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Double Honour as CIPRMP and Avance Media Induct and Nominate Seyi Tinubu

World richest man and founder of Amazon in one of his famous quotes said, “Work hard, have fun, make history”. These will best be used to described the trend at which young and hardworking Chairman of Loatsad Promomedia, Seyi Tinubu is living.

Seyi who is known for his hard working and his fun loving lifestyle has recently been making history by the number of awards that are trailing him, recently, Chartered Institute of Public Resources Managers and Politics, an organisatuion based in Ghana decided to honour the humble but hard-working man by inducting him into 2020 Fellowship Hall of Fame of the organization.

The delegation headed by Dr. Richard Kpoku-Aquarte in his speech described the Loatsad Chairman as a man of an uncommon professional of excellence in a class of his own, he also address his as a pace-setter media innovator, a multi-dimensional business executive of unparalleled distinction and a boardroom strategist.

Dr. Kpoku-Aquarte explained further that the Fellowship is to honour people from all nations especially those those who have proven themselves as embodiments of Integrity, Transparency and Accountability in their various leadership positions. He also listed Otunba Gbenga Daniel (former Governor of Ogun State), Mr. Stephen Onasanya (former M.D. of First Bank of Nig Plc), Barrister Adebayo Shittu (former Nigerian Minister of Communications), Prof. Abdil Kareem Age Sulyman (VC University of Ilorin) and many more important dignitaries as some individuals that has been inducted into the Fellowship in the past.

In the same vein another organization, Avance Media, a Public Relations & Rating company that has for some times been honouring young Africans that are making positive impact in their different countries to encourage them to do more, recognizes his contribution and has since nominated him for the annual honor.

Announcing the nomination on his Instagram page, Seyi Tinubu attributed his nomination to the hard work and dedication of the Loatsad Promomedia team and his partner Denrele Olusoga, in the message he stated “Congratulations to the @loatsad_promomedia team, this is an affirmation of their hard work which has led to my nomination for @avance_media‘s 2019 100 Most Influential Young Nigerians in Business. It’s been a collective effort and journey so credit must be given to my team and partners”.

The list which is being compiled and voted for yearly started about five years ago and has had names of influential Nigerian young men and women like; Davido, Wizkid, DJ Xclusive, Funke Akindele, Kelechi Anyikude, Amaka Osakwe, DJ Cuppy, John Obi Mikel, Linda Ikeji, IK Osakioduwa, Toke Makinwa and many more young Nigerians.

The list according to the organisers headed by Prince Akpah is to “serve as an encouragement to young Nigerians who are accomplished in their industries and continue to build distinguished brands for themselves and influence over others. The list also urged those honoured to continue striving harder so that their story can inspire other young people to also contribute their quota to the development of Nigeria and the continent of Africa.”

FrieslandCampina WAMCO Gets New App for Dairy Farmers

Two Nigerian entrepreneurs (former students of the University of Ibadan) and three research students from the Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, have developed a mobile software application to help dairy farmers perform better.

Named the ‘mDairy App’ according to the company’s spokesperson and Executive Director, Corporate Affairs, Mrs. Ore Famurewa, the effort is being made in partnership with FrieslandCampina WAMCO.

“The three students from the Delft University of Technology and the mDairy app co-founders are collaborating to support local dairy farmers at our different Dairy Development Programme (DDP) sites” Famurewa said.

The Dutch students are Margot Ridderikhoff, Jaap Dechering and Betsie Loeffen while the mDairy’s co-founders are Oyewale Abioye and Gbadegesin Alawode.

In 2017, FrieslandCampina WAMCO partnered with the Dutch-Nigerian Students Business Challenge, an initiative of the Dutch Foreign Affairs Ministry and sponsored by corporations mainly of Dutch origin. The initiative aims to address challenges in Nigeria’s health, energy and food sectors.

Having successfully completed and presented relevant business solutions, a new team of three students attached to FrieslandCampina WAMCO came to Nigeria recently to join Oyewale and Gbadegesin in order to deploy mDairy App, which DDP farmers can use with little or no challenge.

To ensure that all farmers from various socioeconomic backgrounds are integrated, the team is also developing an interactive voice message service which would facilitate easy access.

“The mDairy app once deployed is designed to serve as one-stop-shop for DDP farmers’ information needs” Famurewa explained.

