By Evelyn Usman

For the 374 young professionals who gathered at the Landmark Events Centre, Lagos, last Thursday, the completion and induction of Cohort 21 of United Bank for Africa Plc’s (UBA) Graduate Management Accelerator Programme (GMAP) was not an ending, but the beginning of their careers in the banking sector.

The ceremony marked the transition from structured learning to the demands of the workplace, where knowledge would have to translate into performance, responsibility and leadership.

GMAP, UBA’s flagship talent development programme, is designed to identify, train and develop young professionals for careers within the banking industry, while building a pipeline of future leaders for the institution.
For the latest cohort, the journey began with six weeks of intensive academic training, during which the trainees were exposed to the fundamentals of banking, professional development and leadership. This was followed by on-the-job training, allowing them to gain practical experience and apply what they had learnt in real workplace situations.
It was a deliberate progression from the classroom to the field.

And for the 374 graduates, drawn from across Africa, the significance of the programme went beyond receiving a certificate. They were stepping into an industry where the ability to make sound decisions, understand customers, work with teams and respond to changing economic and technological realities would determine how far their careers would go.

Drawn from eight African countries, the cohort comprised 223 women and 151 men. Nigeria accounted for 345 of the graduates, while 29 came from UBA’s operations in Guinea, Tanzania, Kenya, Mozambique, Uganda, Zambia and Côte d’Ivoire.

Their countries, backgrounds and experiences were different, but GMAP brought them together around one objective: preparing a new generation of professionals for an African banking industry being transformed by technology, evolving customer expectations and fierce competition.
The graduation also represented another milestone in UBA’s talent-development initiative, which has now trained more than 5,000 young professionals across the bank’s African operations.

The structured GMAP programme recorded its first graduation in 2023, when about 700 young professionals completed the programme. Its second graduation followed in 2024, with another 398 graduates.

Since then, the initiative has continued to expand, creating a pipeline of young professionals expected to take on increasing responsibilities across UBA’s operations.
But beyond the numbers, certificates and ceremony was a more fundamental question:What happens after the certificate?

Elumelu’s roadmap for the next generation

For UBA Group Chairman, Tony Elumelu, the answer goes far beyond securing a job, settling into a desk or waiting for the next promotion.

The certificate, in his telling, is a passport into a career of service, enterprise, responsibility and, ultimately, leadership.

His first message to the graduates, during an interaction with them, was about the people at the heart of banking: the customers.
Banking may be increasingly driven by artificial intelligence, digital platforms and mobile technology, but Elumelu said technology alone would not determine who wins the confidence of customers.

According to him: “Products can be commoditised, but service never can, because there is always a differentiator in how you serve and how you create.”

He added: “As everyone leverages technology, the differentiator becomes how that technology is used to make our customers happy.”

In other words, the certificate, he suggested, is only the entry point. What follows is the daily responsibility to create value.

But Elumelu’s vision for the graduates does not end with performing well at work. He urged them to see their careers as part of a much bigger assignment: contributing to the transformation of Africa.

He said: “Everything you do is not just about creating value; it is also about contributing to a bigger mission, transforming our country and making it better.”

Pointing to the realities confronting society like poverty, underdevelopment, inadequate infrastructure and limited opportunities ,he urged the young professionals not to wait for somebody else to solve them.

He said: “Your responsibility is to contribute wherever you find yourself. We all have a role to play in making society better”.

That responsibility, he suggested, should also influence how they approach enterprise, reminding them that “Enterprise is about identifying problems and creating solutions”.

When they travel and encounter successful businesses and institutions abroad, he urged them to ask a different question: why can similar solutions not be created in Africa?

“We should not always be consumers of what other countries produce. We should also create, build and export,” he admonished.
For the young professionals, therefore, the next stage after the certificate is not simply to identify problems within an organisation, but to develop the capacity to solve them.

But Elumelu was quick to add that enterprise required direction.

Responding to a question from one of the graduands on what success meant, he cautioned the graduates against pursuing careers without first deciding what they want from them.

