CNBC Africa has nominated the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Background Check International (BCI), Mr. Kola Olugbodi, for the All Africa Business Leaders Awards (AABLA).
AABLA, which is in its 7th edition is organised in partnership with CNBC Africa, honouring remarkable leadership and salutes game changers of business on the continent for their continuing commitment to excellence, developing best practices and innovative strategies.
CNBC Africa says it is proud to continue the tradition established by the awards that define and celebrate vision, the spirit of achievement and excellence in business leadership in Africa.
Olugbodi is one of the four nominees in the ‘Entrepreneur of the Year for West Africa’ award category. The nomination is in recognition of his immense contribution to the background check industry, which he pioneered in Nigeria and has also been spearheading its growth across West Africa.
Having founded Nigeria’s first background screening firm, BCI in 2005, Olugbodi has gone ahead to build a formidable company with a strong nationwide and continental coverage, and with an untarnished reputation of helping multinationals and SMEs curb employment and business fraud.
His nomination is all the more remarkable when one considers the difficulties he surmounted as a survivor of polio, a crippling disease, which he had when he was two years old and had lived with it for over 50 years of his life.
“I felt I could not do what everybody else was doing. I felt I was limited, even in terms of the courses I could do in school and the places I could work. But through resilience, hard work and strong faith in God, I have, in the last 12 years, carved a niche for myself in the business world as Africa’s leading background check expert,” Olugbodi said.
He described his nomination as a great achievement, considering the numerous and outstanding entrepreneurs across West Africa that were also screened for the award but who did not make the final list.
He believes that this feat could only have been made possible by the immense support of BCI’s teeming clients and the unflinching loyalty and hard work of the BCI staff, management and board
The winner of the ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ Award for West Africa would emerge at the 7th AABLA that will hold on October 20, 2017 at the Eko Hotel & Suites, while the overall winner of the ‘Africa Entrepreneur of Year’ Award would be announced at the AABLA grand finale awards ceremony at the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa, on November 30, 2017.