From left, Dairy Extension Manager, FrieslandCampina WAMCO, Dr. Adebayo Akinade; Students from Delft University, The Netherlands, Margot Ridderikhoff, Jaap Dechering and Betsie Loeffen; Baale, Fashola Community, Oyo State, Alhaji Tijani Abdulah; University of Ibadan students Oyewale Abioye and Gbadegesin Alawode; with DDP Administrative Manager, Henry Adaobor

Segun Agbaje Led GTBank where Cars are said to hold more Value than Human

It is the general declaration that human life is priceless and it is expected to be treated as such in every condition. This believe was also at the fore-front of governments’ order to both private and public hospitals that every effort must be put into use should anybody needs urgent treatment to preserve their lives. It is however sad that some supposedly big brands in the country are acting as if the life of some members of their staffs count for nothing.

This discussion was raise in Mushin axis of Lagos State recently and some traders and residents of the town pointed fingers of guilt at one of the leading banks in the country the Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB).

In their argument they claimed that years back, a vehicle belonging to the GTBank allegedly suffer break failure while in motion and in an effort to steer the car away from running into the pedestrians and the roadside traders along the ever busy Mushin/Oshodi road, the car ran into the median demarcating the road and in the process knocked down a pedestrian who was standing to cross to the other side killing the young man in the process.

They continued in their narrations that even while the driver who suffered broken leg and some other degree of injury that sees to him not being able to fend for himself and his family was still struggling to get out the money approved for him to pay for his medical expenses, the bank had made sure their car involved in the accident has been cleared and fixed for use.

Though going after such is not the main issue the speed at which they go about it according to the people was so fast and it seems they put so much value on the car even more than the driver whose condition they said cannot be ascertained as at that period. That incident has been years back now and the bank presently are not employing drivers on their own as such has been outsourced.

If one thinks that the story will be different now that the bank is not directly involved with their drivers now one may have to have a rethink.

The story now is like the Yoruba proverbial witch who had an all girl children, the condition of service of their drivers is suicidal. We were reliably informed that drivers attached to the bank are treated like they are expendable wares some drivers in the pool of the bank narrates how the nonchalant attitude of those in their transport department toward fixing the cars wherever it is faulty is generally responsible for nearly all incident of accidents involving GTBank drivers.

One of the two companies handling recruitment of drivers was given as Ademakinwa Ademiluyi & Co, though information available said FedEx Express has been added but that cannot be confirmed as at the moment we are writing this story. Insider revealed that Ninety-five percent (95%) of the drivers in the bank’s driver’s pool were employed through outsourcing and were prohibited from Union activities as this will contravene the contract signed by their respective employers with the bank.

We further gathered that there is also no provision for health insurance while all the cars they are driving are given premium insurance even though their fixed take home is Forty-Five Thousand naira (N45,000) with no pension plan or any form of gratuity not minding the years spent working for the bank.

It is even worse as the source also stated how faulty vehicles are after it has been reported are forced on the drivers without it being fixed, in a situation our source explained that a vehicle with bad break after it was reported was left unrectified for 4 months with the driver being forced to run errand with it all these while till it got involved in a crash.

With the condition of service which runs through 7 days a week, no pension plan, no health insurance scheme, no chance of becoming a permanent staff, abolishing of trade union activities among the drivers and many other deliberate shortcomings in the treatment of the drivers while all the cars they are driving are given premium insurance is invariably saying the cars to the bank holds more value than the human driving it and this may be the reason faults like that of the car breaking system are scarcely attended whenever such was reported to those in charge of that department in the bank.

UBA Commits To Creating Superior Value For Customers…Launches Self-Printing Debit Card Machine At Flag Off Of Trade Fair

Pan African financial institution, United Bank for Africa (UBA) have announced that it is committed to continued investment in cutting edge technology for efficient and improved service delivery to its customers and by extension the business community.

The Chief Executive Officer, UBA Africa, Victor Osadolor, made the disclosure during a well-attended flag off ceremony of the 2019 Lagos International Trade Fair (LITF), in which UBA is the headline sponsor. The event, which held at the Tafawa Balewa Square, had in attendance distinguished guests, including the Deputy Governor, of Lagos State, Mr. Obafemi Hamzat; President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Babatunde Paul Ruwase; Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Hajia Mariam Katagum; Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives, Lagos State, Lola Akande amongst others, Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor on Commerce, Industry, and cooperatives, Ajayi Oladele, among others.

