Leading the brand: Regina Ofori’s Journey to Ecobank
When Regina Ofori completed university and prepared for national service, she was not dreaming about becoming a banking executive or leading marketing operations across regions.
Her immediate goal was simple — complete national service, find stable work and support her family.
“I didn’t have any big ideas. It was just really about getting work, sustaining myself and helping my family,” she told The Mirror in an interview at the Ecobank Ghana Head Office in Accra last Tuesday.
Today, she has built an impressive career across some of the world’s leading brands including Unilever Ghana, Guinness Ghana Breweries, Vodafone Ghana and Ecobank, where she now plays a key leadership role in marketing and regional operations.
According to her, her journey has been anything but straightforward. It has been shaped by difficult decisions, uncomfortable transitions, motherhood, sacrifice and a willingness to embrace opportunities.
Regina originally studied nutrition at the university, inspired by childhood memories of her grandmother caring for malnourished children suffering from Kwashiorkor.
“I wanted to be a nutritionist or a dietician because I wanted to help children,” she said.
That passion for nutrition eventually landed her a national service opportunity at Unilever, where she supported nutrition outreach programmes that educated churches, schools and communities on healthy eating and nutrition.
Opportunity over comfort
Prior to her placement, she said she was simply hoping to secure placement within Accra to avoid the stress and cost of relocation. But when the Unilever opportunity came, she immediately changed course.
“I saw the opportunity and I took it,” she said.
That decision came with the sacrifice of commuting daily from Bubuashie in Accra to Tema for an entire year during national service, navigating multiple trotros and taxis each day.
But the experience became the foundation of her career.
One moment during her first day at Unilever still stands out vividly in her memory. She had reported to the office believing she was only there to register before officially starting later.
When Regina informed her manager that she was about to leave for home, “she looked surprised and said, ‘You have registered, you have been assigned to a unit and so your work begins, so get on with it,’” Regina recounted with laughter.
She said that simple interaction became a defining lesson in urgency, discipline and ownership.
“It taught me that when something needs to be done, just do it. Don’t wait.”
Career kick off and growth
Following national service, she transitioned into a permanent role at Unilever, eventually spending nearly eight years there. She moved through media management, brand management and portfolio leadership, overseeing advertising, products and strategic campaigns.
The company also exposed her to extensive professional training across Africa and connected her to seasoned marketers who helped shape her leadership approach.
“It was really the bedrock of many things I have become today,” she admitted.
Her career later took her to Guinness Ghana Breweries as an Innovations Manager, where she worked on developing new beverage concepts and product ideas.
“It was exciting moving from soaps, my last task at Unilever to liquids,” she says.
From there, she accepted an expatriate opportunity with Reckitt Benckiser, a manufacturer and trader in health, hygiene and home products in Nigeria, where she supported the company’s West African operations and distribution expansion.
That move came at a deeply personal time.
“I walked into the interview pregnant with twins, but I never said no to the opportunity. I knew I would need a plan, but I also knew I could not allow fear to decide for me. When the process ended and they offered me the role, I asked them for time.
This was my first pregnancy and I honestly did not know what to expect. They agreed to wait for me and by the time the twins started walking, they came back and reminded me of my promise,” she recounted.
She said her mother had to stop work temporarily and relocate with her to Nigeria to help care for the twins.
“She was the only person I trusted enough to move with me and help care for my children.”
Despite the challenges, she described Nigeria as an energetic and exciting experience that suited her personality.
“I’m very outgoing and high energy, so I settled in quite well.”
After nearly two years in Nigeria, another opportunity emerged, this time in telecommunications.
At the time, the telecom industry was booming in Ghana and Regina had long admired the innovation happening within the sector. While in Nigeria, she noticed repeated recruitment emails from Vodafone Ghana sitting unanswered in her inbox.
Eventually, during a weekend visit to Ghana, she responded.
“We had a conversation over the weekend and immediately I knew this was it,” she said.
At Vodafone, Regina worked across brand marketing, product development and customer segmentation, gaining critical exposure to service-based products and digital solutions.
The transition from consumer goods to telecoms, she said, demanded a different mindset.
“I had managed tangible products all my life and I wanted to understand service brands.”
In pursuit of that experience, she made another difficult decision by accepting a lower-level role temporarily to gain product management expertise.
“At the time, it looked like a demotion, but it became one of the best decisions of my career.”
Her telecoms experience eventually prepared her for the next major move to banking.
Move to Ecobank
In 2018, Regina joined Ecobank, initially working on cards and e-banking solutions within the group marketing structure.
Her experience with mobile money and digital services at Vodafone Ghana made the transition easier.
“All I needed to understand was how money makes money.”
Over the last eight years, she has worked across several strategic roles within the bank, including group marketing, commercial banking and Ghana’s marketing operations.
She credits Ecobank’s supportive culture for helping her navigate both career growth and motherhood.
At the time she joined the bank, her youngest daughter was about two years. Although part of her responsibilities were tied to the group office in Lomé, her supervisors allowed her to remain largely based in Ghana while travelling periodically.
“That support meant a lot, it showed belief in what I could do.”
Today, she oversees marketing operations for Ghana while supporting broader regional activities — a role she describes as demanding, fast-paced and deeply fulfilling.
“There’s always a lot happening, Ecobank is a big brand with high expectations.”
Beyond corporate growth and marketing campaigns, Regina is particularly passionate about the bank’s commitment to women and families across Africa.
For her, supporting The Mirror Mother’s Day event aligned naturally with Ecobank’s broader mission.
“Ecobank is a brand for the entire family, from the cradle onwards, there is a product for everyone.”
She points to initiatives such as Elevate by Ecobank, which supports women-owned and women-led businesses through financial and non-financial assistance, including collateral-free loans.
“We know women are less risky when it comes to repayment, women pay,” she added.
She also highlighted the systemic barriers many African women still face in accessing capital, especially because property ownership and collateral often remain male-dominated.
“When you support a woman, you support the family, the community and the nation,” she said.
Balancing motherhood and career growth
Beyond leadership and corporate success, Regina’s story is also one of balancing motherhood and ambition.
One particularly emotional moment she recounted was during her time at Vodafone when she travelled to India for an executive training programme while still breastfeeding her youngest child.
Determined not to lose either opportunity, she carried a breast pump with her and spent breaks between training sessions expressing milk in washrooms and hotel rooms.
Toward the end of the trip, she realised her milk supply began reducing significantly.
“I cried and prayed my milk wouldn’t stop.”
The moment she landed back in Ghana, she asked her husband and mother to bring her baby directly to the airport parking lot.
“I breastfed her immediately in the car because I wanted to stimulate my system again,” she said.
Today, Regina rejects the idea of perfect work-life balance.
“I think balance is sometimes a façade, what matters is being fully present wherever you are.”
When she is at work, she gives her full attention to the job. When she is home, she becomes fully present as a wife and mother.
Looking back, Regina believes every uncomfortable transition, every sacrifice and every difficult decision helped shape her into the leader she had become.
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