He noted: “There are trade-offs in life. Trade-off means you take one thing in exchange for another. You let something go in order to have something else.

“The most important thing is to understand what success looks like. When people understand what success looks like, it becomes much easier to work towards it.”

Elumelu also challenged the graduates to understand that their backgrounds should not determine the heights they could attain.

“Your background should not determine how far you can go. What should matter is your ability, your performance and your productivity, not who you know, where you come from or who your parents are. Anything you do, do it well.”

“As the graduates progress through their careers, some will become leaders responsible for developing others.
Elumelu therefore warned them that leadership is not simply about occupying a higher position.

Rather, he explained that “leadership can either encourage talent or destroy it. Leaders must create an environment where people can perform at their best.”

UBA, Elumelu explained, is deliberately preparing a generation that can eventually take responsibility for the institution and, by extension, contribute to Africa’s economic future.

He urged the graduates to think beyond immediate career milestones and become professionals capable of competing on the global stage, stressing that “There is so much for us to do. What we are grooming you for is, of course, success, but we would like to see your success become global over time.”

Looking at the young professionals before him, Elumelu spoke not simply as chairman addressing new employees, but as a leader contemplating the future of the institution he has helped build.

He said: “As future leaders of UBA, people like you give me confidence that if we hand over to your generation, UBA will be safe.

“You will face challenges. There will be moments when things do not work out as you expect. But you must not give up.”

Make every posting count — Alawuba

Earlier in his remarks, UBA Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Oliver Alawuba, reinforced the message, reminding the graduates that their induction into UBA was not the conclusion of their learning journey.

Rather, he said it was the beginning of their responsibility as professionals in a pan-African institution and cautioned them against waiting for perfect conditions before giving their best.

He said: “Your first posting may not be your preferred destination, but make it your platform and give it your best.

“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.

“No assignment is too small to reveal a great attitude, and no role is too modest for excellence”, he declared.

He urged the graduates to keep learning, adapt as the world changes and regard trust as one of their most valuable assets.

The ultimate task, he said, was to transform potential into performance, anchored on UBA’s core values of Excellence, Enterprise and Execution.

Graduands speak

For members of the cohort, the significance of GMAP extended beyond the graduation ceremony.

During an Interrraction with journalists, Thomas Kaira from Zambia, said the real value of the programme would be measured by what graduates did with the lessons they acquired after returning to their respective markets.

He identified UBA’s core values of Excellence, Enterprise and Execution as some of the major lessons he intended to carry into his work.

He said: “Being here in Nigeria, it’s been a great experience. Being a GMAP is something very prestigious. It takes a lot of courage, a lot of persistence, hard work, but here we are today.”

Reflecting on what he would take back home, Kaira added: “There are things that I gained here and will be implemented when I go back home. My major takeaway, among the several knowledge gained, is particularly UBA’s values of Excellence, Enterprise and Execution.”
For Edilson Manjate of Mozambique, the programme’s diversity was particularly valuable.

Interacting with colleagues from Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and Côte d’Ivoire exposed him to the varied dynamics of different African markets, while rotations through the bank’s core departments gave him a practical grasp of UBA’s operations.

On his part, Christopher Aloyceew from Tanzania, GMAP represented something more personal: a career transition.
Having come from outside the banking industry, he described the programme as an opportunity to begin again in a new professional field.

“I’m really glad I got the opportunity to participate in the GMAP programme. It has given me the opportunity to develop my career further.

“I’m glad I made the transition from my previous career into banking because I believe UBA is one of the best institutions for promoting and developing banking careers.”
With Cohort 21 joining the UBA workforce, the hope is that the GMAP pipeline will continue to produce capable professionals and future leaders who will drive innovation, navigate emerging challenges and sustain the bank’s enviable position in Africa’s banking industry.

For UBA, every new cohort is not just a new intake, but an investment in the leadership that will shape its future.And perhaps therein lies the real meaning of the GMAP graduation.