Our News

A paper authored by Lagos Business School (LBS) faculty, Dr Tayo Otubanjo won the Highly Commended Theoretical Paper Award at the Corporate Communications International Conference, held at USC Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, Los Angeles between May 20 and 23, 2019.

The 2019 Corporate Communications International Conference saw a gathering of international speakers from industry and universities who exchanged ideas and information on issues facing the corporate communication profession.

Titled ‘A Cultural Representation Model of Corporate Heritage Brand’, the paper identifies the absence of shared meanings in campaign messages used by corporate communications executives in corporate heritage brand communications.

The paper highlights the cases of First Bank’s 125th-year campaign, Union Bank’s 100th-year campaign and Citi Group’s 200 years of banking campaign, all of which possess what Dr Otubanjo describes as “chest-beating cues” that underscore the historic achievements of these corporate brands. However, it says these campaigns “carry no shared universal codes that enable effective communication between corporations and stakeholders”.

Dr Otubanjo, who teaches Marketing Management at LBS, provided a solution to this challenge by developing a cultural representation model of corporate heritage brand, not just to introduce the concept of shared meanings or universally accepted codes into the literature of corporate heritage brand management, but more importantly, to demonstrate how such an action can be pursued.

LBS faculty is made up of experienced professionals who are dedicated to shaping the practice of management across industries in Nigeria and this award lends credence to their efforts.

Lagos Business School’s Executive Education programmes have been ranked among the best in the world for the 13th consecutive year by the Financial Times (FT).

The FT Executive Education Rankings 2019 which was published on Monday, June 3, 2019, recognised Lagos Business School’s open enrolment and custom executive education programmes based on ratings provided by participants and clients, and assessments of faculty, facilities among others.

In Custom education, LBS moved 16 positions to become 48 in the world and second in Africa after Gordon Institute of Business Science, South Africa which holds the 45th position. The schools were ranked for the level of interaction between clients and school, willingness of schools to complement their faculty with external experts, relevance of skills gained to the workplace and more.

LBS has now also become the second in Africa on the Open Enrolment table where it holds the 73rd position in the world alongside top business schools such as IMD Business School, Switzerland; IESE Business School, Spain; and Stanford Graduate School of Business, United States.

Responding to the latest achievement, LBS Dean, Professor Enase Okonedo said, “We are delighted that our efforts in impacting the practice of management in Africa and addressing the unique needs of our customers have not gone unnoticed. Our commitment towards our mission of developing responsible leaders for Africa and the world is unwavering, and this recognition by the Financial Times reignites our drive”.

LBS is also the only business school in Africa to appear on the CEO Magazine annual global MBA ranking for two years in a row.

LBS custom and open enrolment programmes both offer fresh perspectives on challenging business issues and tailor bespoke interventions to develop a meaningful experience for participants.

Dr Enase Okonedo, Dean of Lagos Business School (LBS) and Dr Olayinka David-West, Academic Director, LBS have both been appointed professors by Pan-Atlantic University.

The appointments were approved on Tuesday, May 21, by the Governing Council of Pan-Atlantic University (PAU) following a recommendation by the Appointments and Promotions Committee of the University.

Prior to her appointment, Dr Okonedo taught courses in corporate financial management and financial strategy at LBS, this is in addition to her role as Dean; where she sets the strategic direction for the School and oversees its academic and administrative affairs.

With over 30 years’ experience in the financial services and management education sectors, Okonedo serves as Secretary-Treasurer of AACSB International Board of Directors and is a member of the academic advisory board of the Global Business School Network (GBSN). She is also a member of the Panel of Advisors, Africa Initiative for Governance, a member of the International Advisory Board of Porto Business School, as well as a member of the Academic Advisory Board, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford.

Okonedo is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (FCA) as well as a Fellow of the International Academy of Management (IAM). In November 2015, she became a Fellow of the Society of Corporate Governance Nigeria (SCGN) in recognition of her exemplary leadership and contributions to good governance in the Nigerian education sector.

