Ecobank Announces First Set of Weekly Beneficiaries in Super Rewards Season 2
Ecobank Nigeria has announced the names of the first set of weekly beneficiaries of N25,000 each in the second edition of its Super Rewards campaign. The Super Rewards campaign which successfully ran for four months in its first edition was relaunched in October 2021 and is expected to run till January 2022. During this period, 50 winners will win N25, 000 each in every week for the next 16 weeks.
Overall 800 customers are expected to win N25,000 weekly from now till January 31, 2022. At the end of the campaign, four millionaires will emerge in each of the four regions of Lagos, FCT/North, Mid-West/South West and South South/South East regions, by winning the grand prize of N1, 000, 000 each. A customer can however be rewarded more than once provided they fulfil the conditions for eligibility. In addition, a referral scheme has been introduced to this current season, enabling customers of the bank to earn money when they refer other people to open accounts.
Announcing the winners in Lagos, Korede Demola-Adeniyi, Head, Consumer Banking, Ecobank Nigeria, said the Super Rewards scheme is part of the bank’s loyalty initiatives, noting that the beneficiaries are spread across many customer segments and geographical locations in the country. She noted that the winners have since been contacted.
Further, Mrs. Demola-Adeniyi reiterated that participation is open to both new and existing customers of the bank, advising the public that this is the perfect time to open an Ecobank Savings or Current Account or reactivate and fund a dormant account to qualify for the reward and enjoy a first-rate banking experience. She enjoined existing customers to earn referral commission by introducing family members, friends and colleagues as new customers to participate in the campaign.
The Ecobank Super Rewards Campaign requires new customers to open an account with a minimum of N5,000 and maintain the deposit for a 30-day period; the same condition applies to existing customers, who only need to fund their active account with a minimum of N5,000 or reactivate their dormant account with a minimum of N5,000 and maintain the deposit for a 30-day period. Customers can withdraw funds from their account during the campaign period but will only qualify for the reward if they maintain a minimum balance of N5,000 in their accounts. Other details of the campaign are available at www.ecobank.com/superrewards
Ecobank Day: “We Should Be Open To Talk About Mental Health Issues” – Akinwuntan
Akinwuntan Ecobank MD
Ecobank Nigeria has reiterated its commitment towards promoting mental awareness for its staff, customers and the communities where it operates being part of its corporate action to support general wellbeing amongst citizens . This, according to the bank, is necessary in view of the enormous stress people encounter while trying to play their part in sustaining the national economy. The Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Mr. Patrick Akinwuntan while speaking at the 2021 “Ecobank Day” event in Lagos stated that there was need for people to exercise more sensitivity and be more supportive towards improving mental health.
According to him, “This year, we are focusing on how we can support one another to improve on our mental health. It is something we should be open to talk about; it is something that we should be able to share our concerns so that each of us can be sensitive to how we support one another and to manage the stress available in our environment. So, this year, we are focused on mental health, educating people on how to identify and manage the disease, while also helping reduce stigma and discrimination. We all know that Nigeria is a country with about 200 million people, and there is a lot of stress on all of us. At Ecobank, we encourage staff to speak out through word of mouth, written communication, WhatsApp, sms message, even if it is an anonymous call to support victims. We also try to identify things within the environment that could have a negative effect on our journey to better mental health, and quickly take them out”.
On her part, the Executive Director, Commercial Bank, Ecobank Nigeria, Carol Oyedeji, urged colleagues to find a way to balance work with other aspects of their life. “Please when you close work, shut down your system and find ways to connect with your spouse, family and in any other thing that will give you joy and happiness”. She noted that we must encourage people to feel comfortable to talk about their emotions, without shame, fear of being judged or abuseD. She emphasized that anyone suffering or facing mental health problems should be aware that they can get help.
Experts at the event listed signs to watch out for in mental health to include; negative view of self, feeling alone, giving things away and frequent talks about death. They noted that mental health disorders are one of the most common Non-Communicable Diseases, noting that mental health issues can happen to anyone and it’s important to talk about it and also act on it.
