Asuquo Ekpenyong, Jr. was born on August 25. He attended Kings College, Lagos from where he proceeded to the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics in 2007 and capping it with a Master’s Degree in International Banking and Financial Services with distinction in 2008. He thereafter attended Harvard Business School.

Upon his return to Nigeria, he joined the Faculty of Management Sciences at the University of Calabar as a Lecturer in the Department of Banking and Finance from 2009 to 2012. Eager to bring my knowledge to bear in the expansion of the business horizons in Cross River State, he started Iquasu Limited, which today has become the biggest indigenous logistics services provider, serving major industries in the south-south and south-eastern parts of the country including Lafarge Africa Plc and Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals.

Concurrently, he served as the Managing Director of a Central Bank of Nigeria licenced Chamley Bureau De Change and as a Finance Director of Pearland Energy Limited. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of Ekondo Microfinance Bank from 2013 to 2015 and served on several critical Board Committees including the Credit, Establishment, Audit, Finance and General Purposes Committees.

He attended several courses and hold qualifications obtained from Howard University, Harvard Business School and the University of Pretoria in South Africa among others. He was appointed as the Commissioner for Finance by His Excellency, Senator (Prof) Ben Ayade, the Governor of Cross River State in November 2015. He was also saddled with an additional responsibility as the Managing Director of Nigeria’s Premier Tinapa Business and Leisure Resort from February 2016 to April 2017. He was re-appointed as the Commissioner for Finance in 2019, a position he held till April 2022 when he resigned to contest for an elective position in the 2023 general elections. He is presently the Senator representing the good people of Cross River South Senatorial District at the 10th Senate Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

He is a devout Christian, and happily married with three kids.