Jeremy Awori, group chief executive officer of Ecobank, arguably the continent’s most “pan-African” financial institution, has a striking metaphor to describe the bank’s growth trajectory. “We’re trying to build a hundred-storey skyscraper,” he says. Three years into his tenure, Awori recalls the challenge he had at the outset. “I was tasked to drive up growth and to drive up returns for the shareholders.
“We focused very much around where we were not growing. We were not growing in the areas of deposits. Customer numbers weren’t moving to the trajectory that we wanted. The returns, as a result, weren’t necessarily coming through. We had a very deliberate strategy around growth, transformation and returns. We try to keep it as simple as we can keep it, but no simpler.”
And how is that 100-storey construction job progressing? The scoreboard shows that the “growth, transformation and returns” strategy is paying off, as Awori is happy to point out. “Our balance sheet grew from $20bn to $25bn. Our revenue grew 17%. Our interest margins increased. We’ve seen our market cap shooting up. We’re very proud of the fact that we’ve moved from low single digits to 17% for 2025 for revenue. Now it’s actually 23% in quarter one. Of course, the income ratio moved from 53% in 2024 to 48%.”
