AMBASSADOR ADEYINKA ASEKUN

His Excellency Adeyinka Asekun, born on the 11th of June 1956, is a business

management professional, a seasoned banking as well as marketing and sales

practitioner, and the Nigerian High Commissioner to Canada. He is a graduate

of the University of Wisconsin, where he obtained a Bachelor of Business

Administration majoring in Marketing. He went on to obtain an MBA from California

State University, where he wrote several highly regarded papers dealing with topics in

International Business with a focus on marketing.

Asekun began his professional career with S.C. Johnson & Son (U.S.A), a $2-billiondollar

FMCG multinational company in 1983, where he was responsible for selling,

merchandising, field intelligence, implementation of sales and marketing programs at the

retail level, developing programs and promotions. He also handled marketing research and

product management at the Nigerian subsidiary of SCJ. He has taken up different managerial

positions — largely in the financial services sector in Nigeria and abroad since then.

Over time, Asekun has worked at the International Merchant Bank, United Bank of Africa

(UBA), and Oceanic Bank PLC, which was acquired by Ecobank Transnational in 2011.

Noteworthy among his assignments in these institutions were; Head of the National Sales

Force and Head of Retail Credit Products at UBA, Head of Retail Banking at Oceanic Bank,

and Acting Managing Director of Oceanic Savings & Loans. While at UBA, he won an

award for product innovation for leading a team that developed and launched two highly

innovative and successful consumer loan products.

Asekun joined the Board of Directors of Wema Bank PLC in August 2012, serving as the

Chairman of the Board Risk Management Committee and a member of the Board Credit

Committee. He became Chairman of Wema Bank in December 2012, playing a leading

role in the successful turnaround and transformation of the Bank, including returning it

to profitability, upgrading it to a National Banking license from a Regional license, and

launching Africa’s first fully digital Bank (ALAT). He stepped down as Chairman of the

Bank in May 2017 to take on a public sector role in transforming the nation.

His Excellency Ambassador Asekun was also, until his recent appointment as the Nigerian

High Commissioner to Canada, the Chief Executive officer of Hebron Limited, a full-service

training and consulting company based in Lagos, Nigeria, and a Non-Executive Director at

e-payment services provider eTranzact International PLC. He is happily married to Mrs.

Olawunmi Asekun and they are blessed with four children.