if half of Nigeria women Were like Cicillia Ibru Nigeria would have been richer and more developed than USA.

THE NIGERIA BEST PRODUCT IS PROUD TO PRESENT A FINANCIAL PRODUCT THAT HAD MADE SUCCESSFUL INDELIBLE FOOT PRINT ON THE SOIL OF NIGERIA AND AFRICA AT LARGE
Cecilia IBRU

Cecilia Ibru (born on March 22 ,1946) is one of the most powerful women in Nigeria, if not in all of Africa.

Cecilia Ibru: First Lady of Banking.
Cecilia Ibru, managing director and chief executive officer of Oceanic Bank International, one of the fastest and most profitable banks in Nigeria, is by any measure a remarkable person. She confounds all expectations of what a banker must be, except in her ability to make some of the shrewdest decisions in the country’s financial sector.
Ibru herself attributes her success to “a mindset that is dependent on God’s inspiration and the desire to actualise. One thing is to have a vision,” she says, “the other is the ability to dissect it, strategise and achieve it”. Ibru received a BSC (Honours) in Sociology from London University in 1971, a Master of Philosophy from North East London University and a Certificate of Eligibility from the Council of Legal Education in London.She cut her teeth in the business world by working with the Ibru Organisation, founded and headed by her husband, Olorogun Michael Ibru. Even at 61, Cecilia Ibru, who was born one of twins, is still a beautiful woman. Her husband, Michael Ibru, himself a Mohammed Ali look-a-like, is no less a personable individual. She still cherishes the memories of working with him in his company. “He knew what he wanted. But because I worked under him, I think I was rather privileged. He gave me my responsibilities and I discharged them to the best of my ability. We had that kind of mutual expectation that I would always give my best in whatever I was asked to do”. Putting in her best paid off. She became the managing director of Oceanic Bank international in 1997.

Cecilia Ibru is a deeply religious person. She ascribes all her success to her faith and her relationship with God. All the honours and accolades heaped on her have not turned her head; rather they have made her modest. “It (success) makes me fear God more –I don’t want to offend Him” She interprets her award as “people saying to me, I can see something of God in you. They are giving that award to the display of God’s favour in my life. That’s how I see it”.

Highly respected among her peers as the ‘First Lady’ of Nigeria’s banking industry, Ibru is the first female leader to raise her bank’s equity to N25bn, (approx $203m), the first female to head the 5th largest bank and the 9th largest company quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, the first female CEO of a Western Union Agency in West Africa to meet the performance and turnover targets of Western Union, and in year 2000, the first female CEO to post over N1bn profit ($8.143m at today’s value) in a financial statement. In April 2007, Oceanic Bank International came in at number 110 in African Business’ Top 200 African Companies rankings, 12th in the West African sub-region and 16th in sub-Saharan Africa.

Deep religious faith

Despite her modesty, there is no doubt that Cecilia Ibru is one of the most powerful people, not only in Nigeria but throughout Africa. But she is uncomfortable with this description of her. “Well, that is the world’s view, that I am powerful. But I tell you again, that power comes from God”. “Mine is very simple belief,” she states.” I believe God made the world and made me. Therefore if He is my maker, I need to know Him. If everybody testifies that God is wonderful, I need to get closer to Him and know how wonderful He is”. For her, business is all about human beings. “If I am in business and I don’t care for my fellow human beings, I don’t care for my staff, I don’t care for my customers and I don’t care for those I come across, the likelihood is that my business will not prosper”. Another principle she holds on tightly to, one that her husband Olorogun Ibru taught her, is: “Be fair. Be firm. Even as you gain, others should gain”.

She believes that administration is the key to sustainable business. Staff welfare is very important. “Let’s face it. It is the staff who make the business. If the employees are reasonably happy in the sense that they have not just remuneration but job satisfaction, then they will be productive”. Oceanic Bank International has become the most recognisable face of the sprawling Ibru business empire which includes publishing, hotels, manufacturing and the oil and gas sector. Ibru does not feel that she is under any pressure to outdo other enterprises within the empire. She says the founder of the conglomerate, Olorogun Michael Ibru, is a man of wisdom.
“He has given everybody their own responsibilities. Therefore you run with yours. There is no way we criss-cross each other. It is like establishing parallels that need not cut across each other. Everybody is running on his own steam. Who is running fastest, that is the favour of God. That’s the way I look at it.”
Nigeria is a patriarchal society in which women are expected to know their place. But Ibru says that although there have been difficulties with attitudes, her gender has never really got in the way. “My grandfather was a big businessman, so I was used to business. My own father was a lawyer cum businessman who went into politics. And then, of course I am married to one of the business patriarchs of Nigeria. So, relating to men in business was not strange to me. In fact, I reasoned more with my grandfather, my father and my husband than I reason with women”. Like all great leaders, she has an acute eye for detail and never seems to stop working. Can she slow down? “Whatdo you mean can I slow down?” she shot back “People see me and say ‘she is always busy’ and I say to them ‘that is the one you see. When I am resting do you see me?’” She is not one for social outings for the sake of it. “If it is important, I will go out. If it is not, I stay in my house!” Weekends she goes to church, reads and relaxes with her family. “Who says I can’t slow down? What do you mean I slow down?”Go on holidays, for example? “Oh yes, I go on holidays!”

IBRU, Dr. (Mrs.) C. A. O. OFR - Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer



In recognition of her numerous contributions to the development of Banking in Nigeria, the Federal Government of Nigeria honoured her with the award of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR).


She is ranked among Nigeria best products due to HER dynamic banking that habour both the rich and the poor. No wonder there are always long cues and large crowds at each branch of her bank! suitably the BEST!!!