FIRSTBANK SPONSORS FIFTH CHUKKER AFRICAN PATRONS CUP POLO TOURNAMENT
Kaduna is agog with excitement as preparation for this year’s FirstBank of Nigeria Limited sponsored Emir of Zazzau African Patrons Cup and Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign gathers momentum. The African Patrons cup is an annual polo tournament which features Low, Medium and High goal teams from all around the world. The 2022 grand edition will be holding between November 1st – 6th, at the highbrow Fifth Chukker Polo Resort in Kaduna.
The weeklong mini polo tournament will feature notable teams like Mohammed Babangida’s Kaduna El-Amin, Y.Y Kangimi, Abuja Rubicon, Lagos MRS, while star players like Sayyu Dantata; Patron of Lagos MRS, Hadi Sirika; Patron of Abuja Rubicon, Adamu Attah; Patron of Fifth Chukker Polo team, Dawule Baba of DEEBEE Farms Polo Team, Bello Buba; Nigeria highest ranked polo player, Suleiman Abubakar; Kashim Bukar Shettima; Babangida Hassan are the notable polo players expected in Kaduna competition.
The players and their teams will compete for glamorous Patrons Cup. Apart from the star tournament, there is also the Hassan Katsina Cup that would feature medium-goal teams drawn from major polo centres across the country.
In addition to the activities, the annual Breast Cancer Awareness campaign will create awareness and promote education on breast cancer. The event will provide essential screening services to many women who cannot afford it, as well as enlighten women on the early detection signs.
Commenting on the Bank’s contribution to sports development in Nigeria, Folake Ani-Mumuney, Group Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications, FirstBank said “we are proud to have been associated with the African Patrons Cup Polo Tournament for many years, an event that truly captures the spirit of Sport which plays a crucial role to the socio-economic development of the society. We commend Fifth Chukker Polo and Country Club for the Breast Cancer Awareness campaign as it underscores our commitment to the wellbeing of women, particularly with the indelible role they play to the growth of any nation”.
The First@Sport initiative remains part of the Bank’s influence in the development of sports in Nigeria. Added to the Bank’s sponsorship of the African Patrons Cup Polo Tournament which has been for 5 years, other tourneys sponsored by FirstBank include the Georgian Cup of Kaduna Polo Club, for over 100 years; the Dala Tennis Hard Court in Kano Club for over 30 years; the FirstBank Lagos Amateur Open Golf Championship in Ikoyi Club for over 60 years; and the Obasanjo Pro-Amateur tournament of Abeokuta Club now in its 6th year.
FirstBank: A triumphant Return to the Nigerian Banking Frontline
The story of Corporate Nigeria in 2022, cannot be complete without a chapter on the incredible performance of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, which saw the hitherto encumbered bank now returning to the top of the ladder of the Nigerian banking industry, amid a harvest of international laurels, writes Festus Akanbi
By December this year, Nigerian quoted companies will begin to upload their full year 2022 results in compliance with the dictates of the principle of disclosures to regulators, investors and customers as enshrined in the act of Corporate Governance.
While the waiting game for the release of the more detailed full-year results continues, analysts said that bookmakers can only assess the current level of profitability, efficiency and recovery of these companies based on their half-year reports which began to hit the various media platforms from July this year.
For FirstBank, a subsidiary of the behemoth FBN Holdings Plc, the 2022 operation year has been characterised by a superlative performance which analysts believed signposts the confirmation of the bank’s return to the frontline of the Nigerian banking industry following its 2021 equally stellar performance.
From its half-year 2022 reports, which show a remarkable turnaround, and the ability of the management of the bank not only to resolve old corporate governance issues but to also return the bank to the path of profitability, it has been proven beyond any reasonable doubt that FirstBank has freed itself from old encumbrances and it is back to its old trajectory of breaking boundaries and being a pacesetter in the Nigerian banking industry.
