Celebrating Decade of Purpose: 10 Years of Building Africa’s Future

Peter Adeshola Olowononi

Leadership Change on the Horizon

News had begun to filter in that there was going to be a leadership change. Palpable tension permeated the corridors and everyone was edgy about what the change was going to bring. Just as a great man on whom this decade-long journey revolves around said, of which I quote, “every change has a consequence,” everyone wanted to know if the incoming leader would take the Bank forward and importantly, steer its growth to the next phase. This should not be a problem, it was his father’s bank afterall.

My Early Banking Journey (Diamond Bank, 2006 – 2015)
I joined Diamond Bank Plc in 2006, fresh from the National Youth Service, and was excited about my new life. At 24 years, I was boisterous, vibrant, and settled in quickly into Lagos life. I was lucky to have been raised by a strong man- the late Professor Gabriel Durojaiye Olowononi, as without the strong discipline I imbibed from him, my fifty thousand Naira salary was enough for me to “swing from the chandelier”. I however, tried to keep focus and in 2007, I enrolled into the University of Lagos MBA programme knowing that if I was going to become a formidable banker, I would need a degree relevant to my new chosen profession; banking, having studied Microbiology as my first degree. By 2009, I had bagged my MBA specialising in Marketing.
Whilst I started humbly as a teller, paying cash and receiving deposits, I kept focus and took my chances and opportunities. In ten years, I gained experience in Branch operations, Treasury operations, Loan Recovery/Remediation, and finally pitched my tent in Corporate Banking, managing the Oil and Gas upstream portfolio with a stint in Power. It was a good time to be in this space as I racked experience financing rigs, vessels, and purchase orders for contracts in the upstream sector. I was exposed to Reserve Based Lending, participating in major deals and divestments by the IOCs. I anchored two major transactions to re-enter a marginal field and establish First Oil as well as the execution of a Production Sharing Contract, where the minimum work programme required the drilling of 3 brand new wells and surface facilities which earned the conversion of the OPL to an OML. This was huge for me as I learnt the end to end chain from seismic data collection to site preparation to rig mobilisation to spudding to drilling and casing, completion, installing of surface facilities to oil production.
My Transition to Afreximbank
Armed with these experiences, driven by a desire for something new and bigger, I sought and won the “lottery” to join Africa’s premier trade development finance institution in June 2015. The tension had become real by May 2015, Alex Otti was stepping down as CEO of Diamond Bank, sweeping changes, and the men whom I had called bosses for the past years had to all step down. What were the odds that I would be resuming just before the tsunami in Diamond Bank to a plum job in Afreximbank’s Abuja Regional office?
My journey at Afreximbank over the last 10 years has been indescribable, nothing short of redefining and fulfilling. I still recall clearly boarding the Egypt Air flight to Cairo at the Muritala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, for the final stage of my interview in May 2015.  Dr Okechukwu Oramah, Vice President, Business Development and Corporate Banking was sitting in the business class cabin whilst I was headed to the economy cabin; I was not going to miss the opportunity to strike a conversation as it was likely he could be on my interview panel the next day. I introduced myself as a banker at Diamond Bank and he warmly asked if I was headed to Cairo for holidays but I replied that I was headed for a job interview at Afreximbank. He giggled and wished me the best as I set off for my seat, he asked me to “make the best of things” a phrase that has remained with me till date. He chaired the panel next day, the rigour with which he tested my knowledge of the oil and gas industry will forever remain indelible.

Early Responsibilities: Manager, Business Development
On July 6, 2015……Ten years ago, I resumed as Manager, Business Development, Anglophone West Africa covering Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe and Togo.

