Accra, Ghana, October 29, 2020//-Mrs Genevieve Pearl Duncan Obuobi who just recently defended her doctoral dissertation, is one of the shining stars of Ghana’s competitive banking sector.
She has over 15 years working experience spanning from two different banks at the age of 40. But her expertise, advice and wisdom are always sought-after by both the young and the elderly in the sector and beyond.
Surprised by these sterling attributes, African Eye Report contacted her for an interview into her life, skills, experience, education, among others, which she gladly honoured.
The journey
Mrs Duncan Obuobi said she really wanted to become a pediatrician when she was growing up. In that regard she studied science at the Aggrey Memorial Senior High School in Cape Coast in the central regional capital, hoping that she could further her science passion in becoming a medical doctor.
However, in Mrs Duncan Obuobi’s words: “My dad was a banker and so that was not a bad vocation in my view, so as I couldn’t end up becoming a Dr as I desired, I opted for business administration and eventually I got employed as a banking staff (Contract staff) in 2004 at GCB (Treasury Back Office) where my banking career all began”.
She is a strong believer of positive impact and excellence in all things she does, so she just decides to give off her very best as her love for service excellence resonates with the banking industry.
Mrs Duncan Obuobi said: “Then in 2009 when I got employed at Fidelity Bank Ghana, and I experienced the retail banking space, my love for banking grew stronger and since then I have loved my career path even more”.
I have gone through the ranks, starting as a relationship officer, then a Relationship Manager and rose to become a Branch Manager in 2012, three years after joining the bank”.
Mrs Duncan Obuobi further honed her skills in other areas including being a certified Tony Robbins and Dean Graziosi Knowledge broker, and a Relationship coach.
Motivation
The professional banker who is also a trained SME consultant is motivated to stand out, serve passionately and put a smile on the faces of others.
The banking sector which is a subset of the service industry resonates with her value of service excellence. As Mrs Duncan Obuobi puts it, she just loves to offer her service to the benefit of both the organization and the customer.
She has gotten this far because of her love for what she does: She is always ready to give off her very best in terms of service delivery to customers, very intentional about building customer trust, being consistent, diligent , a bit unconventional and thinking beyond the box.
Mrs Duncan Obuobi thinks an enabling environment helps one bring out the best in him/her so her organization; Fidelity Bank Ghana has been a great environment in getting her here.
She added: “I am passionate about the banking environment because it resonates with my core values especially service excellence, and the fact that I am passionate about financial empowerment of people especially women.
I get the opportunity to advise, coach and help women manage their wealth better and get them the financial advice they need to also ensure that their businesses grow sustainably”.
“As a manager, you are not just responsible for the profitability of your business unit as a part of the Bank, but the growth and development of the customer’s business/wealth, your team, and satisfactory service delivery”, Mrs Duncan Obuobi told African Eye Report during the interview.
Challenges
When asked how challenging her role is, she gladly stated: “The role has been challenging as you need to be able to identify each team member’s strength/weakness and play to the their strengths in achieving your overall objective, also being able to get your team to believe in you and themselves to pull efforts together and get required results to be profitable , and also progress in terms of their career path and personal development”.
Also having different team members joining in your already established team and having to re-echo the vision and imbibe your values into these new team members as they may have joined with very different values..so the need to get the fit into your culture bit almost always when you get new members ….the whole cycle of team building starts again..”
Another challenge has been mastering the skill of being more of a leader than just a manager; thus being the visionary, inspirer and influencer to get the team members to feel empowered and get the job done and understand that they are an important link of your chain.
“Finally my greatest challenge, I will say, is because I stand for service excellence, ensuring that my team delivers the best has not been an easy task.
However in all these challenges, determination, commitment, resilience and pursuit of excellence have helped her to overcome.
What next after Doctoral Study?
“I will be done with my Doctoral studies by the end of this year God willing.
After that, I will still be in my industry, may be a different and more challenging role and will continue to do consulting work in the areas of personal development and coaching, helping SMEs with their systems and structure and Customer Relationship Management enhanced with advisory and capacity building service especially in the banking industry”.
Legacy
She wants to leave behind a legacy of striving to exceed customer’s expectations;- excellence in service delivery and a strong proponent of a shift in the mindset of women in attaining the best in their career and all other passions regardless of obstacles.
Mrs Duncan Obuobi also wants to be noted for being unconventional and more agile towards the adoption of a more holistic Customer Relationship Management model especially for SME clients in the delivery of banking services.
Advice
She used the opportunity to advise the youth to stay focused, and be committed towards their goals and dreams, exhorting them that success is a journey so short-cuts to success is never an option.
Also, to her fellow women, she said that “Leadership has no gender” so women should be intentional about their personal /career and family goals ,but also allow their God given potentials to fully materialize so they can serve communities, nations and the world as great influencers.
And above all they should always be the difference and be the change they seek, she added.
“My final words are just believe in yourself no matter the challenges you meet on your journey. Stay positive always and stay true to yourself. Never forget the God factor because ….just your hard work and efforts won’t sustain you even when you get to the top, my personal view”.
Education
Mrs Duncan Obuobi whose maiden authored book-‘The Jigsaw Effect of Leaders’ was recently published on Amazon and yet to be launched physically in Ghana, is a doctoral student at Swiss Business School.
She holds an EMBA from the University of Ghana and a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from GIMPA
Mrs Duncan Obuobi is also management certified by Harvard Business School, USA; Cranfield Management Institute, UK and China Europe International Business School, (CEIBS), China.
Fellowships
Mrs Duncan Obuobi is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Leadership and Governance, New Mexico USA, and an associate member of the Retail Banking Academy, UK and the Chartered Institute of Bankers,Ghana.
Awards
She has received several awards including the prestigious Chartered Institute of Leadership and Governance (CILG) Ghana personality of the year 2019.
The award was bestowed on her for her community work, knowledge sharing and leadership drive to impact others. She was also the winner of the 2018 prestigious CEIBS Alumni Excellence award.
Mrs Duncan Obuobi who stands for healthy values; integrity, consistency and service excellence, is a proud mother, wife and a career woman.
She is very passionate about financial empowerment of women, personal development of individuals, small and medium scale business systems & structure development and youth leadership mindset shift.
Mrs Duncan Obuobi loves travelling, reading and spending quality time with her loved ones.
By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, African Eye Report