For instance, analysts who believed that FirstBank’s current excellent performance is a reaffirmation of the new era of a return to greater and better times ahead are quick to point to the bank’s half-year 2022 results which proved the solidity of the financial institution and confirmed that it is back in form as a formidable industry leader.
Reinforcing Quantum Profitability Leap Agenda
For instance, in its half-year 2022 scorecard, FirstBank recorded a 22.6 per cent year-on-year growth in gross earnings to N338.5 billion while net interest income was up 49.3 per cent year-on-year to N152.9 billion respectively.”
The bank’s Managing Director/Chief Executive, Adesola Adeduntan who gave this figure disclosed that “Amidst a challenging operating and dynamic regulatory environment in the half year 2022, the commercial banking group remained focused on executing key initiatives to position the group for improved profitability in the full year 2022. Our half-year results further reinforced our drive towards our ‘Quantum Profitability Leap’ agenda.”
Adeduntan said, “On the back of the impressive growth recorded in our top line, our profit before tax recorded a strong growth of 40.0 per cent year on year to N60.0 billion, whilst profit after tax also grew by 42.3 per cent year on year to N53.3 billion as the bank continues to reap the dividends of the successful restructuring of our balance sheet and revamping of our risk management architecture.”
“We continue to record progress in driving down our non-performing loan ratio which now stands at 5.4 per cent at the end of H1 and we are on target to bring it within the regulatory limit of 5 percent by end of full-year 2022.”
Awards and Recognitions: FirstBank’s Leading the Pack
In terms of recognition, there is no doubt that the ongoing transformation in FirstBank is globally recognised when one considers the harvests of awards and recognitions that are already pouring in for the bank.
Analysts said the awards and recognitions, which include those from the Fitch Ratings and The Banker awards and Euromoney rankings are testimonials of FirstBank’s consistent performance.
Fitch Rerating
Analysts maintained that the current Fitch rerating of FirstBank aligns with ratings of other global agencies (such as S&P: B- with a stable outlook; Moodys: B2 with stable outlook) – a confirmation of what industry peers already acknowledge – back to leading the pack.
On September 16, 2022, Fitch Ratings announced the upgrade of FBN Holdings Plc’s (FBNH) and First Bank of Nigeria Ltd’s (FBN) Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) to ‘B’ from ‘B-‘, and according to the rating agency, the Outlooks are Stable. Fitch has also upgraded their Viability Ratings (VR) to ‘b’ from ‘b-‘.
It explained that the upgrade of the Long-Term IDRs follows that of the VRs, reflecting that corporate governance irregularities publicly raised by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in April 2021, including two longstanding related-party exposures, have largely been addressed and therefore risks to capitalisation have receded, helped by strong internal capital generation since the irregularities were raised.
Governance Issues Laid to Rest
Following its monitoring of the Bank’s corporate Banking endeavours within the last year, the rating agency gave FirstBank a clean bill of health saying the bank’s governance irregularities have been addressed and according to the management of the bank, “the two related-party exposures highlighted by the CBN, which included equity and credit exposures to two companies of whom FBNH’s previous chairman was also chairman, have largely been disposed of and repaid. Fitch understands from management that FBNH and FBN have not been subject to penalties about irregularities raised by the CBN in April 2021 and no further irregularities have been raised.”
It also attests to the solidity of the bank, affirming that FBN is the third-largest bank in Nigeria, representing 11% of domestic banking-system assets at the end of 2021.
Another reason for the high rating is the fact that the bank’s improved asset quality since FirstBank’s impaired loans (Stage 3 loans under IFRS 9) ratio has declined significantly.
FirstBank also boasts of a Stable Funding Profile. For instance, FBN’s customer deposit base (76% of total funding at end-1H22) comprises a high share of retail deposits (64% at end-2021) and current and savings accounts (81% at end-1H22), supporting funding stability and a low-cost of funding. Depositor concentration is fairly low. Liquidity coverage is comfortable in local and foreign currencies.
Bankers Magazine: FirstBank Best Performing in Nigeria
It is also not a coincidence that FirstBank was rated first among its peers in Nigeria by Bankers Magazine, a publication of the Financial Times.
