Leaving the Tarmac: Buying a Bank in Africa by Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede is the perfect book for articulating Nigerian entrepreneurship. There are only a few books by Nigerian entrepreneurs, Nigerian financial markets players, and even Nigerians in the public sector - the most recent release prior to Imoukhuede’s,
Africa Rise and Shine: How a Nigerian Entrepreneur from Humble Beginnings Grew a Business to $16 Billion by Jim Ovia, which I also read, was incredibly tepid and vaguely written. So, I am really thankful for the quality replete in this book.
Leaving the Tarmac: Buying a Bank in Africa is Aigboje's tale of how he and Herbert Wigwe (Access Bank PLC's current MD/CEO) bought a small bank nearing liquidation in March 2002 and turned it around into one of the
20 biggest and most profitable banks in Africa, as well as the second biggest bank in
West Africa by the end of 2022. It starts off by highlighting the paternalism and godfatherism that mired Nigeria's first retail banking boom in the late 1980s and the early 1990s. The introductory pages highlight how much of a role both Citibank and Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) played in the story of the newly acquired Access Bank - both Aigboje and Herbert were directors at GTB prior to their shock acquisition of Access Bank as mid-30-year-olds, while Aigboje was a short-term Citibank alum - the late Tayo Aderinokun and the sagacious Fola Adeola, both founders of GTB, are fondly mentioned. Additionally, the book praises the incredibly underrated and much maligned Joseph Sanusi, Nigeria’s central bank governor from 1999 to 2004, for playing an important role in the emergence of Nigeria’s second retail banking boom. Throughout the book, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede skillfully interweaves excerpts from Seth Apati’s mid-70s Nigerian finance thriller,
The Nigerian Banking Sector Reforms, making the book an interesting read for Nigerian finance nerds. In the book, Aigboje emphasizes their revolutionary approach towards value chain optimization as the key factor towards Access Bank’s meteoric rise in the high-flying 2010s of Nigeria’s modern history - particularly, Access Bank introducing a smart way for Nigerians to purchase airtime through non-visible but effective dealers enabled by Access Bank’s bespoke merchant credit system, thus becoming a vital partner to MTN Nigeria, is an anecdote of note. It is through this approach, Aigboje insists, turned Access Bank into the key bank for Nigeria’s Telecoms and Cement industry - Aliko Dangote is praised for trusting Access Bank early on, post-take over. Nary a wonder why Herbert Wigwe was in that famous
‘gelato’ video with Aliko and his bosom friend, Femi Otedola…a similar occurrence in the flurry of the Dangote Oil refinery inspection videos replete on the internet. A key takeaway from the book is Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede’s honesty and transparency in noting his failures in the journey to building Access Bank into a tier 1 African bank - Access Bank’s expansion failures in Ivory Coast, and the asset bust in Nigeria’s financial sector of 2009 that nearly dented the Bank’s balance sheet are notable anecdotes. Overall,
Leaving the Tarmac: Buying a Bank in Africa is a refreshingly honest and inspiring story of the doggedness, innovation, and relentlessness needed to succeed in Nigeria’s harsh business environment as an entrepreneur. It is also the best book that I have read about Nigeria in the past 12 months, and I have read aplenty, trust me.