Amaechi Nsofor, Grant Thornton’s Head of Africa Business, honoured at 2025 The Black Scottish Awards

Acknowledging the support of his colleagues, friends, and family, Grant Thornton’s Head of Africa Business Group Amaechi Nsofor hopes that his being named Professional Senior Leader of the Year at recent The Black Scottish Awards, held in Glasgow last weekend, may inspire others to believe in what they can achieve.

“I’m truly grateful to receive this award,” said Amaechi following his win. “A big thank you to the judges and congratulations to the other winners and nominees.”

The Black Scottish Awards were established in 2023 by Enoch Adeyemi FCCA, the founder of Black Professionals Scotland, Black Professionals Europe, the IAmBlack Conference, and co-founder of tourism brand VisitNigeriaNow. A Nigerian who moved to the UK for university studies, Enoch has lived in Scotland for two decades.

Enoch created The Black Scottish Awards to honour and recognise outstanding contributions made by individuals, businesses, and organisations, and highlight and amplify the voices and successes of the Black community across various fields.

A dozen awards were presented at a glittering ceremony at the Hilton Hotel in Glasgow on Saturday night, ranging across categories including Community Organisation of the Year, Creative of the Year, Sportsperson of the Year, Sustainability Champion of the Year, Young Person of the Year, Business of Excellence, and more

Amaechi was named the winner of Professional Senior Leader of the Year. His fellow finalists were Adetokunbo Dauda, Lead Software Engineer at JP Morgan; Dr Cornilius Chikwama, Audit Director at Audit Scotland; author and learning & development consultant Damilola Onalaja-Aliu; Dr Giovanni Rigby, a Clinical Fellow at NHS Lothian; and Dr Uche Iloka, a law lecturer at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen.

When news of his nomination first broke, Amaechi shared that he was “chuffed and humbled” and that growing up in Nigeria and Scotland shaped his values.

“My heritage continues to inspire my sense of purpose and over the years I have been fortunate to build a career that spans continents, from leading Grant Thornton UK’s Africa Practice to supporting sovereign states on complex cross-border projects,” he said. “But what I value most is creating opportunities for others: mentoring, sponsoring and helping to open doors for future leaders.”

Grant Thornton UK noted that Amaechi, who was born in Scotland and raised in Nigeria before returning to Glasgow for secondary school and university, has “enjoyed a brilliant career in insolvency and restructuring”, and was promoted to Grant Thornton UK’s partnership in 2016, where he has been involved in some of the highest-profile insolvency and restructuring projects, including JJB Sports, Aston Martin and Global Infrastructure Nigeria, as well as the precedent-setting restructuring plan for Smile Telecoms in the English High Court.

“In his role leading the firm’s Africa Business Group, Amaechi spends much of his time working alongside colleagues on the ground in 26 African countries, driving strategies for growth and advising governments, law enforcement agencies, banks and corporations on how to protect and maximise value in challenging situations. Amaechi also plays a key role as part of our Offshore group where his expertise and global reach are instrumental in supporting offshore insolvency appointments.”