Winners announced for AABLA West Africa

26 Oct 2015

The winners of the West African regional 2015 All Africa Business Leaders Awards (AABLA) in partnership with CNBC Africa were announced at a ceremony held at the Eko Hotel & Suites, Lagos on 22 October.

Now, the West African winners will go on to contend other regional winners from Southern and East Africa to determine Africa's most respected business leader at the All Africa AABLA Grande Finale, to take place on 13 November at the Sandton Convention Centre.

The evening commenced with awarding the Young Business Leader of the Year - West Africa Presented by Lancaster University Ghana, to Nteff Alain, Co-founder of The Gifted Mom. Ahonsi Unuigbe, Chief Executive of Petralon Energy Nigeria and Yetunde A. Odugbesan, CEO of Yetunde Global Consulting were also notable finalists.

Obinna Ekezie, Founder of Wakanow.com walked away as Entrepreneur of the Year - West Africa Presented by Sea Harvest, for his work in the online space, contending fellow finalists Paul Orajiaka, CEO of Auldon Limited and Swaady Martin-Leke, Founder and CEO of YSWARA Luxe.

The Business Leader of the Year - West Africa Presented by Bosch saw three seasoned businessmen competing for the notable title, which was ultimately awarded to Segun Agbaje, Managing Director of GTBank. Agbaje was nominated in this category alongside Issam Darwish, CEO of IHS Holding Ltd. and John Bonoh Sisay, CEO of Sierra Rutile.

The title of Business Woman of the Year - West Africa went to Adepeju Adebajo, Managing Director of WAPCO Operations, Lafarge Africa Plc.. She competed against Adenike Ogunlesi, Founder of Ruff 'N' Tumble, Dr. Leticia Osafo Addo, CEO of Samba Foods and Nimi Akinkugbe, CEO of Bestman Games Ltd.

Fred Swaniker, Founder of the African Leadership Academy received the newly added Philanthropist of the Year - West Africa. Swaniker was nominated alongside Patrick Awuah Jr, Founder and President of Ashesi University.

Aliko Dangote, Chairman and CEO of the Dangote Group became the first in AABLA history to be named Industrialist of the Year for West Africa Presented by EcoBank. In 2011, Dangote won Africa Business Leader of the Year and Africa Entrepreneur of the Year at the inaugural AABLA.

The highlight of the evening was the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award for West Africa in association with IHS, awarded to H.R.H. Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, for his contribution to Nigeria's economy through his long and notable career in the banking and financial sector.

For more information, go to www.aablawards.com and follow the 2015 All Africa Business Leaders Awards (AABLA) in Partnership with CNBC Africa on Twitter: @aablawards

The AABLA are produced by ABN Productions.