FBN Holdings Plc has announced the appointments of Seni Adetu and Juliet Anammah as independent non-executive directors, while Otu Hughes has been appointed as a non-executive director.
The appointments are subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Speaking on the appointments, group chairman of FBN Holdings Plc Dr. Oba Otudeko said, “On behalf of the board, management and staff of FBN Holdings, I am delighted to welcome the trio of Seni Adetu, Mrs. Juliet Anammah and Otu Hughes to the FBN Holdings board as they bring on board their combined professional experience and expertise of over 97 years, cutting across various industries and institutions of global repute.
“I am certain that these rich experiences will have immediate and long-term impact on the group and its subsidiaries across Africa and beyond.”
A former managing director/CEO Guinness Nigeria Plc, Mr Adetu has 35 years of private sector experience garnered at the highest levels primarily with John Holt Plc, Coca-Cola International and Diageo (Guinness) Plc in various countries within and outside Africa.
He holds a first degree in chemical engineering and master’s in business administration (with specialisation in marketing) both from the University of Lagos.
Adetu was at various times marketing director, Coca-Cola Nigeria Ltd, managing director of Coca-Cola, and the first African managing director/CEO and executive vice-chairman of Guinness Ghana Plc.
In 2009, Adetu was appointed group managing director/CEO East African Breweries (EABL), the biggest company in East Africa, based in Kenya, during which time he was named runner-up Forbes/CNBC CEO of the Year 2012 in East Africa.
He was subsequently appointed MD/CEO of Guinness Nigeria Plc and executive chairman Diageo Brands Nigeria thus, again becoming the first Nigerian in nearly 20 years to lead that company.
Adetu has had working stints in Hungary and the UK and has been exposed to various high-profile leadership courses globally including at the prestigious Harvard Business School.
He has served on the boards of various multinational companies in both Executive and Non-Executive capacity in Nigeria and abroad and was until recently an independent non-executive director on the board of Fidelity Bank Plc and non-executive director at APT Pensions Ltd among others.
Adetu is the founder/Group CEO of Algorithm Media Limited and Ogilvy Nigeria Limited, two leading marketing communications agencies in Nigeria, in partnership with WPP, the world’s largest advertising and media agency network. He is a member of many reputable social clubs including the Metropolitan Club Lagos. He is also the immediate past national vice president of the University of Lagos Alumni Association.
Mrs Anammah is chairwoman Jumia Nigeria and head of institutional affairs Jumia Group.
Jumia is the largest eCommerce platform in Africa and the first African tech start-up to be listed on the NYSE
She is an experienced executive with over 28 years of professional experience including seven years at partner and chief executive level.
Before her current role, she was the CEO of Jumia Nigeria.
Prior to joining Jumia, she spent 16 years at Accenture and was the partner managing Accenture’s Consumer Goods Practice in West Africa.
A pharmacist by training, she started her career in sales and marketing with May and Baker (Sanofi-Aventis) in 1991 before joining Accenture as a senior strategy consultant in 1999.
Anammah also serves on corporate and non-profit boards in a non-executive capacity.
She is currently on the boards of Flour Mills of Nigeria and APT Pensions as independent non-executive member.
She is also an EXCO member of Consultative Action Group for the Poor (CGAP) a not-for-profit agency funded by the World Bank, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and several bilateral and multilateral agencies.
Anammah holds a bachelor of pharmacy degree, an MBA (finance track) and is an alumnus of both Wharton College University of Pennsylvania (AMP) and Yale University.
Mr Hughes has over 25 years experience in operations and strategy, principal investment, mergers and acquisition as well as capital raising in both the US and Sub-Saharan Africa.
He started his career in 1993 with Lehman Brothers, providing strategic and financial advisory services to government entities and companies in privatisation and empowerment issues, notably Brazil (power and mining), Ghana (mining) and South Africa (empowerment programmes) among others.
Hughes joined Deutsche Bank in 1998 as associate–mergers, acquisitions and corporate advisory group with the oversight responsibilities of providing mergers, acquisitions, corporate and strategic financial advisory services to companies and government agencies across industries and countries, rising to Vice President.
He is the co-founder and principal of Rofgam/Hughes Consulting and also worked at KeyBanc Capital Markets, amongst many others.
Hughes is the co-founder and managing director of Candesco Limited, set up with the primary responsibility of developing and managing off-grid and independent power projects for Sub-Sahara Africa market, providing affordable, clean and stable power to clusters of communities.
