The Group Chief Executive of Databank, Mr Keli Gadzekpo, will leave his position at the end of May this year to take up a new role at Enterprise Group, a listed company.
While Mr Gadzekpo leaves to become the Chief Executive of the listed insurance group, he would be replaced by Mr Kojo Addae-Mensah, currently the Chief Operations Manager of Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), management of the investment bankers said in Accra yesterday.
The departure of the Databank Group CEO marks a critical stage in the investment banking group’s life cycle, coming barely two years after the resignation of its Executive Chairman and co-founder, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta.
Although Mr Gadzekpo, a co-founder, will remain a member of the Databank group’s board still chaired by the other co-founder, Mr Ofori-Atta, it fulfils the long-held dream of owners of the company to step aside at some point and allow a younger generation to be at the helm of affairs.
“We have always been transparent about the future of the company and the restructuring. We explained our intentions about five years ago to leave the leadership of the company to a new and younger generation and this is where we have reached now,” Mr Gadzekpo said in Accra yesterday when the company held a press conference to announce the new changes.
He added that the incoming CEO possessed all the qualities that the firm required to continue its sterling performance and take a bigger share of the managed funds industry.
“In Kojo Addae-Mensah, we have found all of the characteristics that we identified in our CEO succession planning to ensure Databank has the right leadership as it moves into a new phase,” the outgoing group CEO said.
For his part, Mr Ofori-Atta said the incoming CEO was home-grown talent with unmatched professional pedigree, who shared in the leadership values of the Databank Group.
“Although just 43, he already has invaluable experience of working as chief operating officer at one of the country’s largest banks. Kojo represents a belief in the capacity of the new generation of Ghanaians to surpass our legacy and a bold step to reinvigorate the future,” Mr Ofori-Atta stated.
Mr Addae-Mensah worked at Databank before moving on to Standard Chartered, Barclays Bank and GCB.
Databank, which was established in 1990, provides services such as corporate finance and advisory, stock brokerage, fund management and research services.
The company currently controls about 65 per cent market share of the mutual funds market and over 10 per cent in total managed funds in the country.