Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede is an investor, banker and philanthropist with a track record of major accomplishments in both for-profit and not-for-profit initiatives within Nigeria and beyond.

As co-founder of the Tengen Family Office, Aig-Imoukhuede oversees a multibillion-dollar portfolio of investments and businesses in banking, finance, insurance, technology, real estate and energy, while through the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation and its subsidiaries, the Africa Initiative for Governance and the Aig-Imoukhuede Institute, Aigboje and his wife, Ofovwe, manage a significant family commitment focused on building Nigeria’s next generation of government leaders, helping transform public sector effectiveness, and improving access to quality primary health care.

Aig-Imoukhuede’s career in banking and finance spans three decades and has earned him international recognition. He became group managing director and chief executive officer of Nigeria’s Access Bank in from 2002, and led its transformation from a minor player into one of the country’s top five banks, with a presence in nine other African countries and the United Kingdom. Under his stewardship, Access Bank grew its customer base from 10 000 to 6.5 million, with more than 20 000 employees and an asset base of USD $12 billion.

Aigboje believes that strong financial markets and sustainable business practices are necessary for national development. As a member of Nigeria’s Banker’s Committee, in 2012 he led the banking sector’s’ voluntary adoption of the Nigerian Sustainable Banking Principles, an initiative that has since been emulated by several countries across the world. As chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fuel Subsidies, he is credited with saving Nigeria more than $6 billion in fraudulent petroleum subsidy claims.

He is chairman of the board of trustees of the Financial Market Dealers Association (FMDA) and led the establishment of the FMDQ securities exchange. He was appointed founding chairman in 2013. He was elected president of the Nigerian Stock Exchange council in 2013, becoming the first African to earn the privilege of chairing two national exchange platforms. As president of the exchange, he championed its demutualisation, which was successfully completed in 2021.

Aig-Imoukhuede is a flagbearer for financial market reform in Nigeria and serves as chairman of Enterprise NGR, a Nigerian financial and related professional services advocacy group. He was appointed a member of Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government International Advisory Board in 2017.

In the impact philanthropy space, his contributions towards universal health care for all Africans led to his appointment in 2011 as the first African co-chairman of the New York- based GBC Health, a private sector coalition against HIV, malaria and tuberculosis (GBCHealth). As a board member of the Aliko Dangote Foundation, he facilitated a partnership that birthed the African Business Coalition for Health (ABCHealth).

In 2012, together with Aliko Dangote and Jim Ovia, he co-founded the Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria (PSHAN), and as vice-chair of Global Citizen Nigeria, he co-founded the Nigeria Solidarity Support Fund (NSSF).

He is the recipient of Nigeria’s fourth highest national honour, Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON), for his contributions to the development of banking and finance; Ernst & Young’s West Africa Entrepreneur of the Year Award (2011); and African Banker magazine’s African Banker of the Year (2013). In 2017, Aigboje was elected to the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Aigboje graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Benin in 1986 and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1987 following his graduation from the Nigerian Law School. He earned an Executive MBA jointly awarded by the London School of Economics, NYU Stern Business School and HEC Paris in 2015, and has received honorary degrees and qualifications from the Olabisi Onabanjo University and the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria.

He is the author of Leaving the Tarmac: Buying a Bank in Africa (Red Door, 2020), a memoir that recounts how he and Herbert Wigwe bought Access Bank in 2002, one of the smallest and most crisis- prone banks in Nigeria build it into one of the biggest and strongest banks in the country. He has also authored other publications, including Nigeria’s Fourth Republic: Economy and Opportunities Beyond Politics.

Aig-Imoukhuede has delivered the annual graduation lecture at the Blavatnik School of Government, at the University of Oxford in the UK, Ahmadu Bello University (Zaria), and his alma mater, the University of Benin.

Aigboje is married to development specialist Ofovwe and has four children, Ohiozoje, Aima, Morenike and Renuan. He is an ordained minister of the Promised Land Ministries.