Ecobank Day, is a Group’s flagship annual corporate and social responsibility event that ‘gives back’ to the local communities across the pan-African footprint. The 2021 Ecobank Day had the theme ‘Mental Health – Time to Talk and Act!’. It marks the final stage of Ecobank’s three-year campaign to raise awareness and help prevent Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).
Ecobank Day which started in 2013, focusing each year on a specific theme. These have been Education for young people in Africa (2013); Malaria prevention and control (2014); Every African child deserves a better future (2015); ICT education in schools and improving maternal health (2016); Safe water management (2017); Orphanages (2018); Cancer (2019); and Diabetes (2020).
The Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akinwuntan has described Federal Government’s plan for a Eurobond issuance in the International Capital Market (ICM) as a step in the right direction, stressing that the fundamentals and potentials of the nation’s economy are strong with capacity to meet its debt obligations. The Ecobank boss, who was assessing the global market as Nigeria makes its announcement of multibillion dollar Eurobond offering, during an interview on Arise TV Lagos, said the economy is showing strong trends owing to investments in infrastructure such as road and rail transportation which is giving a lot of positive impact to the overall economy, adding that the private sector is also making remarkable improvement in power sector, telecoms, and information technology.
According to him, “You look at the fundamentals, what is the story of this economy? You look at Nigeria, the fundamentals are strong, coming from the lessons learnt in being a mono product economy which was dependent on oil. We have since embarked on the journey of diversification and we are beginning to show early fruits. Exports are improving, Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)
provides the opportunity to expand that even further. So, you look at the fundamentals, look at the openness of the economy, the transparency of reporting and look at the opportunities to enhance real growth, output, capacity improvements and stability of policies. All these are factors to look at with a view of participating in the economy like that of Nigeria.”
He observed that international borrowing will allow Nigeria as a country to access more foreign currencies, deepen external reserve, allows more confidence in the medium-term planning in the private sector, adding that it allows a bench mark to be established in terms of how funding and investment are priced within the local economy. “It also gives more rooms for the local economy to be able to breathe a bit more because when the country takes on Euro bond that portion is reduced from local country financing or public sector debt within the country. All these factors play strongly to the benefit of the private sector and the entire economy at large.”
“In the last two quarters, we have seen the global market rebounding from the very deep end of the covid-19 that plagued 2020. We have seen, since the arrival of vaccines, the gradual opening of the global economy such that there is much more optimism now in the market because we have learnt that shutting down the economy is not the best way to handle an epidemic and we have seen support from sovereigns ensuring that there is steady growth within the various economies; supply chain has opened and we have seen in sub-Sahara Africa renewed interest in the Eurobond market in the international debt market; we have seen Benin republic, Ghana, Cote d’ivoire and Kenya all are approaching the market with significant success. Over subscription in each of them ranges from 200% to 300% and an all high in Kenya close to 600% or six times over subscription. This is a positive period for major economies like Nigeria, which is the lead economy in Africa, to take advantage and invite the global community to hear our story, invest in us and get good returns.”
Citing example with Ecobank’s $300 million Eurobond offer earlier in the year which was over-subscribed by 300 per cent, Akinwuntan advised those approaching international debt market to have clarity of purpose and state clearly their strengths and weaknesses. “We are the first banking entity in Africa to do that in 2021 and it comes from our long-term planning in the economy of Africa; we are the pan African bank and when we look at Africa, Nigeria is a major player. Quickly we understood that arising from a scenario of pandemic and all-time lows of 2020 is time to look at the brighter side and we stepped out for the $300m US Eurobond offer which met positive response from investors across the globe within the country. Ecobank attracted more than 3 times in subscription. But we kept to the book of doing $300m because it is based on our plan in participating in positioning Nigeria, as the leading export country in the AFCTCA environment in the continent and giving our unique position as the Pan African bank, it was very clear to us and the market responded positively. Our experience also tells us that, what is critical is to have clarity on your strength, be very frank about your weakness or the areas of concern and how you intend to handle that positively.”
“Ecobank Remains Payment Gateway in Africa” – Akinwuntan
The Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akinwuntan has reiterated that the Pan African bank remains the payment gateway for Africa. Akinwuntan who was speaking on the topic “Optimizing sustainable trade, investment and regional economic integration through effective partnerships between ECOWAS institutions and regional institutions and the organized private sector” at a webinar organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) to commemorate the 46th anniversary of ECOWAS on Monday, stated that the bank’s state of the art digital payment and collection platform is promoting trade and commerce across the African continent.
