Former CalBank MD Frank B. Adu Jr. Installed As First Chancellor Of AUCB

Story by Fada Amakye

The African University of Communications and Business (AUCB) has appointed Mr. Frank B. Adu Jr. as its first Chancellor, following the conferment of a Presidential Charter on the University.

The appointment was made by the Founder and President of AUCB, Very Reverend Kojo Yankah, and the Governing Council.

In his acceptance speech, Mr. Adu said he accepted the honour with pride, humility and a profound sense of duty.

I extend my sincere appreciation to the Governing Council for considering me worthy of this high office. I accept this honour and its responsibilities with both pride and humility,”_ he said.

He saluted past members of council, faculty, students and alumni who have built AUCB over the past 24 years.

Recounting his journey, Mr. Adu said he grew up between Airport Residential Area and Adabraka and always wanted to be an academic. He recalled accepting a teaching assistant job in the Geography Department of the University of Ghana in 1984 from Prof. George Benneh.

He said his belief in the potential of the youth guided his 30-year career at CalBank. As Managing Director at age 37, he established CalBank’s graduate training programme, which produced two Managing Directors and several executives now leading Ghana’s banking industry.

We cannot prepare the future for them, but we can prepare them for the future, and that future is explosive, he said, calling for a seismic shift in how universities prepare graduates.

Mr. Adu, a former MD/CEO of CalBank for 20 years, is Chairman and Co-Founder of The Roman Ridge School. He holds an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Ghana and serves on boards including Legacy Bonds, Quality Insurance and University of Ghana Enterprises.

He said the world AUCB was established for in 2002 is no longer the world graduates are entering today, citing how banking has moved from long queues and no ATMs in the 1990s to digital banking.