Deal Execution and Continental Impact (2015 – 2020)
In September 2015, Dr. Okechukwu Oramah was appointed President of the noble institution. Given the size of the Nigerian economy, I soon realised that I was cardinal to the execution of the plan that President Oramah had set for the Bank. He wanted to reform the direction of trade in Africa with intra-African trade at the core of his mandate. In October 2015, I found that “Zaria boy” seated in a meeting with Africa’s richest man, Mr. Aliko Dangote. President Oramah was discussing how to deepen intra- African trade of cement from Nigeria to ECOWAS, from Ethiopia to COMESA from Mtwara- Tanzania to SADC. Three months later, we had financed the acquisition of 1,000 trucks for Dangote Ghana and 6 months later, 550 trucks in Tanzania. By 2018, we had availed facilities in hundreds of millions of dollars to advance the construction of Dangote refinery and fertilizer complex. President Oramah was bold and audacious; he worked like time was against him, he led from the front and proved that impossibility was nothing.
Afreximbank was supporting Indorama fertilizer to establish its new lines, expanding the Onne Port for Intel to boost oil and gas cargo handling. I was having fun watching how one man was revolutionizing Africa’s trade and trade-enabling infrastructure. I was happy to be a pen in his hands or rather the proverbial machete cutting down all the bushes to ensure the path was clear.
Economic headwinds came at Africa so fiercely, President Oramah led us to design strategies which became synonymous with his 10-year stint as we later saw with Covid and the Russian Ukraine crisis. We had the cutest acronyms for our intervention to insulate the continent. The Countercyclical Trade Acceleration Facility (COTRALF) was the panacea for the 2018 commodity price crash crisis; he developed the Pandemic Trade Mitigation Facility (PATIMFA) as the panacea for the 2020 Covid crisis whilst the Ukraine Crisis Adjustment Trade Finance Program for Africa (UKAFPA) was designed to stop Africa from catching cold when Russia sneezed on Ukraine.
Second Term Highlights (2020 – 2025)
By the end of his first term in 2020, we had financed the acquisition of yellow goods and construction of roads in Sierra Leone and Liberia with the objective to open up economic corridors and link production centres to consumption bases, we built diagnostic centres in Liberia, giving critical working capital to a cocoa processor in Ghana to ramp up capacity utilisation, financed and commissioned a brand new 5 star Hilton Hotel in Cape Verde. Afreximbank had become a dominant player in the oil and gas sector with billions of dollars arranged and availed in support of national oil companies as well as indigenous players exploiting the rich hydrocarbon reserves, Africa is blessed with. Afreximbank had established itself as the life support to the Central Banks and commercial banks, providing critical liquidity for their operations and economic relevance.  
Riding on the success of the first term, the second term has been even more innovative and audacious. Afreximbank onboarded and approved confirmation lines in favour of more than 250 African banks and lived true to be the “trade finance bank for Africa”.
The bank commissioned three landmark initiatives which were significant in my career giving me a new vista to three new industries. The first was the Africa Quality Assurance Centre. President Oramah in multiple instances would ask how Africa would promote export manufacturing without complying with the standards of the target export markets. This project was conceptualised and commissioned along the Lagos- Ibadan expressway. There were many meetings, many trips to Ogun state but today the facility is built and functional (operated by Bureau Veritas) and is the beacon of hope for commodity exporters who want to ensure zero rejection of their exports.
In March 2025, the Bank commissioned the second project which is the Afreximbank Africa Trade Centre (AATC). A massive twin tower suspended on 9 floors, the AATC is perhaps Abuja’s most advanced and aesthetically built edifice. The AATC houses a 149 bed 4-star business hotel, Conference Centre, Trade Information Centre, office spaces which is befitting for an institution which has immensely impacted the continent and Nigeria, in particular. I still recall with relish how we chased the approval for the land, litigations which threatened to set the project back but today, the AATC is blazing the Federal Capital of Nigeria’s skylines because President Oramah believed ‘’impossible is nothing’’ !
The third which is perhaps the most audacious is the Africa Medical Centre of Excellence commissioned in May 2025. Without healthy people, how can Africa talk about economic emancipation, without fit for purpose facilities how can Africa reverse medical tourism and the vicious brain drain of its doctors and nurses!
 
Recognition and Reflection
With more than US$52 billion disbursed in Nigeria and such landmark initiatives, little wonder President Oramah was honoured with the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. As President Oramah bows out of service after 10 years of meritorious service, I am proud to have marked my 10th year work anniversary serving under his guidance and learning under his tutelage.
As I take stock of my 10th year Afreximbank work anniversary, I am grateful to my Maker and to everyone who has held my hands till date. I am proud of what I have achieved in support of the continent’s development spanning Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Cape Verde and Sao Tome.
I look forward to another fruitful 10 years under the incoming leadership of Dr. George Elombi.