The Top 100 African Bank Rankings 2022 recently released by The Bankershows FirstBank leading the Nigerian table in four areas, the highest achieved by any Nigerian bank; only FirstBank leads in four areas. The rankings, based on the end of year 31 December 2021 audited financials of all banks in the Top 100, reveal FirstBank’s ranking as number one in Nigeria in terms of Overall Performance, Profitability, Efficiency and Return on Risk.
The magazine, which explained that its Top 100 African Banks ranking for 2022 demonstrates a broad return to stability by African banks after a torrid year for the continent’s largest lenders placed FirstBank among other banks in Nigeria because it happened to be the only bank that led in four areas.
First Bank of Nigeria Limited leads its peers in fifth place overall, displacing Guaranty Trust Bank, now in seventh place. Access Bank ranks in the eighth position, with Zenith Bank in 10th place.
Euromoney Rankings: FirstBank, Market Leader
In addition, in 2022, Euromoney Market Leaders, an independent global assessment of the leading financial service providers conducted by Euromoney Institutional Investor Plc crowned FirstBank as a market leader. The bank was rated as a tier one bank in the areas of corporate and social responsibility (CSR).
Not only that, but FirstBank also emerged as a market leader among the tier-one banks in the area of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG).
In the area of corporate banking and digital solution, FirstBank was highly regarded while it was crowned as a notable player in SME Banking for the period under review.
FirstBank was named “Best Bank Brand in Nigeria” for six years in a row – 2011 to 2016 – by The Banker magazine of the Financial Times Group; it was awarded “Most Innovative Bank in Africa” in the EMEA Finance African Banking Awards 2014; it has clinched the “Best Bank in Nigeria” award by Global Finance Magazine 15 times and the “Best Private Bank in Nigeria” by World Finance Magazine seven times. Some other recent awards received by the Bank are “Best Banking Brand Nigeria, 2019” by Global Brands Magazine; “Best Mobile Banking App – Nigeria, 2019” by Global Business Outlook and “Best Financial Inclusion Program – Nigeria, 2019 by International Investor.
In the words of FirstBank’s CEO, Dr Adesola Adeduntan, ‘what all these current ratings and recognitions demonstrate is that FirstBank is strongly back on course! Knowing this is only the beginning of a new era of return to the trailblazing position and that better times lie ahead we encourage our customers and other stakeholders to keep believing and keep standing by us.’
Banking on Robust Customer Service Network
Through the last 128 years of its operations, FirstBank has played a leading role in utilising its robust customer service network and digital banking architecture to support its customers – cutting across diverse cultures, tribes and races beyond the shores of Nigeria – in meeting their individual and business needs.
First Bank of Nigeria Limited operates as a parent company, with the subsidiaries FBNBank in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, The Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Senegal; FBN Bank UK Limited in the United Kingdom with a branch in Paris; First Bank Representative Office in Beijing to capture trade-related business between geographies. FirstBank also operates First Pension Custodian Nigeria Limited, Nigeria’s foremost pension custodian. The teeming customers of the First Bank Group are serviced from a network of over 700 business locations across Africa.
FIRSTBANK: THE EMBODIMENT OF CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY
Who should corporate responsibility and sustainability lessons be taken from? Some companies are still unclear about the concept but latching onto the sustainability mantra anyway, because it has become a marketing buzzword for business? Or a company through whose creed and deeds, over the many decades it has been around, people can see corporate responsibility and sustainability lived (first) and preached (subsequently)?
If the above set of questions constituted a question in an examination hall, it would be one of the easiest of questions to answer. Not one person would fail it. Outside the examination hall, the answer to this question that seems as easy and simple like the question of 2 + 2 may not be as easy and simple. It may be complicated by all the cleverly arranged noise and claims projected at people to make it difficult for them to see and accept the obvious.
