Profile: Akin Kekere-Ekun, ’93, Nigeria
January 2007
Akin Kekere-Ekun’s experience as an Eisenhower Fellow not only impacted his life professionally, but his attitude toward life as well. “As a result of the many meetings arranged by the foundation during the program, one tends to develop an upgraded can-do attitude, which becomes part of you as you progress in life,” he says. “One needs to go through the immeasurable fellowship experience to appreciate what I am saying.”
A renowned banker and technocrat, Kekere-Ekun has more than three decades of experience making significant contributions to the Nigerian financial services industry. He is executive chairman of KPH Group, which includes KPH Consulting, KPH Portfolio Managers, and KPH Construction, and of Dyogenix Technologies, Ltd, a telecommunications service company. Outside of work, he volunteers as the pro-chancellor/chairman of the Governing Council of Lagos State University and as a member of the Board of Trustees of ABTI-American University, Yola. And now he has just assumed the chairmanship of Eisenhower Fellowships’ Nigeria Nominating Committee.
Kekere-Ekun was identified as a leader early in his life when he began appearing in news dispatches regarding his roles as leader of his high school debating team and member of his high school quiz team. He is an alumnus of Oklahoma State University, where he graduated with honors and on the dean’s list with a Bachelor of Science degree in Bio-Science/Physiology. He subsequently received his MBA with Honors from Long Island University, Brooklyn, New York. and in 1996 graduated from the Program for Management Development at Harvard Business School.
Kekere-Ekun started his professional career as an authorized clerk of the Nigerian Stock Exchange with Capital Trust Brokers Limited. As a stockbroker, he helped in the classification of quoted stocks as they now appear on the Nigeria Stock Exchange. After only two years as a stockbroker, he moved to Habib Nigeria Bank as a manager and quickly rose to the position of Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer.
Kekere-Ekun says, “I believed more in my leadership capacity after becoming a Fellow of the Eisenhower Exchange Program. The [resulting] confidence and drive in me made me look to the zenith of my bank and this I got on the 1st of July, 1998, which incidentally was my 45th birthday.” Kekere-Ekun retired from the Bank in 2004 but continues as a non-executive director of Bank PHB Plc, a successor bank that resulted after a merger between Habib Nigeria Bank Plc and Platinum Bank Plc.
Concurrent with his professional positions, Kekere-Ekun has played a significant role in several Nigerian government entities. His government service began when he was made a member of the Lagos Island Foundation for Education. He also served as chairman of the Lagos Municipal Transport Service. Perhaps his most significant government appointment was as chairman of the Technical Committee of the National Council on Privatization, a position he held until the Committee’s dissolution in 2006. As chairman of its Technical Committee, Kekere-Ekun oversaw the appointment of consultants, advisors, and core investors for state-owned enterprises identified to be for sale. His committee was responsible for 75% of the work done by the National Council on Privatization.
Looking back at his fellowship experience, Kekere-Ekun believes the access he had to leaders in the United States encouraged him to work as hard as he could to achieve leadership positions in both private and public organizations. “The fact that one is a Fellow,” he says, “with access to so many leaders and potential leaders of the world, puts you on a higher potential than your peers! The day I became a Fellow, I had access to both President Bush Sr. and Secretary Rumsfeld! And if one knows how to use the network of Fellows, success is virtually assured in one’s undertakings.”