Business
How Zenith Bank Won 60 Major Awards In 4yrs With Ebenezer Onyeagwu As CEO
“tell the story of Zenith Bank as a prophet honored at home and abroad”
Although he has remained as low profile as possible as the Group Managing Director – and Chief Executive Officer – of Nigeria’s most profitable financial institution, Zenith Bank – the figures are trumpeting the impressive records of Ebenezer Onyeagwu.
Onyeagwu who was named Group Chief Executive Officer of Zenith Bank on June 1, 2019, has shepherded the rated institution to sixty (60) major awards including 29 international and 12 continental recognitions as of December 2023.
The 60 awards are also inclusive of 19 awards from industry barometers within the country.
“The figure is actually astonishing taking into consideration that the awards are in recognition of excellence services provided by Zenith (Bank) across its operations” according to an industry watcher.
The information at hand revealed Euromoney, The International Banker, Global Finance, The Banker, Ethical Boardroom, and World Finance as some of the global industry authorities that gave the honors to Zenith Bank during this period while pan-African credit rating agency, Augusto & Co and one Africa’s biggest behavioral change movement SERAS include those who did on the continental stage.
BusinessDay, Thisday Newspaper, and Leadership Newspaper are at the forefront of performance assessors that validated the recognitions given to Zenith Bank within the country.
Findings revealed that in his first year as Group Managing Director, Onyeagwu led Zenith Bank to a win of 9 awards including “Best Commercial Bank, Nigeria” – World Finance, “Biggest Bank in Nigeria by Tier-1 Capital” – The Banker, “Bank of the Year” – BusinessDay Newspaper and “Best Digital Bank in Nigeria 2019” – Augusto & Co.
Zenith Bank got increased recognition as the market leader in 2020 with the number of awards growing to 12. The breakdown is five International awards including “Most Valuable Banking Brand in Nigeria” – The Banker, “Best Corporate Governance ‘Financial Services’ Africa” – Ethical Boardroom and “Best Bank in Nigeria” – Global Finance; three Continental awards that are namely “Best Company in Promotion of Good Health and Well-Being” and “Best Company in Promotion of Gender Equality and Women Empowerment” – SERAS Awards; and four indigenous recognitions that are inclusive of “Bank of the Decade (People’s Choice)” – Thisday Newspaper and “Retail Bank of the Year” – BusinessDay Newspaper.
The testimonies of growth at Zenith Bank, with Onyeagwu as the Chief Executive Office, increased in 2021 with the trophies secured by the financial institution’s outstanding performance shooting up to 13.
The bank got five international awards, five continental and three indigenous awards.
Among the validations of Zenith Bank’s leader by kilometers status that year are “Best Corporate Governance ‘Financial Services’ Africa” – Ethical Boardroom, “Most Responsible Organisation in Africa” – SERAS Awards, “Best Commercial Bank, Nigeria” – World Finance and “Best Company in Reporting and Transparency” – SERAS Awards and “Bank of the Year” – Champion Newspaper.
Just like the previous years, 2022 was also an improvement on the year-on-year growth at Zenith Bank with Onyeagwu at the helm of affairs.
The financial institution founded by Jim Ovia was decorated with a total of 14 awards home and abroad.
Among the celebration of excellence, Zenith Bank got three doubles from three critical industry examiners, The International Banker – ‘Best Commercial Bank, Nigeria’ and ‘Best Innovation in Retail Banking, Nigeria’; SERAS Awards – ‘Best Company in Technology for Development’ and ‘Best Company in Work Place Practice’; and World Finance – ‘Best Commercial Bank, Nigeria’ and ‘Best Corporate Governance, Nigeria’.
Against the background that, the last year under review, 2023 came on the heels of Covid-19 pandemic that turned the global economy on its head, Zenith Bank came out a huge winner with twelve huge wins.
Eight out of the twelve recognitions came from international assessors like Euromoney ( Best Bank for Digital Solutions, Nigeria), The Banker ( Biggest Bank in Nigeria by Tier-1 Capital), Ethical Boardroom (Best Corporate Governance ‘Financial Services’ Africa), International Banker(Most Sustainable Bank, Nigeria & Best Banking CEO of the Year, Africa) and World Finance ( Best Commercial Bank, Nigeria; Best Corporate Governance, Nigeria & World Finance 100).
The New Telegraph Newspaper’s ‘Most Sustainable Bank of the Year’ and Business Day’s ‘Bank of the Year’ awards of the same year further validated the industry’s acknowledgment of Zenith Bank’s outstanding run that resulted in a remarkable triple-digit growth of 114% from N620.6 billion reported in Q3 2022 to N1.33 trillion in Q3 2023 under the guidance of Onyeagwu.
“The awards tell the story of Zenith Bank as a prophet honored at home and abroad” an industry observer quipped.
Added information revealed that It is a major testament to how much impact Onyeagwu has brought to bear that since he was appointed in 2019 industry assessors across different platforms have found him worthy of the award ” Best CEO” year in, year out with the
International Banker named him “Best Banking CEO of the Year, Africa” in 2023, and both BusinessDay and New Telegraph adjudged him ‘Bank CEO of the Year’ for the same period – attesting to how much he has impacted the bank since 2019.
