Charles Oben Email & Phone Number

Nigeria

Lagos

Founder and lead consultant at Bizxcelence Consulting; a start-up HR and Management consulting company providing Human Resources solutions to global clients - Using deep industry experience and service capabilities to assist clients in improving their most precious asset – their peopleKey Responsibilities• Identifying business opportunities for interventions by engaging with CEO’s and business owners• Identifying business expansion opportunities • Creating sales and marketing strategies to win businesses• Creating and delivering presentations to win business• Engaging with CEO’s providing strategic tips and guidance on how to gain competitive edge through managing their human capital• HR Audit of clients to spot gaps and address areas of weaknesses• Expanding business contact list by attending conferences and constant networking• Responsibility to position and grow the Bizxcelence brand Key Achievements• Developed a compensation strategy in the financial services industry for a group of companies under a HoldCo structure that aligns with business reality to attract and retain the right talent• Set up a retail bank as part of the company’s growth and expansion strategy. Hired over 50 employees within a period of 3 months. Impact of this was the ability to be operational 4 months ahead of schedule. • Set up an HR Department for a dredging company in the process of growth & expansion with a total workforce of over 100 employees• Handled the right sizing or staff rationalization for a retail bank post M&A. Developing a process to identify the employees to exit. Total number of exited staff was 131• Developed and implemented a learning curriculum for an indigenous oil company in Nigeria. The program involved delivering blended learning & action learning programs to over 30 mid to senior leaders over the period of one year

Working Across Africa

Our focus is to contribute, champion, lead the emergence of global brands from Africa. We do this by Igniting performance excellence across organizations in Africa

Working as Head of Human Resources and Administration for a boutique investment house; reporting to CEO. Responsible for cost effective management of Human Capital as well as strategic and operational HR support towards developing the smooth and profitable operation of the company.Key Responsibilities • Overall responsibility for providing direction, leadership and the management of the firm’s strategic human capital• Responsibility for developing HR strategy & policy, putting necessary processes & procedures in place for implementation and monitoring• Handling the cultural/change management issues associated with bringing in new employees from an acquired entity, through an M&A• Developing an Employee Value Proposition to support resourcing strategy • Identifying opportunities for process improvement in the management of the firm’s multiple office operations

Lagos, Nigeria

Providing HR consultancy and training support to clients in different industries. The role involved developing Audit framework as well as Learning & Development programs.Key Responsibilities • Providing HR Consultancy and training support to clients in the oil & gas & financial services industries• Developing an HR Audit framework for a Nigerian based telecoms company expanding into the West African Region• Providing consultancy services to a construction company towards developing their 2011 Learning & Development program to support business growth and expansion targets• Designing, facilitating & delivering an Intercultural Awareness Program for a multi-national oil company

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

A UBA Subsidiary. Reporting line to CEO with dotted line to Group HR Director. • Developing and implementing the strategic HR plan post M&A to support growth aspirations taking into account the changing business landscape. Key to successfully delivering the HR strategy was the criticality to maintain communication interfaces and vibrant business relationships with respective Heads and HR Business partners. Also responsible for the interpretation and integration of Group HR policy into the local environment taking into account local sensitivities, culture and heritage of the acquired entity as well as the peculiarities of French labour laws.Key Achievements:- Provided HR leadership & direction to UBA operations in the Republic of Benin, another brown field/mature business acquired as part of its Africa expansion strategy. - Effectively handled the range of Human Capital & transformational issues arising from an M&A. These included but not limited to compensation, job evaluations, policies & procedures, culture & affiliation amongst others. Managed the complexities and challenges arising from the integration process whilst ensuring business continuity & protecting the UBA brand & franchise. - Developed a comprehensive 2010 training plan as part of our retention strategy with a budget of USD 530K and managed an annual payroll of USD 1.2M - Enhanced & provided a more cost effective medical insurance scheme for staff & their families through contract discussions with service provider. Budget allocated for this scheme was USD 670k, a 30% reduction over previous year's budget.- Secured management's approval to develop Burkina Faso as a learning academy for Francophone Africa.

