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Ibukun Awosika: First Female Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria

April 21, 2025

Ibukun Awosika: First Female Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria

Ibukun Awosika is widely known as the first female Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria – a remarkable feat for a woman in the corporate world, even by 21st century standards.

A versatile woman, she is different things to different people – Businesswoman, Author, Founder, Corporate executive, Actor, amongst others. But became popular to the millennials during the Dragon’s Den programme in 2008 and in her stellar role in the 2020 movie Citation.

She was the only woman amongst five Nigerian entrepreneurs to feature in the first African version of Dragon’s Den, where entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas in the hope of getting investment finance. She also hosts a T.V programme called Business His Way.

Today Africa beams its searchlight on this brilliant woman with an eye for opportunities, which she says can spot an opportunity 10 miles away.

Ibukun Awosika Biography: Early years and career dilemma

Bilkisu Abiodun Motunrayo Omobolanle Adekola was born on December 24, 1962, to a Nigerian father from Ibadan and a Cameroonian mother – Mr Abdulmashood Adekola and Hannah Aduke Adekola.

She attended St. Pauls African Church Primary School, Lagos and Methodist Girls’ High School, Yaba, and later bagged her first degree in Chemistry from the University of Ile-Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University).

Ibukun said she was unsure what career path to pursue. She went from wanting to be an Architect as a child to choosing Accountancy and later Law. While studying Chemistry at Obafemi Awolowo University, she desperately tried everything to get into Law.

“Did I enjoy my university days? No, because I didn’t even like Chemistry. In-between that, I wanted to be a lawyer. I put in a lot of effort to make the Dean of Law to accept me into the Faculty of Law.

“But I have to fail chemistry for Chemistry department 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 to be an Accountant. So, I started taking a lot of electives in the department of Accounting from Part Two to Part Four,” she recounted.

Life of school

After graduation, she served out the mandatory one-year National Youth Service Corps service at Akintola Williams & Co. (now Deloitte) as an Audit Trainee, in the hopes of taking an accounting examination later and going to work in a bank.

However, this one year was enough to show Ibukun that though she loved figures, she hated the idea of moving from one company to the other going through old dusty files.

She said, “I didn’t need anybody to tell me this. I was too restless to just keep following certain procedures that are laid down. I was so restless and I needed to be able to express myself, as there was no room in the Auditing process to do that.

“At the end of my service year, even though they offered me permanent employment, I turned it down.”

She then returned home and took up a job as Showroom Manager with Alibert Nigeria Ltd, a Lebanese-owned furniture company. Ibukun only lasted three and a half months with the company.

In that short time, she rediscovered her love for architecture, and came up with amazing ideas of how she could design and create furniture to play around with space.

Ibukun Awosika’s furniture company – Quebees

Still in her 20s, Ibukun took a brave leap to establish a furniture manufacturing company called Quebees Limited, to give her room for expression.

The company evolved into The Chair Centre Limited and later SOKOA Chair Centre Limited, following a venture merger with SOKOA S.A and Guaranty Trust Bank in 2004, after 15 years of its existence.

The merger became necessary to facilitate successful local production, after the federal government banned importation of furniture.

Quebees is a company Ibukun is particularly proud of, especially for the quality of products the company provides its customers.

“I love to walk into your home and say, ‘I sold this chair to you 10 years ago’ and my clients affirm that it is still functional. The CEO of Stanbic IBTC Holding Company, Sola David-Borha, once told me that a sofa I made for her in my first two years in business was still in her possession.

“The sofa is about 26 years old. So, when we celebrated our 25th anniversary, we went to shoot the sofa in her home, because we were documenting some of our products.”

Challenging early days of Ibukun Awosika’s Life

Ibukun recalls that as a young girl in her twenties and with no business experience, no bank was willing to loan her money, and she got frustrated because of inadequate machinery to meet the needs of clients.

With some support from her parents and others who believed in what she was doing, she raised sufficient money to buy used machines from some furniture companies, which were shutting down at the time.

From scratch, Awosika built the company around her personal values and virtues, refusing to cut corners to make quick money because she wanted to create a business that would outlive her.

“I am consumed by the fact that I want my business to survive when I am gone, otherwise I would have wasted my life. I started business in my twenties, so why would I work so hard for so many years and not build a legacy?” she asks.

While delivering an address as a Guest Lecturer at the Second Convocation Ceremony of the Entrepreneurship Development Centre, Lagos, she recalled the challenging early days when Quebees had to prove its worth to the market.

Her moment

The company had made a set of furniture for one of its early clients – Texaco Nigeria, and two weeks after delivering the goods, they were broken due to a failed warranty from a Lebanese company, where the base of the chairs was purchased.

“For a company of our size, it was a big loss. We could abandon the customer and move on. But my name is more important than even money. I chose to maintain our integrity and retain our credibility.

“We replaced them. It was a killer. But I realised that we stood to benefit more if we do the right things at all times. That job produced many other jobs,” she said.

Mrs Awosika gets most of her business ideas when she is on a flight, as this is the time she re-evaluates and takes a lot of critical decisions. “I know my strength and I can see or smell an opportunity 10 miles ahead. I am innately proactive and also an ideas machine,” she said.

Other interests, awards, and recognition

She is the author of The “Girl” Entrepreneurs and Business His Way. Both books are part of her efforts to build an army of strong-minded moguls, particularly in Africa.

She is a regular speaker at the After School Graduate Development Centre, a career centre she co-founded in 2011 to check the high rate of unemployment in Nigeria.

