A Day in the Life - Oge Agokei

Have you ever wondered what life at Redwood Bank looks like? We have been talking to our colleagues to find out what they enjoy about working at the Bank – and what they like to do in their downtime.

Oge Agokei is Redwood's Loan Servicing Manager, leading a team of five and helping to ensure customers receive the support they need throughout their lending journey.

Oge's career progression at Redwood is a great example of what can be achieved when talent, hard work and opportunity come together. In less than two years, she has progressed from Senior Loan Administration Officer to Loan Servicing Manager, earning two promotions along the way.

Throughout her journey, Oge has played a key role in improving processes, supporting colleagues and delivering great outcomes for customers. She enjoys the variety, challenge and responsibility that come with her role, where no two days are ever the same.

Away from work, Oge is a self-confessed white chocolate enthusiast and a fan of both Rihanna and Princess Diana.

Want to know more? Read on…

How does your day start – and how does it end?

Gosh, my day never starts the same. I am either waking up extremely hungry and gorging on the first thing I can find or daydreaming for about 30 minutes and wondering what my life would be like if I was an actress. Most times I am just struggling to get out of bed (I am not a morning person).

When I log in/arrive for work, my day starts with a check of my diary to see what lies ahead, by opening about four or five tabs which all contain spreadsheets! I go through tasks for the day in the morning and see what daily task needs to be done. I am usually rushing through urgent requests 90 per cent of the time towards the end of the day. We are customer-facing and tend to get a lot of urgent last-minute requests post-lunchtime, some of which require my approval.

My day then usually ends with me in front of a TV – I am always watching something, either a movie, documentary, series and so on.

What would an average day look like?

There really is no such thing as an “average day” in Loan Servicing, and that is one of the things I enjoy most about the role. My team and I are responsible for supporting the Bank’s lending customers throughout their entire journey with us. From the moment a loan is drawn down, we manage almost all the operational processes a customer may need, right through to the account closing.

The variety of work means every day brings something different, which keeps us busy and engaged. Working closely with my team, I help allocate and prioritise tasks to ensure we consistently meet, and often exceed, our service level agreements across the various channels our customers use to contact us.

A typical day involves balancing a range of responsibilities, from reviewing and checking documentation before submission to ensuring payments are processed and allocated securely and accurately.

Alongside this, one of the most rewarding parts of my role is coaching and supporting my team, helping them develop their skills, build confidence and deliver the excellent service our customers expect.

With problem-solving, teamwork and customer focus, no two days are ever quite the same.

How has your career progressed since being at the Bank?

I started at the Bank as a Senior Loan Administration Officer and it did not take long to realise that the role my team and I were performing had grown well beyond what the title suggested. Working alongside our Head of Department and the People team, I was able to demonstrate both the volume of work we were managing and the complexity of the tasks we were responsible for.

As a result, my role was reviewed and I became a Senior Loan Servicing Officer. It was great to see the work of the team recognised and it motivated me to keep looking for ways we could improve what we do.

Over the following year, I focused on making positive changes to our processes, whether that was improving efficiency, reducing risk or creating a better experience for our customers. Seeing those improvements make a real difference was incredibly rewarding.

Those opportunities led to me being asked to take on additional responsibility for overseeing the operational side of the Relationship Management team, which ultimately resulted in my promotion to Loan Servicing Manager.

Looking back, moving from Senior Loan Administration Officer to Loan Servicing Manager in less than two years is something of which I am really proud. I appreciate that it is a relatively quick progression, but I think it shows what is possible when you are willing to work hard, get involved and make the most of the opportunities around you. One of the things I value most about working in a smaller bank is that people notice your contribution and if you are prepared to put yourself forward, there are real opportunities to develop and grow your career.

What is the one thing you look forward to each week in the office?

We work two days a week in the office and I genuinely look forward to those days. One of the highlights for me is seeing my team. I manage a team of five, with two based in our Warrington office and three in our Letchworth office. Depending on everyone’s chosen office days, I often get to catch up with different people each week, which keeps things fresh and gives me the chance to connect with everyone regularly.

I honestly love the people I work with. I often joke that they are part of my family, whether they like it or not! We have a close, supportive team and it is always great to spend time together, share a laugh and catch up on both work and life.

Beyond my immediate team, I also really enjoy seeing colleagues from across the wider bank. Office days are a great opportunity to reconnect, have informal conversations and strengthen relationships with people I may not speak to as often when working remotely.

Technology plays a huge part in helping us stay connected, particularly with my Warrington-based team members. We stay connected throughout the day, have regular meetings, check in on progress and support one another whenever needed. While technology makes collaboration easy regardless of location, there is still something special about being in the office, catching up face to face and spending time with colleagues whose company I genuinely enjoy.

Which teams do you work closest with?

I sometimes think my team might just be the best-connected team in Redwood! One of the things I love about Loan Servicing is that we work with so many different teams across the Bank, especially the Financial Support and Recoveries team who are part of my department.

To keep things running smoothly for our lending customers, we work alongside Finance, Treasury, Underwriting and Credit Operations. On top of that, we are often raising queries with our IT colleagues to improve systems and processes, and more recently we have been working closely with the Change and Product teams as part of the exciting journey of bringing a new bridging product to market.

What I enjoy most is that it gives us a real understanding of how the wider Bank operates. We get the opportunity to build relationships across lots of different teams, learn from one another and work together towards a common goal. It certainly keeps things interesting, and if there is a team in Redwood we have not worked with yet, it is probably only a matter of time!

How does working at Redwood differ from anywhere else you’ve worked?

Redwood really does make me feel seen and heard; I feel like my ideas are listened to both in terms of my work but also my development and how I can progress. I genuinely feel valued in what I do and I know my team do, too. There is a great culture here.

Do you have a go-to lunch or snack?

White chocolate! Anything that has white chocolate in it will make me incredibly happy.

What would we find you doing at the weekend?

I love hanging out with my family, they are probably tired of me by now. We are always either having a barbecue, game night or going out together. My nephew and niece most especially; we have lots of sleepovers which involves a lot of sugar intake.

If you could hold a dream dinner party, which three guests would you invite (dead or alive)?

Rihanna – I absolutely adore her. She is one of my idols. I love her journey. From a young black girl living in Barbados with a dream to a grown woman who ends up founding her own company and becoming one of the few black female billionaires and a literal icon.

Princess Diana – I think this is quite self-explanatory. I was not around during her time but every video/article I have seen of her just shines. She has an aura that makes you want to know who she is, and she is still loved and talked about even till this day – she was the nation’s sweetheart for a reason.

Shah Rukh Khan – Biggest Indian/Bollywood actor to ever exist. He is amazing and I have seen ALL his movies, a little too much as I now understand a bit of Hindi because of him.

Tell us a fact not many people would know about you.

I was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, for the first 15 years of my life and still visit during the holidays. My childhood years was a mix of being at boarding school with my siblings and running around our block with my friends and cousins.