Finding Mastery: Conversations With Michael Gervais

This week’s conversation is with Herbert Wigwe, a Nigerian banker, entrepreneur, and the Managing Director/CEO of Access Bank.He is an Alumnus of Harvard Business School’s Executive Management Programme.From his early 20’s, Herbert began what would become a successful career in banking and finance, and his first entrepreneurial venture, would be his most successful.In 2002, Herbert and his long-time partner were presented with the prospect of acquiring a small-scale commercial bank, Access Bank.Herbert had spent over a decade at Guaranty Trust Bank and was in-line to becoming the Executive Director in charge of institutional banking.To have even considered such a decision of obtaining what was then ranked the 65th largest bank in Nigeria seemed like career suicide but Herbert seized the opportunity.In 2016, The Banker Database ranked Access Bank in the top 1,000 banks in the world.Today, Access Bank is one of the largest Banks in Africa, a feat which is attributable to his ingenuity and ex