Chief Raymond Ihyembe was born on the 8th of November 1949 and hails from Benue State, Nigeria
He attended the City University of London, United Kingdom where he obtained a Masters of Science in Management in 1977. He obtained his B.Sc. (Hons) Engineering from the University of Leicester, United Kingdom in 1974. He attended Federal Government College, Warri, Delta State, Nigeria where he obtained his Higher School Certificate in 1970 and in 1968had his West African School Certificate (WASC) in Barewa College, Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria
Chief Ihyembe was the Group Managing Director of Afribank Group [Comprising of Afribank Nigeria Plc, Afribank International Limited (Merchant Bankers). ANP International Finance Limited, Dublin, Ireland in 1999 – 2002. Afribank Insurance, Afribank Estate and Afribank Securities Limited}
He was the Pioneer Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer of Afribank International Limited, Afribank Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria during which period he grew the balance sheet of the bank from zero on inception to N5.0 Billion, and ensured that the bank was consistently profitable throughout his seven-year tenure. In 1974 to 1976, he was an Operations Petroleum Engineer, Port Harcourt and supervised field drilling and workover operations in the Eastern Division.
Chief Raymond Ihyembe was appointed a Consultant by the World Bank to undertake a review of an Industrial Development Project in the Yemen Arab Republic in1989. In1984, he represented Nigeria at the IBRD’s (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) World Consultation on Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. He also represented Nigeria in 1983 at the UNIDO sponsored Second Consultation on Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Madrid, Spain, and was elected Vice President for Africa at the conference.
He served as a Director and Chairman of many companies at different times among which are; Afribank Nigeria Plc – Executive Director & Managing Director, Afribank International Limited (Merchant Bankers), ANP International Finance Ltd. Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Consolidated Discount House Limited, Lagos, Benue Cement Company Limited, Gboko, Benue State and so on. He currently serves on the Board of International Chamber of Commerce Nigeria as the first Vice Chairman and the Chairman, Banking Technique and Practice Commission. He is happily married with children, and enjoys reading a variety of literary material, listening to jazz music and watching and playing football.