Okonedo holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the University of Benin, Nigeria; an MBA from IESE Business School, Barcelona, and a Doctorate in Business Administration from International School of Management (ISM), Paris.

Dr David-West leads sessions in Information Systems across MBA and executive programmes at the School. She also leads the team at the School’s research and advocacy initiative, Sustainable and Inclusive Digital Financial Services (SIDFS), where she makes significant contributions towards advancing the financial inclusion discourse in Nigeria.

David-West holds a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Lagos, an MSc in Business Systems Analysis and Design from City University, London, and a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) from Manchester Business School, United Kingdom.

With over 28 years’ experience in the fintech sector, David-West combines her research and teaching interests with industry consulting engagements in the areas of digital financial services, strategic planning, Information Systems planning, IT personnel selection, IT assessment & review/due diligence, e-business, business planning, software selection & management, systems implementation, project & change Management, process improvement and systems design.

David-West is a digital financial services expert who consults regularly for the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She serves on the board of a fintech business as a non-executive director and is a governing council member of the Fintech Association of Nigeria (FTAN).

The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), on Wednesday, launched the second edition of its ‘Companies to Inspire Africa’ report, with Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University among those listed. The report was aimed at “identifying and celebrating some of Africa’s most dynamic growth businesses”.  David Schwimmer, CEO, LSEG, said “London Stock Exchange Group’s ‘Companies to Inspire Africa’ report showcases inspirational and entrepreneurial businesses from across the African continent, representing a wide variety of industries and countries.”

Of the countries represented in the report, Nigeria had the single largest representation. Nigeria and Kenya led the countries represented in the report, with 97 and 66 firms respectively.

A comprehensive searchable database of the report, along with a downloadable PDF of the publication is available at www.lseg.com/inspireafrica

The fifteenth convocation ceremony of Pan-Atlantic University (PAU) for the award of degrees and diplomas which held on Saturday, 1^st December, witnessed the graduation of her pioneer set of first degree graduands. 25 of them were awarded a B.Sc. degree in Business Administration, 19 a B.Sc. in Accounting and 25 a B.Sc. in Mass Communication. The event took place in the Honeywell Group Auditorium in the University’s Lekki Campus.

The event began with a welcome address by the Pro-Chancellor of PAU, Mr Pascal G. Dozie C.O.N. who welcomed the graduands, their guests, members of the University community and other invited dignitaries. In his speech, he remarked on the necessity of an appropriate level of investment in universities in order to ensure the desired outcome of high quality education. He noted, among other things, that in Pan-Atlantic University … “the physical infrastructure & ambience plays a critical role in student performance”.

The guest speaker, Prof. Pat Utomi, one of the very early faculty members of and members of the management team of the Lagos Business School, presented a speech titled “Does Education Matter?” Citing the works of a number of authorities on the subject such as the late Peter Drucker, Nobel laureate Angus Deaton and the Brazilian Educator Paulo Freire, he demonstrated how high quality tertiary education and research had been the most important issue underpinning the huge difference in growth between the West and Africa over the course of the last two centuries with a marked divergence in the standard of living across the 20^th Century.  He concluded by saying “I trust you will go out there as values-driven leaders confident that the world is your oyster and you can shape it. … So go out there, make impact and seek immortality”.

In between the two speakers, the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof Juan Manuel Elegido took time to highlight some of the main events and developments during the last academic session. These included, the visit to the University by Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz, the Prelate of Opus Dei, the ranking for the first time of the Lagos Business School in the Executive MBA Ranking by the Economist where it ranked as the best in Africa and 48^th globally, the achievement by the University’s accounting department of the higher of the two accreditations awarded by ICAN; this means that on graduation, students need only write 5 papers to earn the ICAN charter and the accreditation by the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) of the B.Sc. programme of the School of Media and Communication.

The convocation also witnessed the award of 4 postgraduate diplomas, 117 MBAs, 48 M.Sc. degrees in media and communication, 1 MPhil in management and 3 PhDs including the first PhD from the School of Media and Communication.