Ibukun Awosika, managing director of The Chair Centre, has been announced as the first female chairman of First Bank of Nigeria (FBN).

Awosika’s emergence as the bank’s first female chairman marks the latest feat in a career that began on a topsy-turvy note, but has turned out exceptionally successful.

She studied chemistry at Obafemi Awolowo University, but it wasn’t because she loved the subject? She had passed very well in secondary school; she passed the sciences, she loved Arts and she could draw. Initially, she wanted Architecture, but somehow, she ended up with chemistry. ... “In-between that, I wanted to be a lawyer. I put in a lot of effort to see the Dean of Law to accept me into Faculty of Law. But I have to fail the chemistry for chemistry to release me to Law and Law wanted me to pass with the best result in order to accept me into Law. It was all confusing. By the end of that year, I changed my mind about wanting to become a lawyer. I decided I wanted to be an Accountant. So, I started taking a lot of electives in the Department of Accounting.”

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It is not only in furniture-making that Awosika has excelled. She is a fellow of the Aspen Global Leadership Network and a multiple award-winning entrepreneur. She is also the promoter and investor of Furniture Manufacturers Mart, which provides furniture processing service for various categories of furniture manufacturers.

She is currently setting up SCC ALGON, providing metal-based component for the furniture manufacturing and related industries; and The Furniture Village Cluster, a joint venture with the Ogun state government, to provide infrastructure, skills and support to a cluster of SME firms with similar raw material requirements. She sits on a number of boards, including Cadbury Nigeria Plc.

She has founded and she supports many non-profit institutions. She is a board member of Women in Management and Business (WIMBIZ) and Convention on Business Integrity. She also serves as a pastor at the Fountain of Life Church and Hosts a popular TV programme, Business His Way. She is the chairperson and promoter of After School Graduate Development Centre (AGDC), a social enterprise set up to address Employability and Enterprise development among young Nigerians.

Reacting to her latest appointment, she wrote on Twitter: “Thank you for all your best wishes on my new assignment. To God alone be all the glory. Be a part of the great things God will do with FBN.”