Lazarus Angbazo, the President and CEO of GE Nigeria has been elected president of the American Business Council (ABC) in Nigeria.
The American Business Council was set up with the core objective of promoting the development of commerce and investments between the United States of America and the Federal Republic of Nigeria while also providing a forum in which American business executives in Nigeria and other business executives with American interests may identify, discuss, and pursue common interests affecting their activities.
The ABC was conceived as more of a “think tank” rather than the duplication of the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce (NACC) with which it has a synergistic relationship with the President of NACC invited to all ABC functions and activities, including Board meetings.
Membership of the ABC includes but is not limited to Coca Cola, IBM, Schlumbeger, NCR, Pepsi, KPMG, Capital Alliance, Dubri Oil, Mobil, Procter and Gamble, Intel, Motorola and many others.
The ABC has since its inception in February, 2007, focused on 3 broad areas where it hopes its impact would be felt in the medium and long term development of Nigeria and they include Education, Infrastructure and Institution Building.
Lazarus Angbazo’s election thus fits perfectly into the over-all aim of the council since GE is in the forefront of helping to rehabilitate Nigeria’s infrastructure from oil and gas to health and power amongst others.
Speaking on his election, Lazarus Angbazo said “It is an honour to have been elected by my peers to serve. The focus of the ABC, aside from promoting business between the US and Nigeria, remains to aid Nigeria’s development in Education, Infrastructure and Institution Building. These are areas where GE has unique expertise and I will work with members of the board as well as of the standing committees to make this happen.” Dr Angbazo takes over from Dick Kramer who has led the American Business Council since its inception in 2007.
Lazarus was born in Nigeria, and graduated with a First Class Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the Ahmadu Bello University. He then earned a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering & Operations Research from The University of Iowa, as well as a Ph.D. in Corporate Finance from New York University.
As President and CEO of GE Nigeria, Lazarus Angbazo is responsible for developing and expanding the growth of GE’s businesses and functions in Nigeria. Lazarus was appointed the President and CEO, GE West, East and Central Africa in October, 2008. His responsibility was expanded to include Commercial Growth Leader for the Africa Region in May 2011.
Lazarus joined GE in 2004 and held several leadership positions within the GE Capital business in the U.S. From 1997 to 2004, he worked for JP Morgan Chase, New York, where he held senior positions in corporate mergers and acquisitions, strategic planning, and credit portfolio management. Between 1992 and 1997, he was Assistant Professor of Finance at Purdue University, and also served as Research Director at Fannie Mae in 1996.
