By Kayode Ogunwale

FirstHoldCo Group had a great outing at the Nairametrics Capital Market Choice Awards ceremony which was held last Friday at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos. The harvest of awards started with the Group Chairman of the Holding Company, Mr. Femi Otedola, CON, blazing the trail by being honoured with the prestigious award as the Activist investor and Market Maker of the Year. This indeed is the recognition of the role he has been playing in the Nigerian Capital market and his various strategic moves which has impacted the market positively in over two decades.

FirstHoldCo, FirstBank and First Asset Management also received important awards at the prestigious event organized by Nairametrics. During the evening, First HoldCo Plc received the award as the Tier-One Bank of the Year (FUGAZ Bank of the Year), while FirstBank predictably won the Agency Bank of the Year award which is a true reflection of the relevance, spread, strength and strategy of the bank in the agency banking and retail space in Nigeria.

First Asset Management won the Fund Manager of the Year award; this clearly reflects the dominance of the company in the investment related activities in the Nigerian financial sector.

These awards indeed signify a remarkable reality at the growing status of the First HoldCo Group as a major economic driver in the country’s financial landscape.

Speaking on these unprecedented recognition and achievements, Femi Otedola, CON, the Group Chairman of First HoldCo Plc, said ‘I am delighted at this recognition bestowed on me and the awards won by the companies in the First HoldCo Group. This attests to a collective focus in shaping the future of the Nigerian Capital Market and the strategic synergy in executing effective goals and objectives in the various locations where we operate as a Group’’.
Adding further to these achievements, the Group Managing Director of First HoldCo Plc. Wale Oyedeji said “the awards won, shows the laudable progression the Group is making towards delivering excellent service across board, this indeed will continue unabated’’ Wale also used the occasion to congratulate the Group Chairman and commented on the recognition as ‘hugely deserved’.

Ugo Obi-Chukwu, the Founder/CEO of Nairametrics, reflected in his opening remarks at the occasion on the vision behind the inaugural award, he said ‘the Capital Market Choice Awards is our way of reinforcing the values that drives a robust capital ecosystem-trust, performance and progress’’ adding further ‘’ this awards will now be a tradition’’

Nairametrics is a media outfit that provides access to macroeconomic data, corporate finance data, consumer price data, and pricing analytics. The organization has a podcast, radio programme and also have a television show known as marketpulse. The awards is the first in the series.