So, it is incumbent on people who know, and care enough (like this writer), to keep stating and restating the obvious. This is in the hope that doing so would help others to take full cognisance of the obvious and not allow themselves to be bamboozled by image without substance and rhetoric without pedigree.
The concept of corporate responsibility and sustainability is not about the clever or manipulative use of marketing buzzwords by corporate citizens. It is about impact, net positive impact, in the lives of real, not imagined, people through the deliberate and well-planned activities of socially-responsible corporate citizens.
Even if history is no longer taught in most schools in Nigeria, the records are there. The records show that Nigeria has been blessed to have standing by her, at all times, a corporate citizen which understands the concept of corporate responsibility and sustainability.
This corporate citizen has been standing by Nigeria before the country’s founding, through its amalgamation, Independence and all the conflicts and crises Nigeria has gone through and still faces. Today, the corporate citizen still stands by Nigeria.
FirstBank of Nigeria Limited, a lender of unmatched pedigree, a bank with a history of unparalleled support to Nigeria and Nigerians (right from the colonial era to date, even serving as Nigeria’s central bank at some stage of our national development), has been a corporate citizen like no other.
A brand that has backed innumerable groundbreaking projects across Nigeria and beyond, FirstBank has demonstrated that real impact that can be seen and felt by all, and not mere marketing buzzwords, is the real measure of an institution’s understanding of corporate responsibility and sustainability.
It is incontrovertible that whichever way corporate responsibility and sustainability is understood or defined, FirstBank is sure to tick all the boxes. Just name every parameter for assessing a company’s efforts in corporate responsibility and sustainability and match each against what FirstBank has been doing. Is there any parameter that FirstBank has not surpassed?
FirstBank has been living corporate responsibility and sustainability for most, if not all, of its existence as a going concern. Knowing it cannot do it alone, the bank has also devoted resources to efforts that will enable it to preach or pass the message so other corporate citizens, groups and individuals will emulate it.
One platform the bank has used effectively for this purpose is its Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CR&S) Week. The CR&S Week is a full working week that the FirstBank Group, in-country and across the world where it operates, dedicates to the promotion, execution and celebration of social responsibility initiatives.
The Sustainability Week also includes a huge kindness campaign to reorient citizens towards the right values and reignite acts of kindness in society. It is only one of the many ways FirstBank is living true to its brand promise to always put customers first.
And the Sustainability Week seeks to invite others (individuals and corporate citizens) to follow the bank’s example and begin to intentionally create positive impact in their immediate communities.
From the inaugural edition in 2017, where the theme was “Promoting Kindness: Putting You First”, the Sustainability Week has helped to reinforce FirstBank’s role as a nation-builder that is driving sustainable development across communities where it operates. It was an opportunity for the bank to encourage others (individuals and corporate citizens) to follow in its steps, even if all they can afford to take are small steps.
Taking small steps may have informed the choice of theme for the second edition of the Sustainability Week in 2018: “Touching Lives: You First”. The bank sought to debunk the notion that touching lives in meaningful ways and making an impact on society require big-ticket projects, whilst emphasising the power in the little things people do and the small steps they take.
After all, is it not little drops of water that make a mighty ocean, like the saying goes? And does the journey of a thousand miles not begin with a (small) step, like another saying puts it?
Just take a look at SPARK (Start Performing Acts of Random Kindness), a values-based initiative that raises consciousness promoting kindness to one another in society, which the bank started during the inaugural Sustainability Week in 2017.
Aimed at reinforcing FirstBank’s corporate culture of encouraging giving and volunteering among its staff and the larger society, its magnitude today and the many kind initiatives it has sparked off across the country could not have been imagined when the seed was planted five years ago. Incalculable manhours and financial resources from FirstBank staff and partners have been contributed willingly.
Children in orphanages, internally displaced persons (IDPs) in various IDP camps, widows and other underprivileged or vulnerable groups have been visited and their challenges alleviated if not totally eliminated. Scores of career counselling sessions with secondary school pupils across Nigeria has also been organised as part of the Sustainability Week, which has been the first of its kind in Nigeria’s financial services industry.
