Business
UBA Opens Innovation Hub, Business Office At UNILAG — Boosts Professorial Chair Support
designed to serve as a collaborative platform linking academia with industry.
Africa’s Global Bank, United Bank for Africa, has reinforced its longstanding partnership with University of Lagos with the commissioning of a new Innovation Hub and Business Office at the institution, alongside a fresh ₦61.67 million injection into the university’s Professorial Chair in Finance endowment fund.
The new four-floor complex, commissioned by the Group Chairman of UBA, Tony Elumelu, represented by the bank’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Oliver Alawuba, is designed to serve as a collaborative platform linking academia with industry.
Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos, Professor Folasade T. Ogunsola and Group Managing Director/CEO, United Bank for Africa(UBA), Oliver Alawuba, during the presentation of N60m endowment fund towards research and development in Finance at the commissioning of UBA Innovation Hub and Business Office built by UBA Group at a ceremony held at the University’s campus in Akoka, Lagos on Monday
The facility will house UBA’s dedicated Business Office, providing banking services, financial advisory support, enterprise engagement opportunities and innovation-driven initiatives for students, faculty members and the wider university community, while other sections of the building will support institutional and developmental activities of the university.
Speaking during the commissioning ceremony, Elumelu, an alumnus of the university, described the project as both symbolic and strategic, stressing the importance of universities in shaping Africa’s future leadership and innovation ecosystem.
“Returning to my alma mater for this commissioning makes this moment particularly meaningful. Universities remain the birthplace of ideas, innovation, and future leadership. Through this investment, UBA is reaffirming its belief in young people and in the role institutions like the University of Lagos will continue to play in shaping Africa’s future,” the philanthropist said.
He added that UBA’s philosophy of empowering people and strengthening institutions remains central to the bank’s growth agenda across Africa.
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Professor Folasade Tolulope Ogunsola, commended the bank for sustaining what she described as a relationship built on innovation, institutional support and impact, while paying glowing tribute to Elumelu as one of the university’s distinguished alumni.
“The Group Chairman of UBA, Mr Tony Onyemaechi Elumelu, CFR, one of Africa’s most celebrated entrepreneurs and philanthropists, is, in the truest and most meaningful sense, a son of this University,” she noted.
According to her, the intellectual depth and entrepreneurial vision that transformed UBA into a pan-African financial institution were sharpened within the university environment.
CEO Alawuba, while speaking on the significance of the project, said the Innovation Hub and Business Office represent an intentional investment in talent development, enterprise growth and future economic transformation.
“UBA continues to create platforms that connect knowledge with opportunity. This facility will provide students and the university community access to ideas, networks, innovation support, and financial services that help unlock potential and prepare future leaders for a rapidly changing world,” he disclosed.
In another major highlight of the event, the university announced the renewal of UBA’s sponsorship of the Professorial Chair in Finance, further strengthening collaboration between academia and the financial sector.
The Chief Executive Officer noted that the Professorial Chair, established in January 1972, remains the first Finance Professorial Chair in any Nigerian university and one of the bank’s most enduring academic contributions.
“Our most enduring academic contribution remains the UBA Professorial Chair of Finance, established in January 1972 as the first-ever Finance Professorial Chair in a Nigerian university. It was designed to strengthen finance education, deepen banking research, and support thought leadership in Nigeria’s financial sector,” he Alawuba revealed.
He further disclosed that UBA’s Executive Management had approved an additional ₦61.67 million to strengthen the endowment fund and sustain the chair through the current professorship tenure.
The leading financial institution said the commissioning of the Innovation Hub and Business Office aligns with its broader commitment to sustainable development through strategic investments in education, technology, entrepreneurship and human capital development across Africa.
The bank currently operates in 20 African countries as well as the United Kingdom, the United States, France and the United Arab Emirates, serving over 45 million customers globally with a workforce of more than 25,000 employees.
