United Bank for Africa Plc has graduated and inducted 374 young professionals into its workforce following the completion of Cohort 21 of its Graduate Management Accelerator Programme, the bank’s flagship talent development initiative.
The graduation ceremony, held in Lagos on Thursday, brought together participants from Nigeria and seven other African countries where UBA operates.
The Graduate Management Accelerator Programme is designed to equip young professionals with technical banking knowledge, practical experience and leadership skills needed to build careers in the financial services industry.
With the latest cohort, the programme has now trained more than 5,000 young professionals since its inception.
The latest cohort comprised 223 women and 151 men drawn from UBA operations across eight African countries.
Nigeria accounted for 345 graduates, while the remaining 29 participants came from UBA subsidiaries in Guinea, Tanzania, Kenya, Mozambique, Uganda, Zambia and Ivory Coast.
UBA Group Chairman, Tony Elumelu, welcomed the new graduates and highlighted customer service as a key factor that would distinguish the bank as technology continues to make financial products increasingly similar across competitors.
He said technology alone would not provide a lasting competitive advantage because financial products could increasingly become commoditised.
“Products can be commoditised, but service never can, because there is always a differentiator in how you serve and how you create,” Elumelu said.
He added that as financial institutions increasingly adopt similar technologies, the way those technologies are deployed to improve customer experiences would become a critical differentiator.
“As everyone leverages technology, the differentiator becomes how that technology is used to make our customers happy,” he said.
Elumelu also expressed confidence in the new generation of UBA employees, describing them as future leaders who would play a role in the bank’s continued development.
He encouraged the graduates to maintain their passion while committing themselves to hard work, discipline and excellence throughout their careers.
UBA Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Oliver Alawuba, also congratulated the graduates and described the certificates presented to them as a commissioning rather than an end to their development.
Alawuba urged the new employees to carry UBA’s standards into their various postings and make the most of every assignment.
“You came from different countries, with different experiences and disciplines, but today you have graduated as one UBA family, united by one ambition, to build Africa’s future,” he said.
He advised the graduates not to be discouraged if their first posting was not their preferred destination, urging them instead to treat every assignment as an opportunity to demonstrate their abilities.
“No assignment is too small to reveal a great attitude, and no role is too modest for excellence,” Alawuba said.
He also challenged the young professionals to learn faster than the world changes, protect trust as their most valuable asset and turn their potential into measurable performance.
According to the bank, these expectations are linked to its core values of excellence, enterprise and execution.
The Graduate Management Accelerator Programme serves as UBA’s structured entry pathway for young graduates entering the banking industry.
The programme combines technical banking education with practical training in areas including product design, trade finance and customer experience.
Through the initiative, UBA continues to develop a pipeline of young professionals equipped to contribute to its operations across Nigeria and other African markets.
The latest graduation brings the total number of professionals who have completed the programme to more than 5,000, reinforcing its role as one of the bank’s major talent development and workforce preparation initiatives.