Osadolor used the occasion to launch another first of its kind in Nigeria’s financial sector, from UBA, called self-printing debit card machine, targeted at encouraging increased use of debit cards which also offers more options to pay.

The new self-printing debit card machine will allow for seamless business transactions with great value to customers and businesses.

He stated that that there is no gain saying that the world is tilting into a knowledge based economy, adding that businesses that would survive in the 21st century must invest in technology to remain competitive.

He also commended the federal government’s efforts at improving the nation’s investment climate, saying this is the reason the country is currently ranked fifteen place upwards in the global ease of doing business index.

He also added that the bank would continue to support initiatives aimed at boosting trade in the country.

On delivery of its brand promise, he said, “We are creating superior value for all our customers, because we believe they are key to our everyday operations.”

He further said, the bank’s small and medium scale enterprise banking unit has been actively supporting small businesses with

industry-specific loans that ensure maximum impact.

According to Osadolor, UBA also keys into government intervention funds to expand access to credit facilities at competitive interest rates, while providing services such as advisory and technological infrastructure that help to reduce the cost of doing business.

“Most of our customers have enjoyed free advisory services that have helped them navigate the very difficult business terrain. We also have businesses, latching on to our technological assets to improve their services as well as foster growth”

Osadolor restated UBA’s commitment to continue investing heavily in technology to remain a pillar to millions of businesses that have not only chosen to bank with UBA, but have also partnered the bank for growth.

“We are consistently supporting our SMES. We have a huge amount of funds allocated to SMEs. UBA is committed to supporting entrepreneurship. We are the major promoter of the Fair. The new self-printing debit card machine will go along way in allowing for seamless business transactions with attendant value to businesses.

He stated that: “At UBA, we are committed to being role models for African businesses by creating superior value for all the stakeholders. Therefore we have over the years recorded increased growth”.

Earlier, the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, represented by the Deputy Governor, Lagos State, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, said the State’s commitment to promoting and connecting businesses across transnational borders, remains strong and unshaken.

“We shall leave no stone unturned to ensure that Lagos State truly becomes a 21st century economy which actively supports the growth of the local economy through improved ease of doing business initiatives, innovative incentives and interventions as well as quality service delivery to a well-motivated public,” he said.

On his part, the President of LCCI, Mr. Babatunde Ruwase said the theme of this year’s fair underscores the importance of a robust business interaction to generate wealth and create value for the advancement of the Nigerian economy and the welfare of the citizens.

Ruwase said, “Creating a platform to promote trade and bilateral relations is of utmost importance to the LCCI.

“In UBA, we have chosen a suitable partner with extensive reach on the continent with capacity to engineer a seamless financial transaction required for an international trade fair of this magnitude,” he said.

Speaking further on the partnership with UBA, he said: “The LCCI and UBA have partnered to give exciting services to visitors and exhibitors at the fair.

UBA is a foremost Pan African financial institution operating in 20 African countries, including the United Kingdom, the USA and France, thus offering unique services to the delight of visitors and exhibitors during the fair. This tells you that, we are more than committed to ensuring the business environment is beneficial for all investors.

“As a policy advocacy group, our programmes and activities are geared towards facilitating the realisation of the economic and social objectives of the government and making Nigeria an attractive destination for investment.

“Our economic and investment policies must be friendly to make Nigeria a major investment hub in Africa. “

He said Nigeria needs the right policies as well as a strong commitment to infrastructure development that will help revive investors’ confidence in its economy.

FIRSTBANK CELEBRATES TOP PERFORMING FIRSTMONIE AGENTS NATIONWIDE

In recognition of the contribution of its Firstmonie Agents towards the Bank’s resolve at promoting access to financial services to all Nigerians, First Bank of Nigeria Limited has announced that its Agent Banking National award ceremony would hold on Friday, 25 October 2019 at the Oriental Hotel, Lagos. The event is themed “Planting Community Heroes Nationwide”.

