Ecobank Ghana PLC has announced the appointment of Mrs. Abena Osei-Poku as its  substantive Managing Director and Regional Executive for the Anglophone West Africa  (AWA) Region of the Ecobank Group, effective January 1, 2024.

She takes over from Ms. Joana Mensah, who is the immediate past Acting Managing Director, a position she assumed from August 15, 2023 following the retirement of the former Managing Director, Mr Dan  Sackey.

Mrs. Abena Osei-Poku is an accomplished Pan-African business leader with over 25 years of  experience in the financial services industry.

Her expertise spans Corporate and Investment  banking, Business banking and Risk Management at the regional level.

She started her career as a private banker with First Atlantic Merchant Bank. She later joined  Standard Chartered Bank Ghana as an Assistant Relationship Manager and then became the  Credit Manager for Multinational Corporates.

She subsequently served as the Head of the  Group Special Assets Risk Management (SARM) department in Ghana from 2001 – 2002, and  thereafter took up oversight responsibility for the West Africa and Central Africa regions.

In  2005, she became the Director for Global Corporates, Wholesale Bank. After spending 10 years  at Standard Chartered Bank Ghana, she was appointed by Barclays Bank Ghana as the  Executive Director for Commercial Banking, responsible for Corporate & Business Banking.

Mrs. Abena Osei-Poku became the Co-Regional Head of Coverage, Corporate & Investment  Banking at Absa Bank Group (formerly Barclays Bank) in 2016 overseeing East and West  Africa.

She was later appointed as CEO and Managing Director of Absa Bank Ghana, a position  she held until her recent appointment by Ecobank.

She has broad board level experience, having previously sat on boards in telecommunications,  banking, commerce, and hospitality.

She is currently the Chairperson of the Advisory Board  of the College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana and the outgoing Chairperson for the  Council of the Ghana Stock Exchange.

In addition, she is an Honorary Member of the  Chartered Institute of Bankers as well as an Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Institute of  Marketing, Ghana and serves on other executive fora.

Mrs. Abena Osei-Poku holds an MBA from Manchester Business School, UK and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Statistics from the University of Ghana.