In 2019, the third edition of the Sustainability Week with the theme: “Ripples of Kindness: Putting You First” enunciated the values (or pillars) of the SPARK initiative to include Compassion, Civility and Charity. FirstBank believes that these values and the acts of kindness that flow as a result of embracing the values are critical to promoting and building peaceful co-existence and prosperity in society.
Among the key highlights of the 2019 Sustainability Week was a “Nice Comments Day” that was a day set aside to foster words of encouragement, support and kindness to people around one, regardless of ones’ familiarity or close ties, in recognition of the instrumental role kind words play in lighting up people’s day and bringing out the best in them.
Another highlight was the SPARK School Engagement that promoted the SPARK initiative in schools, with the objective of embedding the values of SPARK amongst school children at a young age so the values become part of, and habitual to, them as they develop into adulthood.
Due to COVID-19 pandemic and government-imposed lockdown, the year 2020 witnessed no edition of the Sustainability Week. Any attempt to stage the kinds of activities and events that usually accompany the Sustainability Week would have been counterproductive, spreading infections and possibly deaths instead of kindness and joy that the Sustainability Week has become synonymous with.
However, FirstBank’s avowed commitment to corporate responsibility and sustainability would not allow it fold its hands and just watch while COVID-19 and its debilitating effects tried to make living and learning difficult for most Nigerians.
Working virtually or remotely and, where it could not do otherwise, physically but in strict adherence to COVID-19 safety protocols, FirstBank executed several initiatives meant to ameliorate the very difficult situation in Nigeria then.
The bank contributed to efforts to provide palliatives to vulnerable Nigerians, announced a moratorium on repayment of loans, set up a special loan fund for businesses run by women, established another for school proprietors in collaboration with a state government and drove an e-learning initiative that sought to move one million school children to a safe online learning platform so their educational progress would not be set back due to COVID-19 restrictions, government-ordered lockdown and the closure of educational institutions for the greater part of 2020
“Kindness: A Way of Life” was the theme for the fourth edition of the Sustainability Week held in 2021. Highlights of activities of the 2021 Sustainability Week, designed to entrench a culture of kindness, included a practical-oriented training webinar for staff to embed a culture of kindness in the bank by driving understanding of how kindness (or the lack of it) can impact the workplace, the marketplace and the communities in which staff live and work.
Another important feature of the Sustainability Week was the “Kind Comments Days” that ran all week to inspire a consciousness of kind choice of words and consideration for others. There was also a dedicated programme in secondary schools designed to institutionalise SPARK by using school SPARK champions (including students and teachers) alongside other partners such as Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN) and Lagos State government to inculcate the SPARK values in school children.
One other feature was the ground-breaking ceremony for the Lagos State government’s OCAAT (One Community At A Time) initiative to provide the Primary Health Care Centre at Ijedodo community in Alimosho LGA. Set up as an initiative to improve the health and welfare of the members of various communities in Lagos State, FirstBank partnered the government on the project as part of its contribution to global efforts to meet some specific Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
There were also webinars: a general webinar with the sub-theme: “Education: Does Kindness have a Role?”; and a millennial webinar with the sub-theme: “Making the Cyber World a Kinder Place” which sought to proffer solution to the question of how people could become kinder on social media platforms.
All the past editions of FirstBank Sustainability Week highlight the longstanding and relentless commitment of FirstBank not only to continue to live but also to preach the message of corporate responsibility and sustainability.
Given its unmatched pedigree in corporate responsibility and sustainability, FirstBank has earned the right to address all other corporate organisations as well as individuals and groups on matters of sustainability. The bank has earned its right to the people’s audience.
It is against this backdrop that FirstBank’s forthcoming 2022 Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Week should be welcomed by other banks and corporate citizens, irrespective of industry, as an opportunity to come together and take lessons from Nigeria’s foremost corporate citizen with regard to corporate responsibility and sustainability.
