Barcelona, 20 April – Sorigué invited Ibukun Awosika, President of the First Bank of Nigeria, to the inauguration of the lecture series “Persona y empresa” [“Person and business”] organized by the Barcelona Cercle d’Economia. She gave a lecture entitled “Ethics in New Economy”, which addressed ethics and values such as axes of brand honesty and the sustainable development of a business.
 
Ibukun Awosika is a current model of female international business leadership and a well-known public speaker. She is the founder and CEO of The Chair Centre Group and is the first woman to serve as President of the First Bank of Nigeria.
 
“The challenge in the current business world is finding a way to make businesses sustainable in the long term. The essence of your business is conveyed by your integrity. When people trust your business, they do so based on a system of values”, Awosika said during her talk, which was introduced by Marta Plana, spokesperson for the Board of Directors of the Cercle d’Economia, and Ana Vallés, President of Sorigué.
 
In her introduction of Awosika, Ana Vallés mentioned how she had met her at the previous year’s IWEC meeting in Seattle, where she gave the closing lecture. At that event, Vallés received the IWEC international prize for female business leaders, promoted by the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, and Awosika herself had previously received the award.
 
“It was an extraordinary conference that was inspiring for me and reaffirmed my belief in something that is part of the culture of the Sorigué group. I’m talking about the decision to associate ethics and values with business, which is something that is not only part of our DNA, but is also one of the pillars of our development strategy,” the President of Sorigué noted.

About Ibukun Awosika
Ibukun Awosika is the President of the First Bank of Nigeria and founder and CEO of the Nigerian business group called The Chair Centre, which specializes in the development and commercialization of security systems.
 
Awosika graduated with a degree in Chemistry from the University of Ife, Nigeria, and she has completed the IESE Global Executive MBA program in Barcelona and the Global CEO Program in Wharton, Pennsylvania, among other studies.
 
She is a member of various boards for businesses and non-profit organizations, and plays an important role as an international speaker.  She is interested in social and women’s issues and has worked on projects including House of Tara International and Afterschool Graduate Development Centre (AGDC), which promote access to work and entrepreneurship among young people in Nigeria.
 
About the “Persona y empresa” series
Ibukun Awosika’s lecture opened the “Persona y empresa” [“Person and business”] lecture series organized by the Barcelona Cercle d’Economia, an association founded in Barcelona in 1958 that seeks to contribute to improvements in the quality of public debate.
 
This current lecture series seeks to support the advancement of and reflection on social demands for women’s equality in the workplace. The initiative also relies on the collaboration of Banc Sabadell and EY.