According to him, Ecobank is present in all ECOWAS member states, stressing that the bank will continue to leverage its knowledge, footprint, and payment channels to promote trade and economic activities through its unique and large pan-African network that positions it to support businesses at all levels. He noted that “naturally for us as a Pan African bank, we are set up to support the economic integration and development of Africa. We have the commitment, capacity and network to support the realization of that objective. We have a platform that leverages technology which enables businesses within ECOWAS to operate as one market. In terms of payment and collection, we have just one banking platform that serves an entire industry. If you are an individual and you open an account and get our Mobile app, you have access to the 33 countries where we operate, and you can transact across these countries. It is a payment switch that ensures payment without going through SWIFT but ensures instant value across the network. For businesses, we have Omni platform, which is a web-based payment platform that enables you to first see your position across the 33 countries and make instant payment.”
Ecobank Patrick Akinwuntan
Mr. Akinwuntan added that Ecobank is also providing access to market without language barriers; building capacity of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), and empowering women through various products such as the highly innovative Ellevate, a woman focused package targeting at least 40milion women owned business in the MSME space across Africa, by supporting them to become big businesses. “We provide access to the market, we know the continent, we know the sub-region and ECOWAS, this is part of what we offer at Ecobank. When you discuss with us in Ecobank, we are able to translate into the language you understand. Our financial statements are in English and French. In terms of MSMEs, which are critical, we have put in place an MSME Academy in partnership with AUDA-NEPAD solely for capacity building. But more importantly, we have also set aside N100 billion in Nigeria to support MSMEs. We have a regional trade desk that supports you by giving you access to market, finance, and capacity building. We are able to empower the MSME to gradually become pan African business partners leveraging technology.
Earlier in his welcome address, LCCI President, Mrs Toki Mabogunje said the webinar is to explore the opportunities and challenges of economic integration for stakeholders and for ECOWAS member states, adding that the forum also serves to examine the various trade policies, intra-regional commerce, smooth integration between member states and potential markets with borderless opportunities. She said LCCI will continue to partner with ECOWAS institutions to realise its objective of wealth creation, economic integration and commitment to peace and development.
Special Guest of Honour, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo lauded the efforts of ECOWAS in boosting trade in the sub-region. He was optimistic that collaboration with the organized private sector would further boost commerce and the economy of member states.
Ecobank’s Half-Year Profit Jumps By 33%, Revenue Rises
Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) recorded a 33.04 per cent rise in its profit before tax for the first half of the year ended June 30, 2021. In its unaudited financial statement for the first half of the year 2021, Ecobank said its operating income improved by 15.35 per cent year-on-year from June 30, 2020. It said its operating profit before impairment charges and taxation rose by 32.62 per cent to N138.26bn.
At the end of H1 2021, Ecobank’s total assets increased to N11.02tn from N10.38tn in December 2020. The loans and advances to its customers fell from N3.70tn in H1 2020 to N3.63tn in H1 2021, while customer deposits in all its operating locations increased by 7.38 per cent from N7.32tn to N7.86tn. the total equity depreciated by 1.06 per cent as it reduced from N811.75m to N803.18bn.
Commenting, Ade Ayeyemi, Ecobank Group CEO, said: “We saw continued and sustained resilience in our performance, which is indicative of the success of our ‘execution momentum’ drive. As a result, we generated a return on tangible equity of 16.1% versus 15.2% a year ago and increased diluted EPS and tangible book value per share by 19% and 6%, respectively. In addition, profit before tax increased 23% to $210 million.”
“Group revenues rose 7% to $825 million, despite the challenging operating environment with the third wave of coronavirus infections threatening economic recovery. Our diversified pan-African business model continued to rise to the challenge. Revenues grew 13% and 6% in our Commercial and Consumer businesses, while our focus on growing the trade business led to increased trade assets. The slowly increasing business and spend activity drove a 20% rise in our Payments business’s revenue to $90 million. Deposits growth was strong, with total deposits now over $19 billion, an increase of $1.0 billion in the second quarter and $2.4 billion in a year, driven by our omnichannel strategy. Though loan growth remained flat, we are focused on providing support to MSMEs for growth,” Ayeyemi added.
