Talk about powerful women in Nigeria, especially in the financial sector, and the name Arunma Oteh often comes to mind. Oteh has held prestigious positions both locally and internationally, elevating Nigeria’s global profile.
As she turns a year older, here are some facts to know about her.
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1. Arunma Oteh was born on January 24, 1965.
2. She hails from Abia State.
3. She graduated with a first-class honors degree in computer science from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.
4. She was a Lecturer of Computer Science at the University of Benin (UNIBEN) during her NYSC in 1984.
5. She began her career in the corporate world at Centre Point Investments in 1985 when she was appointed Corporate Finance Officer (CFO).
6. She joined the African Development Bank (AfDB) in 1992 as a senior financial analyst, public sector lending department. She became the bank’s senior investments and capital markets officer in 1993 and, in 1997, the division manager of investments. In 2001, she was promoted to Group Treasurer, and in 2006, she became Group Vice President, Corporate Services.
7. She was appointed Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, by the late President Musa Yar’Adua in January 2010.
8. Her tenure as DG ended in 2015 when Jim Yong Kim, the president of the World Bank, appointed her as vice president and treasurer of the institution.
9. Oteh left the World Bank in 2018 to join St. Antony’s College, Oxford University, as an academic scholar and an executive-in-residence at Saïd Business School.
10. She was made an Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) in 2011 in “recognition of her contribution to economic development and to transforming the Nigerian capital markets.”
11. She is the co-editor of the book African Voices, African Visions.
12. Oteh became a nonexecutive member of the Board of Directors of Ecobank in 2019.
13. Her recognitions include the CNBC Africa All Africa Business Leaders Awards (AABLA) Business Woman of the Year category for West Africa in 2014, Avance Media’s 100 Most Influential African Women in 2019, and Forbes Africa’s 50 Most Powerful Women in 2020, to name a few.
14. Arunma Oteh was appointed to the board of directors of FSD Africa, a development agency focused primarily on financial markets in Africa, in October 2022.
15. To commemorate her 60th birthday in 2025, she launched her new book, All Hands on Deck.
