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Banking Amazons: Between Adaora Umeoji and Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe
![Banking Amazons: Between Adaora Umeoji and Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe](https://global.ariseplay.com/amg/www.thisdaylive.com/uploads/861fb2a5-bukola-odeleye.jpeg)
Powerful people are similar. Every powerless person is so in their own way. Maybe this is how Russian writer Leo Tolstoy should have started his popular novel, ‘Anna Karenina’. That novel also had some women who claimed the limelight for their own amusement and with their own skill. Such is the case with Nigeria’s corporate Amazons: Adaora Umeoji of Zenith Bank and Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe of Fidelity Bank.
When comparing the two women, one can only conclude that corporate women are in no way lesser than their male counterparts. This is especially the case when they refuse to go along with the monorail of mediocrity. For both Umeoji and Onyeali-Ikpe, the main competition is no longer other people. Instead, at the level they are at now, they can only compete with and surpass themselves.
Apart from their names and physical characteristics, the biggest difference between Umeoji and Onyeali-Ikpe is that the latter is the MD/CEO of Fidelity Bank while the former is the Deputy MD of Zenith Bank. But these titles might as well turn to smoke since both of them are really at the apex of decision-making at their respective banks. In other words, Umeoji’s seemingly subordinate position is not subordinate at all. Instead, as reports claim, the woman’s influence far outweighs the influence of some of the higher-ranked officials at Zenith Bank.
Sheer grit, the brilliance of mind, and the vastness of networks and alliances are the defining factors of Umeoji and Onyeali-Ikpe. Both of them have more than two decades of banking experience under their belts and have vested interests in the sustainable development of Anambra State.
Maybe it is the glittering chain of sterling educational qualifications or the determined profile of their corporate selves, but Umeoji and Onyeali-Ikpe cut the image of true Amazonian paragons with the banking industry as their satchels.