“I am proud of the team’s hard work in driving efficiency, which continues to reflect in our cost-to-income ratio of 58.7% ahead of guidance and progressing well toward our medium-term goal of approximately 55%. In addition, credit quality continued to be exceptionally strong. As a result, our NPL ratio of 7.4% is a substantial improvement from the prior year’s 9.8%, as we also build reserves to insulate the balance sheet with an NPL coverage ratio of 86.7% and pushing towards our near-term target of 90%,” Ayeyemi continued.
“We successfully raised $350 million Tier 2 Sustainability Notes in June, the first-ever by a financial institution in sub-Saharan Africa and first to have a Basel III-compliant 10-year non-call 5 structure outside South Africa in 144A/RegS format. The Bond was 3.6 times oversubscribed, demonstrating strong confidence in the Ecobank Group and our commitment to the sustainability of our communities and their social needs. I am deeply grateful to all stakeholders and must thank our clients for continuing to put their trust in Ecobank for their diverse banking needs.” Ayeyemi concluded.
Ecobank Celebrates Nigerians In The Diaspora; Announces Zero Fees for Transactions on Rapidtransfer
In commemoration of this year’s National Diaspora Day event, Ecobank Nigeria is joining the rest of the country to celebrate Nigerians in the diaspora by making transactions on its proprietary money transfer app, Rapidtransfer, free of charge.
The Federal Government has set aside July 25 of every year as the National Diaspora Dayin recognition of the contributions of Nigerians living outside the country towards the development of their homeland.
In a commemorative message, Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akinwuntan stated that Nigerians in the diaspora contribute significantly to the socio-economic development of the country. Mr. Akinwuntan lauded the decision of the Federal Government to set aside a special day every year as the National Diaspora Day, adding that the recent launch of the National Diaspora Policy (NDP) by the government would further promote and harness the resources and capacity of Nigerians in the diaspora towards national development.
“As a pan-African institution positioned to foster the economic growth and integration of our continent, we are particularly pleased to work closely with NiDCOM, ably led by the Chairman/CEO, Hon Abike Dabiri-Erewa towards the engagement of Nigerians in the diaspora on policies, projects and other initiatives geared at developing the nation. From our constant engagement with Nigerians in the Diaspora, we understand their peculiar needs and have created tailor-made solutions to serve them effectively.” He noted further that Ecobank has partnered NiDCOM on webinars, diaspora quarterly lecture series and will continue to seek other collaboration opportunities to deepen engagement with the diaspora community.
Also speaking, Korede Demola-Adeniyi, Head, Consumer Banking, Ecobank Nigeria said Ecobank will apply zero fees to all Rapidtransfer transactions from 1st July till the end of October, 2021, thereby enabling Nigerians living abroad to send money to their loved ones affordably. According to her, the decision to waive charges underscores the bank’s commitment to helping Nigerians abroad remit money home without placing an additional burden of charges on them, especially at this period of global economic downturn.
Rapidtransfer is Ecobank’s proprietary money transfer service which enables users send funds across borders, affordably and instantly. The Rapidtransfer app is available for use by Ecobank and non-Ecobank customers. Remittances can be received directly into the recipient’s account or as cash at any Ecobank branch. Beneficiaries who wish to receive funds into an account but do not have domiciliary accounts have the opportunity to open in Euro, GBP or USD instantly and enjoy all the benefits that come with Ecobank foreign currency accounts.
In addition, N5 is paid on every one dollar received as cash or direct to account in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s ongoing Naira for Dollar initiative.
Media entrepreneur and popular blogger Linda Ikeji , said she was motivated to partner with Ecobank on her “Selfmade Woman” initiative because of the bank’s various women friendly programmes, stressing that many individuals, especially women who own small businesses are supported by the bank to succeed. “When I conceive the idea of self-made women empowerment conference, Ecobank was the first bank I thought about because I love how much they are into women empowerment.
