Nigerian startup airline, Green Africa Airways said it has appointed Victor Banjo as its Founding Chief People Officer.
The company said in a statement that Victor is one of the most senior HR leaders in Nigeria with 20+ years of experience across FMCG, Aviation, Banking and Non-Profit sectors.
Victor most recently served as a Partner at Omari Consulting Limited where he offered business advisory, executive coaching and training facilitation to leading FMCG, Banking and Public Sector clients. Some of his clients included Sanofi Nigeria and Ghana, TSL Marine Limited and Novartis. He also conducted corporate governance and board effectiveness workshops for Institute of Directors Kenya, First Bank of Nigeria Plc subsidiaries across Africa and the National Insurance Commission.
Prior to joining Omari Consulting, Victor was the Director General / CEO of the Institute of Directors (IoD) Nigeria. In this role, he repositioned IoD Nigeria as a vibrant stakeholder in public policy engagement and developed the flagship Advanced Company Direction Program. He also led the team to evolve a new strategy that won boardroom training mandates with the Nigerian Air Force, Nigerian Navy, Bank of Industry, Infrastructure Bank, Guinness Nigeria Plc, UBA Plc and AIICO Insurance Plc.
Victor has held the Chief People Officer leadership position (or its equivalent) at Jagal Group, Oceanic Bank, Virgin Nigeria and British American Tobacco. At Jagal Group, he developed and implemented HR strategy for all Jagal companies involving career management and succession planning, performance management and competency design. He also successfully led industrial relations with Automobile Boatyards, Transport Equipment and Allied Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (AUTOBATE) and Steel and Engineering Workers Union of Nigeria (SEWUN). As the Group General Manager of HR at Oceanic Bank, Victor introduced and implemented the bank’s first structured Talent Resourcing Plan, established Oceanic Leadership Academy and successfully managed the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) and National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees (NUBIFIE).
Victor served as the Founding Executive Director of Human Resources & Corporate Services at Virgin Nigeria. In this role, Victor shaped the culture that made the new airline an employer of choice and initiated a succession strategy that fostered the development of local capacity. He developed a Pilot Cadetship Program to tackle pilot shortage in the country at the time. He also made a business case for the Engineering Internship Program with the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology to build capacity for Aircraft Engineering Maintenance Skills.
Victor launched his career in People Management with British American Tobacco (BAT), often voted as one of the best places to work in Nigeria. Victor was one of the early members of the BAT team in Nigeria and he rose through the ranks to become the Executive Director of Human Resources. In this role, he led a team that supported 1,100 employees across the group, sustained a performance-driven meritocracy in line with global best practices, served as key member of the Board Compensation Committee and enhanced the Employer of Choice profile of BAT.
Victor is a graduate of the prestigious one-year executive development program at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Nigeria.
With Victor taking on the CPO leadership role, Princesse Likayi, who has been doing an incredible work serving as our Head of Talent Management (and one-person HR team) over the last 15 months, will become Director of Recruiting & Talent Strategy reporting directly to Victor. Prior to joining Green Africa Airways, Princesse helped early-stage start-ups in education and human resources technology to develop products and services to better serve their customers. Princesse holds a bachelor’s degree in International Development of Africa and a minor in African Studies from Portland State University.
We are incredibly thrilled that Victor has joined us on this journey to shape a culture that will make the gTeam the preferred community for some of the best talents that care deeply about personal meaning, ownership and sense of purpose in their professional journeys.
