Abena Osei-Poku, (née: Abena Osei), is a

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

ian corporate executive who is the

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

of Absa Bank Ghana (formerly ''Barclays Bank of Ghana''). She has served in this role since September 2018. Before that, she worked at Absa in South Africa, where she was responsible for the Corporate & Investment Banking in

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

and

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, M ...

, at the level of Managing Director.

Background and education

She was born in Ghana circa 1971. She attended Ghanaian elementary and secondary schools. She was admitted to the

University of Ghana The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It the oldest and largest of the thirteen Ghanaian national public universities. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the Br ...

, graduating in 1994 with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree in

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

and Statistics. Later, she received a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accoun ...

from the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...

in the United Kingdom.

Career

She started her banking career at Standard Chartered Bank in 2002, working there for seven years. In 2009, she transferred to

Barclays Bank Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

. She spent part of the next nine years serving as an executive director at Barclays Bank Ghana and the rest of the time in South Africa, serving as an executive of the

Barclays Africa Group Absa Group Limited (ABGL; formerly Barclays Africa Group Limited), and originally Amalgamated Banks of South Africa, is a South African-based financial services group, offering personal and business banking, credit cards, corporate and invest ...

, responsible for operations in Africa, outside of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. In September 2018, she was appointed as the managing director of Barclays Bank of Ghana, replacing

Patience Akyianu Patience Akyianu is a Ghanaian Banker .She is currently the Chief Executive Officer, Ghana at Hollard Insurance, and a former managing director of Barclays Bank Ghana ( now Absa Bank Ltd). Education Patience Akyianu completed her Secondary Sch ...

, who left the bank. In February 2020, Abena oversaw the transformation of Barclays Bank Ghana to Absa Bank Ghana.

Other considerations

She has in the past sat on the boards of several enterprises, including (a) Airtel Mobile Money Limited (b) Barclays Africa Group (c) United Kingdom and Ghana Chamber of Commerce and (d) Country Kitchen Limited. As of October 2021, she is the chairperson of the advisory board of the College of Health Sciences at the

. She also serves as the vice chairperson of the board of the

Ghana Stock Exchange The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) is the principal stock exchange of Ghana. The exchange was incorporated in July 1989 with trading commencing in 1990. It currently lists 42 equities (from 37 companies) and 2 corporate bonds. All types of securiti ...

, and is a member of the executive councils of the Ghana Association of Bankers and the National Banking College. In addition, she is an Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana and an honorary member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers.

References

External links

‘It Was Necessary’ – Barclays Bank MD Hails Banking Sector Cleanup
As of 22 January 2020.
Absa Bank MD, Abena Osei-Poku named one of Africa’s most influential female leaders
As of 26 May 2021. {{DEFAULTSORT:Osei-Poku, Abena 1971 births Living people Ghanaian bankers 21st-century Ghanaian businesswomen Ghanaian chief executives University of Ghana alumni Alumni of the University of Manchester Absa people Ghanaian women business executives

Background and education

Career

Other considerations

See also

References

External links