Lagos, Nigeria

Successful in delivering standardized HR solutions to the different businesses which involved compensation, talent management, learning and development. Providing strategic value and supporting HR automation process.Worked in conjunction with the CEO, UBA Capital to deliver the business plan which ambitiously aimed to deliver $200MM revenues by 2010. UBA Capital comprises 6 subsidiary companies each with an MD reporting to the CEO.- Strategy for operationalising this was through the development of strong working relationships with each of the MD's as well as working closely with each of the HR Business Partner's to deliver the plan to the business.- Worked with respective MD's & HR Business Partners to deliver fit for purpose HR solutions to the businesses. Whilst these companies were under a Holding Company, they were separate businesses with different industry practices in areas of compensation, talent management, learning & development etc. The challenge was to deliver standardized HR solutions through these differences.- Provided strategic value adding consultancy support to the HR automation process & other HR "back office" processes identified for streamlining with objective of reducing costs & enhancing efficiency.- Project Lead for UBA's 2008 global recruitment drive in North America, spread over 5 cities. This project was time bound and executed within a month. Identified over 100 potential recruits for UBA Group, across businesses & geographies.

Douala, Cameroon

Responsibility for start-up operations in Cameroon with key activities like recruitment, identifying business locations, developing policies and procedures, coordinating meetings with key government officials and regulatory authorities.- Provided resource requirements to support expansion into CEMAC countries.- Responsible for start up operations in Cameroon.- Managed key activities for start up of banking operations in Cameroon.- Held meetings with key government officials, regulatory authorities, identifying business locations, hiring of personnel.- Obtained banking license through meetings with high level government officials.

Lagos, Nigeria

A Senior role with responsibility in Contracting & Procurement, Facilities Management, General Services, Fleet Management and Logistics. - Responsible for Contracting & Procurement, Facilities Management, General Services, Fleet Management and Logistics- Managed an annual Euro 15M spend on facilities maintenance for a 25-floor building. Generated 5% savings against approved budget in 2006- Executed a Euro 50M procurement strategy in six weeks for the purchase & acquisition of 2 banks with over 50 branches, integrating same into an existing branch network.- Developed and asset management strategy to manage the bank's portfolio of over 500 buildings. Implemented a proactive Facilities Management strategy.

Lagos, Nigeria

Responsible for integration of different banks and brands into one brand, one strategy, one vision with everyone aligned to the new corporate vision and mission. Successful management of the various challenges from the three merging entities of culture, heritage, affiliation etc. - Responsible for UBA's Corporate Communication Strategy group-wide.

Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Member of HR Leadership Team .- Set up Shell Nigeria’s pioneer Diversity & Inclusiveness department implementing & operationalizing Group strategy locally. This required translating strategy into day to day operational activity by developing an implementation framework with processes & measurement matrices. - Key to delivering success in this role was the engagement with Senior Management Team. This was achieved through ongoing dialogue & communication as well as consistently articulating & selling the D&I business case. - Coached, directed and supported the Change Agent network put in place across the company to support and drive this change process. - Successfully integrated D&I into the HR & Business processes. thus expanding the talent pool for future leaders with more diverse candidates to select from. - Successfully represented management in negotiations with the unions for two consecutive years with outcomes that were satisfactory to both parties.

The Hague Area, Netherlands

Coached Group senior leaders embarking on a personal learning and discovery in Diversity & Inclusiveness. - Designed, facilitated and delivered several change management workshops and interventions to over 1000 staff.- Achieved 75% customer satisfaction rating.

The Hague Area, Netherlands

Responsible for Procurement activity in Shell's downstream business across Africa, with a significant FMCG business portfolio.- Established supply agreements with key global FMCG suppliers for product delivery to Shell's retail outlets across Africa.- Generated $1.4M annual income through improved trading terms & conditions.- Established supply agreements with key global FMCG suppliers for product delivery to Shell's retail outlets across Africa.- Managed the project life cycle for the outsourcing of over 150 Shell retail sites to enhance service reliability & reduction in maintenance costs. Generated annual savings in excess of US$ 5M.- Set up supply agreements, coordinated logistics for the supply of LPG gas cylinders into Africa from Asian manufacturers. Generated annual savings of over $2M.

Master Of Business Administration (M.B.A.), Export Management & International Business

B.A Hons, Economics

Activities and Societies: The Africa student Group

Education record

Secondary Education

Currently Vice President of alumni chapter in Lagos