Since its inception in 2017, the FirstBank Agent Banking scheme, popularly called Firstmonie, has recorded giant strides at promoting financial inclusion across the nook and cranny of the country. With almost 40,000 Agents in 99% of the 774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria, processing approximately 1million transactions daily, First Bank of Nigeria Limited is leading the effort at supporting the Federal Government’s objectives to deepen access to financial services.

FirstBank’s Firstmonie service is providing financial/banking solutions to rural and semi-urban locations across the country, such as account opening, cash deposit, cash withdrawals, airtime purchase, bill payments, BVN enrolment and much more. Through this channel, the Bank is providing convenient services that endears trust and provides ease of access to banking products, thereby saving time and travel costs for users of our network. During the award ceremony, the bank will be recognising top performing Agents at National, Regional, and State levels.

FirstBank’s financial inclusion activities is in line with the mandate of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to ensure the availability of affordable financial products and services to all individuals and groups of people in the country; irrespective of location, literacy levels, familiarity with technology and accessibility to modern infrastructural facilities. The Firstmonie Agent channel is amongst the Bank’s many initiatives to expand financial access in the country.

“According to Adesola Adeduntan, Chief Executive Officer, First Bank of Nigeria Limited “the unwavering efforts and remarkable contributions by our Firstmonie Agents at promoting financial inclusion in Nigeria is indeed very much appreciated. Within the past 2 years we have been able to create not only 40,000 access points, but over 150,000 indirect jobs. We remain committed to doing more, strengthening business activities, driving economic growth and development; thereby reducing poverty”

“We would not rest on our laurels because without a doubt, every individual’s contribution to national growth and development, regardless of where they are, is indeed very important to us” he concluded.

MTN ICT Traning wave In Nasarawa and Rivers States

Waste Management is a lucrative business In Rivers State

How will you feel if your teacher throws a question at the class and someone he called before you gave out the answer you have in mind? Painnnn… you have to quickly think of another answer or simply rephrase what you have in mind.

There was a similar case at the ICT & Business Skills training in Port Harcourt, the two-day training organised by MTN Foundation had 500 participants comprising of business owners and ICT enthusiasts in attendance. After several sessions from Google Digital Skills Trainer, Destiny Takon and Assistant Manager, KPMG Technology Advisory, Tosin Okuselu, it was time for a brief task.

A mini competition was also organized to test business development capability of participants. They were divided into groups and asked to develop a business proposal and present their ideas after brainstorming for 15 minutes.

15 minutes later, they all had an interest in waste management and recycling and presented different tactics related to the same business plan, the hall was buzzing with laughter as to how all groups came about the same business idea.

Regardless, they were all winners! Not only did they go home with the knowledge of ICT and Business Skills, some outstanding guests left the conference hall with exciting gifts that will always remind them that MTN Nigeria cares. #MTNICTBizTrainingPH

FIRSTBANK HOSTS FINTECH SUMMIT 3.0

Nigeria’s premier and leading financial services provider, First Bank of Nigeria Limited hosted the third edition of its annual Fintech summit themed “Banking + Tech = Solving Real Problems”. The event held on Wednesday, 16 October 2019 in Lagos with a conference and panel sessions comprising tech experts, start- ups, regulators and other stakeholders to deliberate pressing issues, trends and upgrades in the application of technology in the financial services industry. Victor Asemota, Founder, Swifta Systems & Services was the Keynote Speaker at the event.

With the evolution that has taken place in the financial services industry in recent times, especially through the advent of technological inclusion in business operations across all industries, this year’s event focused on how technology can aid the solving of large scale societal problems within the context of financial services in Nigeria. The event cuts across multiple panel sessions to deliberate issues and prospects in the business management across the financial technology ecosystem with a view to having participants exposed to the trajectory of current and future opportunities in the Fintech ecosystem.

According to Gbenga Shobo, Deputy Managing Director, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, “Our Fintech Summit 3.0 was convened to set the tone for discussions that promote disruptions in the digital space, especially in the financial industry, as we recognise the opportunities for inclusive growth and influence of FINTECH not just in banking but also business operations across all industries. The 2019 edition of our FINTECH summit would build-up from the successes achieved in the last two editions.”

