Bola Atta: The Creative Genius Driving UBA’s Marketing

Bola Atta is a woman of many parts. She started her career as a banker and ventured into journalism, and now she is one of Nigeria’s top and widely celebrated marketing executives.

She has left no one in doubt about her vibrant spirit, creativity and leadership capacity everywhere she has worked, including her current position as Group Director, Marketing and Corporate Communications Department, United Bank for Africa and UBA Foundation.

Education and career

Atta graduated from the University of Sussex, where she obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics in 1988. In 1991, she secured an MBA, majoring in Marketing, at Duquesne University. Her first job out of school was as a banker. In an earlier interview, she revealed that her career choice was informed by her desire to follow the path of least resistance.

“So when I say that I thought I would work in Finance, this was not necessarily because I particularly had a passion for it, but because I was good in maths and later in economics, and I thought that was the way to go,” she said.

A few years into her banking career, Atta discovered she wanted more out of life. Banking became boring and was not giving her the space to express her creativity to the fullest. She switched to publishing.

As editor-in-chief of True Love West Africa Magazine, Atta began to find peace with her inner self. Journalism offered her the freedom and push to explore deeper into the world. She was able to connect with aspects of human existence that made her find true fulfilment.

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She was at True Love between 2010 and 2014. She left to join Flair Productions, West Africa, where she served as CEO for about two years. After that, she became the Executive Producer of Africa’s Next Top Model, a reality television show and spin-off to America’s Next Top Model show which premiered in 2012.

Atta, a multi-talented woman like the golden fish with no hidden place, was later snapped up by media giant, M-NET. As the Programmes Manager at M-NET, she was charged with widening the scope of programming and injecting some creativity and vibrancy into the media platform.

And without a doubt, she delivered to the very last of her mandate. Many analysts have said that it was at M-NET that Atta discovered her rhythm as a media champion and left a mark that will resonate for many years. During her time, she drove for more channels promoting Nigerian and African movies. She worked on the concept, development and programming of this channel – ‘Africa Magic’, which was successfully launched in 2003 and is now one of the most-watched channels across the African continent.

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