&period; This year&comma; IWEC welcomes 39 awardees from 18&NewLine;countries&comma; with a combined revenue of over US&dollar;5&period;7 billion among all awardees to&NewLine;date&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">&nbsp&semi;IWEC Foundation Vice Chair&comma; Carmen Castillo&comma; CEO of&nbsp&semi;<a rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;hes32-ctp&period;trendmicro&period;com&sol;wis&sol;clicktime&sol;v1&sol;query&quest;url&equals;http&percnt;3a&percnt;2f&percnt;2fwww&period;sdintl&period;com&amp&semi;umid&equals;f5023fe2-3d98-4a58-9ed7-38a643e028ba&amp&semi;auth&equals;13bc1bd3aee02df75e01853cd98ff4698c2ae964-615d4dcae5a16387e8dd6b1cdfab3470c75970a6" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">SDI International<&sol;a>&comma; adds&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Ibukun has demonstrated a significant commitment to IWEC over the years&period;&nbsp&semi; Her breadth of knowledge extends from being an entrepreneur running&nbsp&semi;‎SOKOA Chair Centre Limited&comma; to overseeing the board of directors for the renowned First Bank of Nigeria Limited&period;&nbsp&semi; We are looking forward to her wise counsel and to continuously drive IWEC globally as a source of support&comma; connection and impact for women business owners all over the world&period;” &nbsp&semi;Ibukun Awosika heads Nigeria’s premier bank&comma; and she is also the founder and CEO of the Chair Centre Group&comma; an association of large companies in the manufacturing&comma; retail&comma; and financial security services&period;&nbsp&semi; Mrs&period; Awosika further holds seats in the corporate boards of Cadbury Nigeria&comma; Digital Jewel Limited and the Convention on Business Integrity&comma; and she is a former chair of several other enterprise boards&period;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Ibukun is a graduate of Chemistry from University of Ife &lpar;now Obafemi Awolowo University&rpar;&comma; Nigeria&comma; an alumna of the Chief Executive Program of Lagos Business School&comma; the Global Executive MBA of IESE Business School&comma; Wharton’s Global CEO Program&comma; and the IESE and China European International Business School &lpar;CEIBS&rpar;&period; Ibukun is a multiple award-winning entrepreneur and the first Nigerian recipient of the prestigious International Women Entrepreneurial Challenge &lpar;IWEC&rpar; Award as a nominee of the US Department of State in 2008&period;&nbsp&semi; Ibukun is also a best-selling author and motivational speaker&period; Ibukun was just honoured last month with the International Friendship Award presented at the IESE Business School by the Queen of Spain&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">FirstBank&comma; which Awosika leads&comma; &nbsp&semi;has been named &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Most Valuable Bank Brand in&NewLine;Nigeria” six times in a row &lpar;2011 – 2016&rpar; by the globally renowned &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The Banker&NewLine;Magazine” of the Financial Times Group&semi; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Best Retail Bank in Nigeria” for seven&NewLine;consecutive years &lpar;2011 – 2017&rpar;&nbsp&semi;by the Asian Banker International&NewLine;Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards and &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Best Bank in Nigeria” by&NewLine;Global Finance for 15 years&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;