He added, “FirstBank, in the last few years, has used technology to deliver solutions to promote financial inclusion. With over 33,000 Firstmonie Agents in 36 states doing over N2 trillion worth of transactions, we are reducing poverty with our Agency Banking footprint. Our Firstmobile application has become the foremost mobile banking application in the country with over 3 million users doing over 14 million transactions monthly. It is one of the major gateways for Financial Inclusion where everyone can download the app and open an account at their own convenience! This was not the case a few years ago. Our USSD channel, *894#, is also solving Financial Exclusion problems for those who do not have easy access to internet data. With over 8 million users today, transactions worth over N4 trillion have been consummated using this channel.’’

The panel sessions comprised experts with over two hundred combined years of experience in the Financial and Technological Industry space to deliberate on topical issues in today’s technologically driven business world. Topical issues to be discussed are: Solving Business Problems; Solving Regulatory, Security & Legal Problems and Solving Lifestyle Problems.

Amongst the FirstBank team of speakers and moderators are Folake Ani-Mumuney, Group Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications; Olayinka Shittu, Chief Transformation Officer,

Oluwatoyin Aina, Group Head, Energy Downstream & Int. Oil Trading; and Taiwo Shonekan, Head, Customer Experience & Value Management.

Debo Odunlana, CEO, Doctoora Health; Damilola Emuze, COO/Co-Founder, Scholarx; Edward Popoola, CTO/Co-Founder, Cowrywise and Chinedu Azodoh, Chief Technology Officer, Max.Ng are the panelists in the Solving Lifestyle Problems session.

The Solving Business Problems panel session include Victor Asemota, Founder, Swifta Systems & Services; Lola Ekugo, Head, Digital Innovation Lab, FirstBank; Akindele Phillips, CFO/Co-Founder, Farmcrowdy; Deepankar Rustagi, CEO/Founder, Vconnect & Omnibiz and Dayo Ademola, Head of Innovation, EFInA.

The panelists in the Solving Regulatory, Security & Legal Problems are the Sam Okojere, Director, Payment System Management Dept, CBN; Tosin Faniro-Dada, Head, Startups (Lagos Innovates), LSETF; Odunoluwa Longe, Co-Founder, DIY-Law & The Longe Practice; Bunmi Akinyemiju, CEO, Venture Garden Group and Harrison Nnaji, Chief Information Security Officer, FirstBank.

Callistus Obetta, Group Executive, Technology & Services, FirstBank; Gbenga Shobo, Deputy Managing Director, FirstBank; Victor Asemota, Founder, Swifta Systems & Services and Keynote Speaker at the event (FirstBank FinTech Summit 3.0); Adesola Adeduntan, Chief Executive Officer, FirstBank and Abdullahi Ibrahim, Executive Director, Public Sector FirstBank at the FirstBank FinTech Summit 3.0 held in Lagos today.

Folake Ani-Mumuney, Group Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications, FirstBank; Edward Popoola, CTO/Co-Founder, Cowrywise; Chinedu Azodoh, Chief Technology Officer, Max.Ng; Taiwo Shonekan, Head, Customer Experience & Value Management, FirstBank; Damilola Emuze, COO/Co-Founder, Scholarx; Debo Odunlana, CEO, Doctoora Health are the panelist in the Solving Lifestyle Problems session at the FirstBank FinTech Summit 3.0 held in Lagos today.

Access Bank Records Over N1bn In Daily Digital Lending

Access Bank’s expanded digital lending portfolio, which gives Nigerians quick and 24/7 access to funds for emergencies without any collateral, has hit a record N1billion daily in loan value.

According to Victor Etuokwu, Executive Director, Retail Banking, Access Bank Plc, in the past two years, the bank has disbursed over 3.5 million loans to individuals, adding that this year alone it had disbursed over N45 billion in over 2 million disbursements to individuals and have recently witnessed a spike in volumes hitting one billion naira daily.

“This achievement and our focus on retail lending reiterate our commitment to democratize access to financial services leveraging digital technology,” he said.

Chinedu Onuoha, Head Digital Banking Business Development, Access Bank, commented recently on this laudable achievement: “Our objective is to ensure that there is a digital loan product for every adult Nigerian who has proven means of livelihood because we know that every individual at one point or another requires some form of financial support. Our flagship digital loan product, PayDay Loan, is tailored to help individuals meet their urgent cash needs. Though the tenor for this loan is 30 days, we also have loans with tenors of 3 months and 6 months.”