Herbert Onyewumbu Wigwe CFR (15 August 1966 – 10 February 2024) was a Nigerian banker and entrepreneur. He was the CEO of Access Holdings Plc, traded as Access Corporation. Herbert was the Group Managing Director/CEO of Access Bank plc, one of Nigeria’s top five banking institutions, after succeeding his business partner, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, from January 2014 to April 2022.
Education
Wigwe had a bachelor’s degree in accountancy from the University of Nigeria, a Master of Arts in banking and finance from the University College of North Wales (now Bangor), an MSc in Financial Economics from the University of London, and was an alumnus of the Harvard Business School Executive Management Program.
Career
Wigwe started his career at Coopers & Lybrand, Lagos, as a management consultant, later qualifying as a chartered accountant. After a stint at Capital Bank, he joined GTBank, where he spent over a decade working in corporate and institutional banking, rising to become the executive director in charge of institutional banking.
In 2002, Wigwe and his business partner, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, bought into what was then a small commercial bank, Access Bank at the time, the 65th largest of the 89 banks in the country.
Access Bank was one of the top five banks in Nigeria, ranked among the top 500 global banks according to a 2015 report by The Banker magazine, and is aiming to be Africa’s top bank. It currently serves over 6.5 million account holders through 350 branches and has more than 1,500 ATMs in major cities across Nigeria, Sub-Saharan Africa and the UK.
Wigwe also served as the Chairman of Access Bank Ghana Limited, Access Investment & Securities Limited, and Central Securities and Clearing System (CSCS) and was at the time of his death the Chairman of Access Bank (UK) Limited. He was a board member of Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Company and a member of the advisory Board for Friends Africa. He was a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN – FCA), a Fellow of The Institute of Credit Administration, and an Honorary member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria.
Herbert Wigwe in his office at Access bank headquarters, Lagos From January 2014 until his death, he was CEO and Group Managing Director of Access Bank.
He had speaking engagements across the world, including his last at Silicon Valley and the Financial Times summit in Mozambique. In 2016, Wigwe founded the HOW Foundation, a non-profit organization.
Awards and achievements
Wigwe himself was named 2016 Banker of The Year separately by The Sun and Vanguard newspapers, two of Nigeria’s biggest newspapers.
The Boys’ Brigade Nigeria
In recognition of “his exemplary role in the society and contributions to youth development,” the Boys’ Brigade (BB), inaugurated Herbert Wigwe, as State Patron for Lagos State Council in 2016.
In October 2022, a Nigerian national honor of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) was conferred on him by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Access Conference
Wigwe was involved in the creation of ‘Thought-Leadership Series’ known as The Access Conference. The biennial event is Access Bank’s response to a global call for corporate involvement in resolving the major challenges facing humanity. Since its inauguration in 2013, the Access Conference has consistently engaged global leaders by provoking debates on issues of threats and opportunities to the world. In the 2013 edition themed ‘Sustainable Leadership’, Wigwe spoke alongside George W. Bush, Nicolas Sarkozy and John Kufuor,reaffirming the importance of leadership to national and corporate successes.
At the 2015 edition, Wigwe hosted global leaders such as Steve Wozniak, N. R. Narayana Murthy and José María Figueres, Muhammad Yunus and Ted Souder (Head, Industry (Retail) at Google for discussion of the theme ‘Leading in a Transformational World – The Imperative of Innovation’.
Philanthropy
Wigwe, Access Bank and UNICEF have a collaboration in place to offer support to vulnerable children, orphans and internally displaced persons in the northern part of Nigeria. To raise awareness for this purpose, the bank organizes the annual high-profile Access Bank/UNICEF Charity Shield Polo tournament.
In February 2017, he was named co-chair of Nigerian Business Coalition against AIDS (NiBUCCA), a private sector initiative to help eradicate HIV/AIDS in Nigeria and support people living with the condition.
Personal life
He was married to Chizoba Wigwe (née Nwuba) and had 4 children: Chizi, Tochi, Hannah and David.He hailed from Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, but lived and worked in Lagos.
In January 2015, Nigerian newspaper The Punch described him as “one of Nigeria’s stylish top executives”.
Death
Herbert Wigwe was confirmed dead alongside five other people after their helicopter crashed around the California-Nevada border in the United States of America, on 10 February 2024.
The five others included his wife, his son, Group Chairman of Nigerian Exchange Group Plc Abimbola Ogunbanjo and the pilots.
