EXCLUSIVE: The Man With The Midas Touch, Dr. Olufemi Bakre, MD/CEO Parallex Bank, Tells His Story Of Grass To Grace
The name Dr. Olufemi Bakre needs no introduction. In the banking sector right now, he is the man everyone is talking about. His exploits as a banker have been nothing short of phenomenal. Presently, as the MD/CEO of Parallex Bank, Olufemi Bakre has recorded astonishing results, turning the fortunes of Parallex Bank around in just five years at the helm of affairs. Little wonder why the board passed a vote of confidence on him and handed him a tenure extension after his initial tenure elapsed. His new tenure has commenced this May.
But beyond being an accomplished and fantastic banker, another side of Dr. Olufemi Bakre that has endeared him to a lot of people is his humility. You just possibly cannot miss that about him. Despite his status and humongous achievements, the man has remained unbelievably humble, relating to people with absolutely no chips on his shoulder.
The other part of him that has impressed many is his intense passion for impacting lives and supporting young people. Apart from those who have closely followed the trajectory of this remarkable gentleman, not too many know his story. Not too many know that he had a pretty difficult start in life. At a point, he hawked on the streets to support his family and keep body and soul together. Like many other young Nigerians at the time, he had a future that appeared uncertain, a future that looked extremely gloomy. But the difference between Olufemi Bakre and some of the other youth at the time was that, he never gave up on himself. He held tenaciously on to his dreams and kept trudging on. His unshakable belief in himself and his capabilities kept his hope alive.
Today, he is not just a banker, but an accomplished one who has reached the very pinnacle of his career. He has emerged as one of Nigeria’s brightest exports in the banking industry. Call him the whizz kid of the banking industry today and you can’t be wrong. This explains why he has been scooping up awards from notable organisations including the Sun Awards as Banker of the Year and City People Banker of the Year award.
Let’s tell you a bit more about this brilliant gentleman. Dr. Olufemi Nojeemdeen Bakre is a highly accomplished professional with a distinguished career spanning over 35 years in the banking industry. He is a visionary leader with extensive experience across various aspects of banking, including multilateral business, financial institutions (both local and international), the public sector, as well as corporate, commercial, SME, and retail banking.Dr. Bakre’s tenure as the pioneer MD/CEO of Parallex Bank began in May 2020 and has been renewed for another five (5) years, effective May 2025.
He is instrumental in transforming Parallex Bank into a forward-thinking institution that prioritizes innovation and exceptional customer experience. His commitment to excellence, combined with his strategic vision and wealth of experience, has positioned the bank for sustainable growth. Under his leadership, Parallex Bank became profitable in less than three years of operation as a commercial bank, surpassing expert projections. The bank has received numerous recognitions and continues to demonstrate a strong and sustainable growth trajectory. Dr Bakre began his banking career at MBC International Bank, where he rose to the position of General Manager.
Following MBC’s acquisition by First Bank of Nigeria in 2006, he became the Group Head of Multilateral, Financial Institutions, and Global Custody. During this time, he spearheaded several initiatives, including the establishment of First Bank of Nigeria’s China Representative Office, among other award-winning achievements.In 2011, he joined First City Monument Bank (FCMB) as the Executive Director in charge of Institutional Banking (Public Sector, Financial Institutions & Multilateral Business), where he was responsible for business development and strengthening the institutional banking sector across Nigeria.
Dr. Olufemi Bakre, MD/CEO Parallex Bank
In a way that you can, from the comfort of your house or office, transact your businesses without even knowing where we are located.
A lot has gone into this in terms of investments and we can say comfortably that the end is justifying the means. And one other thing that is very key, in life, both in personal and official level, the word discipline. If you are not a disciplined person, you can hardly get to that execution level that can transform your past, your ugly past, your slow past, to a greater today. The word discipline is very key in everything that we do. So far so good, I strongly believe that this is just the starting point. We are highly encouraged. Not only by our customers alone, I must also take the opportunity to appreciate the stakeholders of the bank for believing in me because if anything at all, the tenure renewal came as a surprise. I thought that I had done enough by moving the bank from ground zero to a certain level for somebody else to continue. But within the bracket of their wisdom, they said that I’ve not finished yet, that its not time for me to go, that I should continue. And if there’s anything at all, it is my determination to ensure that I surpass expectations.
If I have my way, sir, there’s still a whole lot more I would love to discuss with you. You have this depth of knowledge, of wisdom in you that there’s so much to tap from. I hope that you find time to bring young people together under one roof and mentor them because there’s a lot more beyond banking in you. You could impact lives, you could change lives, particularly that of the young people. So I’m just hoping, this is just off the cuff, I’m just hoping that you have the time once in a while to put together programmes where young people gather and you speak to them.
You can even make it, you said off cuff, you can make it on cuff for obvious reasons. That is what I enjoy doing most. And to God be the glory, despite my modest achievement in the industry, I’ve been able to build a generation that has surpassed my feat as I speak because I’ve been able to bring up somebody that owns a bank today. And I’ve been able to tutor from ground level, some executive directors in the banking industry today, and they are doing great. So if I take that one into consideration, I can’t do less. Even by the time that I retire, I will retire into that world of counseling, mentoring, and supporting my generation.
What shaped you while growing up? What molded you into becoming who you are today, that’s my final question? With all of your humongous achievements you still come across as simple, humble, and as one always willing to impact people’s lives? What has kept you grounded, kept you focused, kept you simple?
Thank you so much. I will say that my background played a big part. It will shock you that in my entire generation, both father and mother side, I was the first person to kiss the four walls of the university from time immemorial. I was resolute and I was determined that the poverty circle that surrounded my family must be broken. In addition to that, I was determined to break the chain.Today, by virtue of that audacious move, the last born of my family today is a medical doctor because, you can liken it to Mungo Park that discovered River Niger. Certainly, he paid the price. So I decided to pay the price so that the upcoming generation can have something to look up to and so far so good, there’s no regrets. And in addition to that too, guess what? Many people are born with great potentials.They are born with talent. They are born with whatever it takes to get to the zenith. The only barrier is that majority of them don’t have that encouragement. They don’t have many that they can look up to. They don’t have that right path to secure inspiration, either physically or spiritually. People like us, taking our background into consideration, we cannot do less than to fill that gap. And that’s the more reason why it’s not only about when people are gathered for me to talk to them, I do that very often and a lot.
And also being called on to do that.It is natural to my humble self because the more of you that you can build, the better for the society and the larger opportunity for this country.
This country has enormous human resources, the only thing is to ensure that we give them the right path to take. There’s no body that is born without it. Ability to harness it is the barrier and if you can fill the gap, please fill it.
