On Tuesday, banking mogul, Atedo Peterside suddenly announced his resignation as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cadbury Nigeria Plc. This is coming less than three months after he also announced his sudden resignation from the board of three other blue-chip companies as director. In April, Peterside resigned his position as a director of Flour Mills Nigeria Plc, Nigerian Breweries Plc as well as Unilever Nigeria Plc. The River State-born businessman took over leadership of Cadbury’s board on 21 April 2010 after joining the company in 2009 as a director. His sudden exit this week brings to an end Peterside’s ten-year reign as the Chairman of Cadbury Nigeria board of directors.
Spotlight learnt that the billionaire investor decided to quit those four multinationals so he can focus on the running of the ANAP Foundation, a non-profit organisation that he initially set up to promote good governance in Nigeria. Sources said in the wake of the global pandemic, Peterside floated the Foundation’s COVID-19 Think Tank and it became imperative for him to personally lead the work. Peterside, an investment mover and shaker, is the founder of Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc and ANAP Business Jets Ltd. The maverick entrepreneur founded Investment Banking and Trust Company (IBTC) in February 1989 when he was just 33 years old and was the bank’s pioneer CEO —he became the youngest bank CEO in Nigeria. The CBN’s order on recapitalization led the bank to acquire and merge with two small retail banks —Chartered Bank and Regent Bank— in December 2005. Peterside, a product of London School of Economics, where he earned a master’s degree and steeled himself for the world, ran IBTC Chartered Bank for 18 years. On September 24, 2007, it merged with Stanbic Bank Nigeria to form Stanbic IBTC. With a sprinkle of luck and a mean hand Peterside has achieved a lot in his over six decades on earth. Peterside, a calculating player, was said to have split his life into three segments —first 25 years to get educated, the next 25 to be productive, gain financial independence and be well invested and the final stage is to start investing his energy into giving back to the society and see how to improve the country. This final stage is what Peterside is devoting his time now through his ANAP Foundation.