First HoldCo Plc has appointed Gwen Mwaba, a former senior executive at the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), as a non-executive director, bringing nearly three decades of experience in trade finance, corporate banking and credit risk to the financial services group.
The appointment, effective October 15, 2026, followed approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), according to a disclosure filed with the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) and signed by the company’s Group Secretary, Abiola Baruwa.
Mwaba’s appointment comes as First HoldCo continues to strengthen its corporate governance and pursue its balance sheet transformation following a strong financial performance in the first half of 2026.
Her experience spans corporate and sovereign lending, structured trade and commodity finance, portfolio management, capital allocation and risk assessment across emerging markets.
Managing $19.5 billion in Exposures at Afreximbank
Mwaba most recently served as Managing Director of Trade Finance and Correspondent Banking at Afreximbank, where she had executive responsibility for trade finance and structured credit activities across Africa and the Caribbean.
Based in Cairo, Egypt, she oversaw a portfolio of $19.5 billion in exposures to sovereign entities, financial institutions and corporate borrowers.
Her responsibilities included portfolio strategy, sector exposure management and country risk limits. She also contributed to the bank’s pre-credit and credit committees, participating in assessments of major lending transactions.
Before that, she served as Regional Head for Anglophone West Africa at Afreximbank, overseeing regional strategy and credit origination across Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, The Gambia and Cape Verde.
The roles gave her experience in evaluating lending opportunities across different markets and managing the risks associated with cross-border financing and trade.
Experience Across International Banking
Mwaba’s career also includes senior positions at Standard Bank, where she served as Executive Vice President of Structured Trade and Commodity Finance at Standard Bank Plc in London.
In that role, she was responsible for complex commodity financing, export-credit-agency-backed facilities and pre-export financing transactions across Africa.
Her earlier appointments included senior banking roles at Stanbic Bank Zambia and Standard Bank South Africa, where she headed vehicle and asset finance and corporate banking functions.
Beyond her executive responsibilities, Mwaba has contributed to industry discussions on trade finance and international banking. She previously served on the editorial board of Trade Treasury & Payments and was a member of the Multilateral Institutions Board Advisory Panel of the International Trade & Forfaiting Association.
She also served on the World Trade Organization-led Expert Group on Trade Finance.
Mwaba holds a Master of Business Administration from Heriot-Watt University in the United Kingdom and a Bachelor of Science degree with honours in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes University.
She is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA) and holds a professional qualification from the Chartered Institute of Transport.
