Herbert Wigwe: Life And Times

Wigwe was a Nigerian banker and entrepreneur.

He was the CEO of Access Holdings Plc, traded as Access Corporation.

Until his death ,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 in January 2014 till April 2022.

Wigwe has a degree in accountancy from the University of Nigeria, an MA in Banking and Finance from the University College of North Wales (now Bangor), an MSc in Financial Economics from the University of London, and an alumnus of the Harvard Business School Executive Management Program.

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.

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.

In January 2015, Nigerian newspaper The Punch described him as “one of Nigeria’s stylish top executives”. He was married to Chizoba Wigwe (née Nwuba) and has 4 children: Chizi, Tochi, Hannah and David.

He hails from Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, but lived and worked in Lagos.

(Ait)