They have a lot of programmes, a lot of platforms internally to help women in business. They are really into helping women reach their full potentials. Fortunately, when I met with them and told them what I wanted to do, they immediately said yes to me, and they have been fully involved and here we are today. Ecobank today is my bank of choice”.
Linda Ikeji who spoke at the “2021 Selfmade Woman Conference”, her women empowerment initiative testified that Ecobank Nigeria as a female friendly is helping women achieve their dreams and full potentials. On why she initiate the Selfmade Women Conference Linda Ikeji said “I am very passionate about women succeeding and it was very important for me to put something together as a platform where successful women would meet and mentor those aspiring to be successful.
My purpose for doing this is to hopefully encourage more women to believe in themselves, encourage more women to fight for their dreams, encourage more women to know that there is absolutely nothing that they can’t achieve. I want them to hear stories of women who have achieved great feats, women who have broken tables and know that it’s possible for them to break through all these barriers, believe in themselves, see people like myself, Tara Durotoye and other women who have done amazingly well. Getting a women friendly bank like Ecobank to partner me is heartwarming”.
Also speaking, Founder, House of Tara, Tara Fela-Durotoye, applauded Ecobank for supporting women initiatives. She observed that partnering with young women and young entrepreneurs would go a long way to empowering women to play greater role in families.” I appreciate Ecobank’s various empowerment initiatives to support women and we can see the results. My advice to the bank is to sustain the initiatives”. This was the view of several other speakers which included
In his keynote address, Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akinwuntan, said the decision to partner with Linda Ikeji Selfmade Woman Conferencealigns with the bank’s empowerment policy for women. He noted that Ecobank recognizes women as the bedrock of most families and entrepreneurship in the society, stating that to succeed as a nation, it is imperative to recognize women’s unique potentials and support them sufficiently.Akinwuntan who was represented by Head, Consumer Banking, Korede Demola-Adeniyi reiterated that Ecobank remains a women friendly bank and have been playing the role, stressing that, the bank has many initiatives and innovative products targeted at empowering female entrepreneurs in the country.
“We have many women centred empowerment programmes such as the Ecobank Female Entrepreneurs’ Initiative (EFEI) which is designed to empower, and support women owned small-scale businesses. Under this initiative, there is special loan package where prospective female entrepreneurs could easily access credit facility with interest rates as low as 1 per cent. Through EFEI, we have trained many female business owners on digital marketing skills in our state-of-the-art Academy and have also organized capacity building workshop for them. We also have another women empowerment programme “Ellevate” for women in Business; this will be publicly launched across the country in July. With Ellevate, we want to ensure we raise and recognize our women for the significant role they have always played to ensure a better society for us all.” He said.
Further, the Ecobank Nigeria Managing Director said examples of the bank’s support to women entrepreneur includes “our long-standing partnership with Tera Kulture, that is Bolanle Austen Peters who has come out with various movies such as ‘Bling Lagosians’, ‘Moremi The Musical’, ‘Fela and the Kalakuta Queens,’ ‘The Oluronbi Musical’ and others. Recently, we also supported ‘The Wait’, a movie inspired by the popular book from renowned lawyer and entrepreneur, Yewande Zaccheaus. We are currently working with the Ogun state government to promote the Adire industry which is also primarily women driven. In the agric industry, we have supported the Anchor borrowers programme of the CBN across the six regions of the country to reach out to farmers, especially the women folk to support them financially to increase their farm size and yield capacity through the introduction of new techniques.”
The 2021 Selfmade Women conference attracted over 3000 female participants both online and at a physical event. The Linda Ikeji Selfmade Woman Conference was borne out of passion to see women succeed. it is a platform for women who want to achieve success to meet those who have already achieved success. The all-female event attracted many speakers and wide audience including potential and established women entrepreneurs, businesswomen and students. The Linda Ikeji Self-Made Woman debuted in 2013, as an advocacy project with the sole aim to mentor and provide financial empowerment to young female entrepreneurs or aspiring ones. it is essentially to build stronger economies and improve the quality of life for women, men, families and communities.
The Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akinwuntan has said the decision to partner with the media entrepreneur and blogger, Linda Ikeji to host the latest edition of her yearly popular empowerment programme, ‘Selfmade Woman Conference (SMWC) 2021’ is in line with the bank’s empowerment policy for women, stressing that the challenges facing the nation has made it more imperative to recognize the potentials in women and develop it.
According to Mr Akinwuntan, Ecobank recognizes women as the bedrock of most families and entrepreneurship in society, and if we must succeed as a nation, it is imperative that we recognize their unique potentials and support them sufficiently.
“Our decision to support Linda Ikeji conference aligns with our women empowerment policy. As a bank, we have been playing a leading role in this respect. Like you know, we have a long standing partnership with Tera Kulture, that is Bolanle Austen Peters who has come out with various movies such as ‘Bling Lagosians’, ‘Moremi The Musical’, ‘Fela and the Kalakuta Queens,’ ‘The Oluronbi Musical’ and others. Recently, we also supported ‘The Wait’, a movie inspired by the popular book from renowned lawyer and entrepreneur, Yewande Zaccheaus.
We are also currently working with the Ogun state government to promote the Adire industry which is also primarily women driven. In the agric industry, we have supported the Anchor borrowers programme of the Central Bank of Nigeria across the six regions of the country to reach out to farmers, especially the women folk to support them financially to increase their farm size and yield capacity through the introduction of new techniques. Let me also add that Ecobank has a women empowerment programme “Ellevate” for women in Business; this will be publicly launched across the country in July. With Ellevate, we want to ensure we raise and recognize our women for the significant role they have always played to ensure a better society for us all”.
The Linda Ikeji Self-Made Woman, which debuted in 2013, is an advocacy project with the sole aim to mentor and provide financial empowerment to young female entrepreneurs or aspiring ones. it is essentially to build stronger economies and improve the quality of life for women, men, families and communities. Speakers for this year’s conference scheduled for Saturday, June 19th at the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, include Tara Durotoye, renowned beauty and make-up entrepreneur; Dr. Ola Brown, Founder of the Flying Doctors Healthcare Investment Company; and Dr. Nancy Nnadi, Serial Entrepreneur & CEO of Telecom Distribution Company. They will provide actionable strategies and hope to women who would like to start their own businesses, enhance their impact in various industries or broaden their creative roles in traditional industries.
Other guest speakers will include Tomie Balogun, Investment Expert & Fin-tech Entrepreneur; Sola Adesakin, Finance Coach & Chartered Accountant; Kemi Adetiba, Film Maker and content creator; and TV star Dorathy Bachor.
The Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akinwuntan has said the bank will support the establishment of agriculture technology hubs across the country, stressing that it will further generate activities in the entire value chain and also provide a base for exporting agriculture technology services to other parts of the Africa.Mr. Akinwuntan who was speaking at the 2nd edition of the Ecobank Agribusiness virtual Summit organised in association with Vanguard Economic Forum Series with the theme: “Digitizing the agricultural value chain for unlocking productivity, economic growth and food security”, said he “finds the idea of agriculture tech hub quite exciting. I can directly say Ecobank will support this initiative because it brings the efficiency of a solution factory that is not only available in Nigeria but can also be a base for exporting agric-technology services to drive agriculture in the whole of Africa. I put Ecobank forward as a partner to bring this to reality. “
Earlier, the Co-Founder, Corporate Farmers International, Mr Akin Alabi had disclosed that his organization has initiated an agric technology hub to attract youths participation in the agric sector, noting that access to technology and innovations will further drive activities in that segment of the economy. “We have developed a big platform, called a hub to serve both government and private institutions. The hub is generating interests and solutions. And now, we are in partnership with Lagos and Kebbi state governments. We are also working with series of agricenterprenures in the country. We have also used the power of technology, mobile phones to bring agric products from the farm gate to the market. We need the support of the private sector to develop the agric tech hub. A lot of Fintech hubs are developing different solutions, we also need that in the agric space. In Nigeria today, we can use digitalization to change the narrative and get younger ones to be interested in agriculture. At corporate farmers, we also created an e-learning academy during the covid 19 lockdown to bridge the gap between agriculture and education”. He stated.
