The Group Managing Director/CEO of Access Bank PLC, Herbert Wigwe was named the ‘African Banker of the Year’ at the 2020 African Banker Awards following his recognition for several socio-economic efforts, including leading Nigeria’s Private Sector COVID-19 response.

Some of his enormous achievements are: under his leadership, Access Bank donated over $2.7 million to support the government in fighting the virus while championing the Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID) initiative in Nigeria; and he has advocated other corporate climate change conscious business entities across the country to support the Federal Government of Nigeria towards the achievement of 25% unconditional and 40% conditional carbon emission reduction as agreed at the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Wigwe while receiving his award mentioned the need for organisations to embrace the institutionalization and practice of sustainable banking as he said: “Financing and facilitating a sustainable future for Africa, and indeed the world is something I am most passionate about. Now, more than ever, Africa needs us to unite as we seek to improve access to health care, sustainable energy, finance, and improve the standard of living in our communities.

‘’I enjoin all stakeholders to be a part of the facilitation of a truly sustainable future for Africa. The future of our respective organisations and the future of generations to come depend on the alliances we form and the actions we take.”

Herbert Wigwe has been described as a Banker with a creative splash who from his 10-year tenure as the Group Deputy Managing Director of the bank to his assuming the role of the Group Managing Director, led the bank to grow its balance sheet by 1022% from $901mn in 2007 to $19.7bn in 2019, while pre-tax profits rose to $316mn in 2019 from $21m in 2007.

In recognition of his contributions towards driving sustainable business practices across the Banking industry, Wigwe was named the Sustainability Champion of the year at the Sustainability Enterprise and Responsibility Awards in 2017 and became the pioneering winner of the first-ever ‘Sustainability Leader of the Year, Africa’ award at the Karlsruhe Sustainable Finance Awards 2018 in recognition of his efforts towards transforming Africa for Sustainable development. In 2019, Wigwe was appointed to the Board of the HIV Trust Fund of Nigeria.