GTCO
Elegbede Abiodun
The Group Chief Executive Officer of Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), Segun Agbaje, has been declared winner of the 2025 Banking Pioneer Award by the Texcellence Conference Awards.
The awards platform organised by CWG PLC is organized as the definitive gathering for Africa’s technology leaders and an enterprise community that sets the agenda for the continent’s technological transformation.
The Chairman, CWG Plc, Phillip Obioha, noted that the Texcellence Awards were established to recognise leaders and institutions that are actively shaping Africa’s digital competitiveness through deliberate infrastructure development, innovation, and cross-sector collaboration.
He said the awards spotlighted organisations and executives whose work strengthens the foundational systems that enable secure platforms, scalable enterprise, financial inclusion, and national productivity.
“Rather than celebrating technology adoption alone, Texcellence 4.0 honoured those building the rails, the broadband networks, financial systems, interoperable platforms, and trusted digital ecosystems that position Africa to compete confidently on a global stage,” Obioha noted.
Highlighting the criteria for the selection of the Banking Pioneer Award, Obioha said it celebrates visionary leaders, founders or architects of a banking institution who has fundamentally reshaped Nigeria’s financial services landscape and elevated Africa’s position in global banking.
According to him, this award recognises individuals who possess the courage to imagine a different future for banking—and the tenacity to bring that vision to life against all odds”.
Speaking about the winner, the awards organisers noted that for nearly three decades, Segun Agbaje has been the architect of one of African banking’s most remarkable success stories.
The organisers said Agbaje envisioned a technology-led institution that could compete with the best in the world and then built it.
According to the organisers, under Agbaje’s leadership, GTBank pioneered and popularised the USSD banking revolution in Nigeria with a short code that brought financial services to millions.