In his contribution, the Vice President, Nigeria Agricbusiness Group (NABG), Emmanuel Ijewere noted that digitization in agriculture must be brought to the actual people in the field who might not be well educated, noting that through technology one can buy food from vendors from wherever they are in any part of the country. Further, Mr Ijewere noted that we can build a warehouse and make them efficient with the support of technology. According to him “Commodity exchanges cannot thrive unless the goods are there. How we move these goods with the support of digitization and enabling us provide a sufficient market is very strategic”.
The 2nd edition of the Ecobank Agribusiness Summit organised in association with Vanguard Economic Forum Series had its primary content objective to discuss the role of technology and digitisation across the agricultural value chain. The virtual summit had strategic partners such as the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) and Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG). The speakers and panelists included Kenton Dashiell, Deputy Director-General, Partnership for Delivery, at International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA); Aliyu Abdulhameed, MD/CEO, NIRSAL; Ndidi Nwuneli, Co-founder/Managing Partner, Sahel Partner; Akin Alabi, Co-founder, Corporate Farmers International and Ayodeji Balogun, Country CEO, AFEX Commodities Exchange.
This virtual conference is part of Ecobank’s Digital Series which is in line with the bank’s vision to consolidate a modern Pan-African market, contribute to the economic development and financial integration of the continent. The summit examined the potential impact of agriculture technology investment in fixing low productivity in Nigeria’s food production; evaluate existing traditional agriculture finance models in Nigeria and the role and impact of technology-enabled commodity exchange trading across the agriculture value chain amongst others.
The Head, Agency Banking, Ecobank Nigeria, Olanike Kolawole has said there are many inherent rewards and benefits of being an agency banking partner, also known as Xpress Point agent of the bank. Kolawole, who was speaking on the bank’s ongoing mouthwatering gifts presentation to its Xpress Point agents across the six geo-political zones of the country for their increased transactions on the bank’s platforms, stated that apart from helping to drive Ecobank’s financial inclusion strategy in Nigeria, the agents were being empowered to create wealth and enjoy financial freedom.
She disclosed that the bank currently parades 30,000 agent locations across the country, stressing that the agency banking scheme is driving entrepreneurship, providing employment opportunities and supporting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
“We are happy with our Xpress Point agents, knowing they are playing a crucial role in helping us reach out to the unbanked and underbanked in the society. That is why we have designed a reward system for them. They are bringing more people to the banking space through their services. They carry out financial transactions on our behalf and earn commission on every transaction processed. The customer experience is very good as customers can do simple deposit, payment, and transfers in their own neighbourhood rather than travel for hours to a bank branch. The Xpress Point is also a channel that is being used for the deployment of national social intervention programmes of the government,” she said.
Further, Kolawole listed the services offered by the Xpress point agents as: cash in, cash out, fund transfer, bills payment, airtime recharge, remittances and account opening, among others. She added that the services are available for MSMEs, sole proprietors, partnerships, co-operative societies, microfinance banks, companies with large distribution network – like petrol stations, FMCGs, telecommunication companies, super agents, aggregators and unregistered businesses such as petty traders, hair saloon and others.
She enjoined the youths and owners of small businesses (both men and women) to use this initiative to expand their revenue streams while offering this value-added service to customers. “Are you looking for a business opportunity? Do you have a business and need an easy way to earn extra income? Xpress Point is the way. Become an Ecobank Xpress Point Agent today and enjoy financial liberty. Xpress Points are Ecobank approved agent locations that bring easy banking services closer to your neighborhood. Ecobank Xpress Point Agents offers simple banking services to solve your financial needs without you having to visit the bank.”
Ecobank boasts of a bouquet of digital channels comprising solutions aimed at delivering convenient, accessible and reliable financial services. The USSD platform, *326#, makes it possible to open an Xpress account and Xpress Save account instantly. The bank’s mobile banking app, Ecobank Mobile offers the option of generating a virtual card among other functions; this comes in handy as customers are continually turning to web payments for their shopping. The Ecobank virtual card offers the flexibility and convenience of creating a shopping card that is not linked to a customer’s account but is fully capable of carrying out online payments. The virtual card can also be shared with loved ones as a gift card for their own shopping.
