IT had long come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.” This statement by the Italian artist Leonard da Vinci words best typifies how Henry James Semenitari has approached his work at Unity Bank Plc since he took over the reins of its management as MD/CEO in 2014.
Semenitari came to Unity Bank is an accomplished banker with 22-year experience behind him in top rated banks including FCMB, UBA, and Diamond Banks. He is now making wonderful things happen at Unity Bank—especially with the bottom-line. Despite the downward turn of the economy, for example, the bank declared a profit-after-tax of N10.69 billion in 2014 financial year.
And both at home and abroad, these achievements are being recognised. In Nigeria, the long list of awards of recognition that have come to him include: the FG 100 Business in Nigeria; Leadership Best Banker of the year 2014; BusinessDay’s Top 25 CEO’s of Quoted Companies; City People Best Managed Bank and Best CEO of the year 2014.
From abroad the UK-based Europe Business Assembly (EBA) nominated Semenitari as Manager of the Year in recognition of his “excellent industry reputation, effective strategy and continuing expansion of the enterprise.” The EBA is a multidimensional organisation that focuses on economic, educational and leadership development issues. It collaborates with UK’s Institute of Directors whose members include the most skilled and experienced business leaders in the world.
The Leadership Best Banker of the Year award was given in recognition of how Semenitari rallied Unity Bank from a shrinking assets base to the position of the seventh largest bank in Nigeria with shareholders’ fund of N51.2 billion. With this ranking Semenitari was assured of position in the list of top 25 CEO’s of quoted companies in Nigeria organised last month by BusinessDay Newspaper. Indeed, the paper had more tangible and public interest reasons for selecting the likes of CEO Semenitari for the awards. Despite categorising Nigeria’s Capital Market as the worst-performing among the emerging markets in Sub-Saharan Africa last year, the 25 CEOs that made the list added over N333 billion to shareholders funds and realised N107.1 billion as profit after tax as at the end of 2014 compared with the N66.8 billion they realised in the corresponding period in 2013.
But perhaps the most inspiring recognition comes from the invitation the Unity Bank MD/CEO personally got from the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) to become its member through a letter signed by both former US President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary, who recently declared her intention to run for election as President of the United States come 2016.
The CGI community, to which Semenitari is beckoned to join due to the success he recorded in his career, is all the more inspiring because of its approach to developing innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges.
A philosopher once said about success: “When you feel great, dare to help someone else feel great too.” The CGI model demands each member to make a commitment to action—a new, specific, and measurable plan that addresses a shared concern. Through this approach, the CGI has 3,100 commitments in over 180 countries, which are already transforming the lives of more than 430 million people — making more people feel great too.
Unity Bank Plc, which Semenitari heads today, came into existence from one of the largest mergers in Nigeria’s banking history. Unity Bank, which has competences in investment, corporate and retail banking, commenced operation in January 2006 following the merger of nine financial institutions. It is now the leading retail bank in Nigeria with 256 business offices and cash centres spread across the 36 state of the federation.
Overall, the bank has witnessed relatively stable growth over the years, especially from 2010 to date, except for a brief sharp drop in exceptional earnings in 2011. For example, for the financial year ended December 31, 2010, gross earnings amounted to N61.36 billion, representing 36.46% increase over the previous year’s figure of N44.96 billion. Profit after tax stood at N12.41 billion in 2010, as against loss of N15.86 billion in 2009. Despite stringent competitive regulatory environment in the year 2012, the bank posted an impressive performance. For the financial year ended December 2012, customer deposit grew by 1.19% from N266.88 billion to N270.06 billion. During the same period shareholders’ funds grew by 17.43% from n43.82 billion in 2011 to N51.46 billion in 2012.
In 2013 the Bank recorded gross earnings of N45.393 billion, up from N38.9 billion in 2012. Net interest incomes rose from N18 billion to N21 billion, while total operating incomes stood at N29 billion, compared with N27 billion in 2012.
Semenitari consolidated these steady growths with right issues and private placement of N39.224 billion in 2014, which were swiftly oversubscribed much to the surprise and delight of the MD/CEO. The over subscription was a pointer to the growing confidence by investors in the bank under the leadership of Semenitari whose achievements are being given due recognition home and abroad.
Mr. Bashir Ibrahim Hassan , a business development executive, wrote from Abuja.
No comments:
Post a Comment