She received the Forbes Woman Africa Chairperson Award in the Africa Forbes Woman Awards 2020. But she is not new to awards and recognition.

In 2006, she won the FATE Model Entrepreneur Award of The Year, organized by the FATE Foundation. She was also awarded the 2007 Golden Heart Award from the International Women Society Award and the International Women Entrepreneurial Challenge Award in 2008.

Recognitions

She has also been nominated for several recognitions over the years including:

2005 This Day Entrepreneur of the Year award
Success Digests Female Entrepreneur of the Year category of the Annual Enterprise Award
Best Female Entrepreneur of the Year 2006 in the Financial Standard and Pan-African Organisation for Women Recognition.

In 2000, when she had already become a successful entrepreneur, Ibukun returned to do:

Chief Executive programme at the Lagos Business School
Barcelona, Spain to do MBA Global Executive Grogramme at the IESE Business School – University of Navarra

She is a fellow of the following organization:

African Leadership Initiative and Aspen Global Leadership Network
Member of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group
Member of the board of Nigerian Sovereign Wealth Fund
Co-founder and former Chairperson, Board of Trustees of Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ)
Member of IESE’s International Advisory Board
Board member of Digital Jewel Limited and Cadbury Nig. Plc, Convention on Business Integrity and the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority

Ibukun Awosika was Chairman, FBN Life Assurance Limited, FBN Capital Limited, and Kakawa Discount House Limited. She also served on the board of the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, as well as the National Job Creation Committee (NJCC).

On September 7, 2015, Ibukun became the first woman to be appointed Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria, following the resignation of Prince Ajibola Afonja.

Ibukun Awosika is the CEO of The Chair Centre Group, an umbrella for several companies –

The Chair Centre Limited
SOKOA Chair Centre Limited
Furniture Manufacturers Mart
TCC Security Systems
Cubes and Boxes Limited

All of which firms have earned a space in the competitive global industry.

Leadership and Advocacy

Ibukun Awosika is much more than a business leader, she is also a spirited campaigner for social justice, particularly on the issues of education, youth development, and women’s rights.

Over the years, Nyanshinski has been a mentor and a motivational speaker to many women encouraging them to assume leadership positions and eliminate the glass ceiling in women’s leadership in many sectors.

She also established the After School Graduate Development Centre, a youth training program meant to train Nigerians on employability skills. She has reached and trained thousands of Nigerian graduates through the platform and assisted them in gaining employment.

Ibukun Awosika is also a pastor and a coach in the church where she helps people, strengthening their belief that they can realize their potential.

Her leadership is not restricted to the boardroom; it also encompasses outreach programs and personal enhancement, making her an inspirational figure to many young entrepreneurs and leaders in Africa.

Authorship and public speaking

Ibukun Awosika is a writer with a number of books already published, some of which are, for instance, The ‘Girl’ Entrepreneurs and Business His Way, her books are well known.

In these books, she chronicled her own journey through the ups and downs of being a female entrepreneur while providing pragmatic insights on how to run a successful business in such a cut-throat environment.

Her books also bring out the factor of faith, integrity and purpose in leadership. An effective speaker in demand, she has delivered numerous keynote addresses at international conferences, mostly on issues like entrepreneurship and leadership, as well as women empowerment.

One could say she had shining moments when she was a keynote speaker at the Harvard Business School African Business conference or when she graced so many index talks and televisions.

Ibukun Awosika Family

Ibukun Awosika is married to Abiodun Awosika, an entrepreneur and businessman. They are blessed with three children. The two tend to lead a somewhat quiet life, as they prefer to center their focus on their selves and their work, rather than indulging in social interactions.

On the other hand, she has at times made it clear that it is equally important to lead a reasonable life and also, if engaged in professional work most hours of the day.

She is very active in the church and gives a lot of credit to God, saying she believes and prays about things and acts them out when it comes to her personal and work life.

Abiodun, her husband, is a caring husband who understands her, values her, and with him, they have built a loving home. For many, especially those who want to juggle work and family, their brand of life and business is something to look up to.

Age and legacy

Age 62 as of 2025, Ibukun Awosika’s impact is felt more and more in Nigeria and other countries beyond her native land as time goes by. Her narrative is one of toughness, tenacity, and a clear and theft-ridden pursuit of their vocation.

In all of her achievements, however, the true impact of Awosika’s life work, is in the motivation to other people, women in particular, who can dream and accomplish all that they wish, which empowers them and gives meaning to a woman’s and man’s existence.

Conclusion

Ibukun Awosika has a unique success story proving that one can be a powerful businesswoman and a leader at the same time.

From the grass of Ibadan to the top chair as the first female chairman of the First Bank of Nigeria, her career has been a record of achievements. Currently, she is not only an entrepreneurial role model for millions but also an author and a successful mentor.

She is still active today at 62 years old, particularly on women’s issues, children and faith-based leadership. Her impact as a pioneer and female inspiration to any intending leaders in Africa will indeed be felt by generations to come.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Ibukun Awosika?

Ibukun Awosika is widely known as the first female Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria – a remarkable feat for a woman in the corporate world, even by 21st century standards.

Who is Ibukun Awosika husband?

What is Ibukun Awosika website?

Join thousands of listeners on ibukunawosika.com.ng as Ibukun Awosika explores new definitions of success & achievements in today’s times.

Ibukun Awosika net worth

According to estimates from Forbes Africa, Ibukun Awosika net worth is over $18.6 million.

References:

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