A chopper transporting Herbert Wigwe, the CEO of Access Holdings crashed and claimed his life as well as five others in California.
The chopper was headed to Las Vegas when it crashed near a border city between Nevada and California on Friday night. The US government confirmed all onboard dead.
The man Dr. Herbert Wigwe
Dr. Herbert Onyewumbu Wigwe, died at the age of 57. A visionary leader, philanthropist, and the founder of Wigwe University. In his professional life, he was the Group Chief Executive Officer of Access Holdings Plc (also known as Access Corporation”), a multi-national financial services organisation that offers commercial banking, lending, payment, pension, insurance, and asset management services.
For eight years until May 2022, Dr. Wigwe led Access Bank Plc as its Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer through an extraordinary growth period. Some of the accolades accorded him include Banker of the Year, 2020 by Leadership Awards; African Banker of the Year, 2021 by African Banker Award; and Best Banking CEO, 2021 by Global Brands Magazine Awards.
Wigwe was born in Ibadan in August 1966 to a civil servant father, who once led the state-owned Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), and a mother, who was a nurse. He hailed from Isiokpo, Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State.
His death, which happened alongside those of his wife and son, is more than distressing to corporate Nigeria, a big blow particularly to Access Holdings, which only less than two months ago lost its chairman, Bababode Osunkoya, after “a brief illness.”
Also, only last month at the service of song of late Mr. Abdul Imoyo, head of Media Relations of Access Holdings, Wigwe lamented the passing of his closes public relations officer, who he personally entrusted that position to.
Wigwe had a remarkable career at Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), where he became an executive director at age 32.
At GTB, he allied with long-time friend and business partner Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, also an executive director at the bank at that time, both of whom made a bid to buy fledgling Access Bank in 2002.
“We had become the owners of the bank in March 2002. At that time, I was still only 36 years old, but I already had 10 years of senior management banking experience at GTB,” Mr Aig-Imoukhuede said in his book, Leaving the Tarmac: Buying a Bank in Africa.
At 36, both men were deemed too young to acquire a bank by officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Aig-Imoukhuede added, noting that the CBN delayed the approval of the takeover on that ground.
When Mr Wigwe took over from him in 2015, having served as the deputy managing director since the acquisition, Access Bank’s total assets were N2.6 trillion. He would help grow that by 723 percent in less than nine years.
Wigwe spearheaded the bank’s merger with Diamond Bank in 2019, a business combination which created Africa’s largest bank by customer base with over 42 million customers at the time.
Under his stewardship, the bank transitioned into a holding company in 2022, enabling it to diversify into financial services like payments, pensions and asset management.
Wigwe led Access Holdings through several mergers and acquisitions outside Nigeria including acquisitions of banks in Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, Botswana and Angola.
Among the deals in the pipeline before his demise were the takeover of Uganda’s Finance Trust Bank Limited, and Standard Chartered’s banking businesses in Cameroon, the Gambia, Sierra Leone and Tanzania.
The group got the CBN’s approval in principle this January for a consumer lending division called Oxygen X Finance Company Limited and previously acquired Megatech Insurance Brokers Limited, Sigma Pensions Limited and First Guarantee Pension Limited.
A passionate advocate for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Dr. Wigwe speaks frequently at business forums and conventions, strongly encouraging a global business commitment to the achievement of the Goals. In his role as Group Managing Director of Access Bank Plc, Dr. Wigwe was the first African sponsor of the United Nations Global Compact Initiative.
He is a Board member of Nigeria’s Business Coalition Against AIDS which leads major businesses in Nigeria in fighting HIV and AIDS at all levels of intervention within the health system and the private sector workforce. Similarly, he advocates for the eradication of malaria in Africa, and is a partner of the Corporate Alliance on Malaria in Africa to achieve this objective.
Dr. Wigwe’s commitment to the development of Nigeria and Africa extended to numerous initiatives. At the onset of the COVID-19 global crisis, for example, Dr. Wigwe helped to Nigeria’s private and public healthcares to respond effectively by galvanizing support for and co-leading the formation of CACOVID (Coalition Against COVID-19) which comprised the Central Bank of Nigeria; major financial institutions in Nigeria; and key stakeholders in Nigeria’s private sector. Dr. Wigwe led the Coalition to support the Federal Government in mitigating the impact of the pandemic and reopening the economy.
Dr. Wigwe, Access Bank and UNICEF collaborated to support vulnerable children, orphans, and internationally displaced persons in the northern part of Nigeria. To raise awareness and funds for this purpose, the Bank organizes and hosts annual high-profile Access Bank/UNICEF Charity Shield Polo Tournaments in Nigeria, London, and South Africa.
In 2023, Dr. Wigwe embarked on a transformative journey by founding Wigwe University. With a vision to ignite Africa’s potential for prosperity and nurture fearless leaders who will change the course of history, he had introduced an institution that is set to rival top universities around the world. Wigwe University promises to elevate educational standards while creating a unique African experience. Dr. Wigwe believed that education is the key to unlocking Africa’s potential and through Wigwe University, he sought to leave a legacy that will contribute immensely to the continent’s greatness.
His commitment to education is rooted in the belief that nurturing intellectual capital is pivotal for societal development. Dr. Wigwe envisions Wigwe University as a beacon of knowledge, innovation, and excellence, designed to empower future leaders and contribute to the socio-economic advancement of the continent. The school focuses on management, science and engineering, IT and creative arts and due for commissioning this year.
This endeavour represents his profound dedication to shaping a brighter future for Africa, making education the cornerstone of his enduring legacy.
In 2023, in recognition of exemplary service to his country, Dr. Wigwe was awarded the Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic – one of the nation’s top honours.
Mr Wigwe graduated from the University of Nigeria Nsukka with a second-class upper degree in Accounting in 1987. He started as a graduate assistant at Coopers and Lybrand Associates Limited, becoming a chartered accountant in 1989.
In 1991, he completed a Master’s in Banking and Finance at North Wales University (now Bangor University) in the United Kingdom. He would later earn a Master of Science degree in Financial Economics from the University of London and become an alumnus of the Harvard Business School Executive Management Programme.
He holds Honorary Doctorate degrees from the University of Port Harcourt, Gombe State University and University of Nigeria, Master’s Degrees in Law, Banking and International Finance, and Financial Economics from the University of London, University of North Wales and University of London, respectively.
Access Corporation
Access Corporation is headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria and operates through a network of more than 600 branches and service outlets, spanning three continents, 18 countries, and 50+ million customers managed by over 28,000 employees. From being the 65th largest bank in Nigeria at the point Wigwe and his partner bought it in 2002, the bank is now worth N21.4 trillion in assets as of last September.
Access Bank, the Corporations banking business, is one of Africa’s largest retail banks by customer base and total assets.