The African Leadership Magazine (ALM) has listed the Managing Director of Rokel Commercial Bank, Dr Walton Ekundayoh Gilpin, among the 25 Top Financial Leaders in Africa for 2023.
During a courtesy call at the Rokel Commercial Bank head office on Thursday 11 May 2023, Dr Walton Gilpin who emerged 17th on the list of 25 eminent personalities from across the continent, was presented with a “Certificate of Emergence” by a team from the magazine’s headquarters based in the UK.
In an official release signed by ALM’s Kingsley Okeke, they informed that “the listing is a special recognition for the outstanding contributions of Africa’s topmost finance leaders for providing the leadership and innovative policies and programmes and actions that helped stabilise many challenged national economies in Africa”.
The list of Top 25 African Finance Leaders was unveiled on 13 April during the African Finance Leaders Networking Conference held in Washington DC, USA, and on the side-lines of the Annual World Bank Group/IMF 2023 Spring Meetings.
The release also said those listed were selected and ranked through a rigorous two-step points-based selection process that included nominations by a pool of global financial experts and writers using hard evidence as well as a voting system to arrive at their final decisions of listing the 25 individuals whose contributions to the continent’s financial industry continues to impact lives.
Accepting the Certificate of Emergence, the Rokel Commercial Bank Managing Director said he was humbled and filled with pride to see a Sierra Leonean like himself being recognised by a credible outfit like the African Leadership Magazine and expressed hope that the recognition would motivate other professionals in the financial sector to work hard and bring more laurels home.
‘The successes at Rokel Commercial Bank have not come through me alone. On the back of all these achievements, there is also a dedicated team of bankers across the country. There is a Board with a clear vision, there are supervising entities with a passion for excellence and there are customers that are dependable. I am grateful to God and I feel extremely blessed to be part of a family that has completely changed the story of RCBank,’ he said. The African Leadership Magazine’s list for African Finance Leaders also included political leaders (in charge of financial portfolios) and financial experts in bi-lateral organisations and the private sector. Some notable names are the Ethiopian Minister of Finance, Ahmed Shide, Madagascar’s Minister of Finance, Rinda Rabarinirinarison, President of African Development Bank, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, and Heirs Holding Chairman, Tony O. Elumelu.