FirstBank does not consider itself too big to take lessons from other corporate citizens in areas where they have distinguished themselves. So other corporate citizens should not feel too big to take lessons from FirstBank in this area where the bank stands highly distinguished.
Or can anyone claim not to know that if the concept of corporate responsibility and sustainability were to be represented by one corporate citizen per country on a world map where countries are denoted by their foremost corporate entities, it is unarguable that FirstBank would be the company eminently representing Nigeria on that map?
FIRSTBANK HOSTS THE FINANCIAL MARKET DEALERS ASSOCIATION (FMDA) QUARTERLY MEETING
FirstBank of Nigeria Limited has announced that it will host the Financial Markets Dealers Association’s (FMDA) quarterly meeting scheduled for 5pm on Friday, 16 September 2022, at Federal Palace Hotels, Victoria Island, Lagos. The event themed “Nigeria Macroeconomic Developments and Outlook: IMF View” will have itskeynote address delivered by Ari Aisen, IMF Resident Representative for Nigeria.
In a statement issued by the Acting Executive Secretary, Mrs. Mary Gbegbaje, “The FMDA quarterly meeting serves as a platform for in-depth knowledge sharing, dissemination of information and fostering of business relationships of members in treasury market practice which consists of Treasurers, Analysts and other market players from insurance, pension funds, government and regulatory bodies in Nigeria. Participants at the event include delegates from all banks and invited guest and customers.”
According to Ini Ebong, Executive Director, Treasury, Financial Institutions & International Banking, First Bank of Nigeria Limited “at FirstBank, we are delighted to host the 2022 quarterly meeting of the Financial Markets Dealers Association of Nigeria (FMDA), a platform we consider pivotal to the continued growth of the financial market in the country. We are excited with the successes so far achieved by our noble Association – FMDA – as with the right regulatory and risk management framework, we have beenable to impact and promote fairness in the activities of members, whilst providing the enabling environment to promote business performance and positively impact the national economy”.
With the knowledge and insights shared in the course of the quarterly meeting, we would further deepen our resolve towards the unrelenting role we play in the economy”, he concluded.
FMDA is the principal interface with the monetary authorities through policy advocacy and engagement aimed at promoting sound markets and ethical conducts comparable to international standards that facilitate liquidity, transparency and price discovery and engendering market deepening.
FirstBank commemorates its annual Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability week and promotes kindness across over 7 countries
The FirstBank CR&S Week is a dedicated week designed to offer opportunities for employees to give their time & resources to defined causes in line with the Bank’s CR&S strategic approach;
The FirstBank CR&S Week is held in Nigeria and 7 other countries: United Kingdom, Ghana, DRC, Guinea, Sierra Lone, Senegal and Gambia;
Since its maiden edition in 2017, the FirstBank CR&S week is fast becoming a household name in the Bank’s host economies.
In furtherance of its continued commitment to impacting the lives of individuals in its host communities across 7 Countries: Nigeria, United Kingdom, Ghana, DRC, Guinea, Sierra Lone, Senegal and Gambia. FirstBank of Nigeria Limited has announced the Fifth edition of its Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability (CR&S) week, scheduled for 22- 27 August 2022.
The event which is themed: “Kindness…. A Way of Life” reflects the single-minded purpose to make a difference in the world by inspiring and institutionalising kindness. SPARK is an acronym for Start Performing Acts of Random Kindness and it is a values-based initiative designed to raise consciousness that we can choose to be kind.
The FirstBank CR&S Week is a dedicated week designed to offer opportunities for employees to give their time & resources to defined causes in line with the Bank’s CR&S strategic approach. The CR&S Week will offer employees opportunities to give their time & resources to defined causes. The Week’s activities are an aspect of the Bank’s Employee Giving & Volunteering Program, which was instituted to encourage employees to give back to the community as well as inculcate in them the integral corporate culture of giving.
The Bank held the maiden edition of the CR&S week in 2017 with a focus mainly on three key initiatives/activities which were giving and visits to orphanages/less privileged homes/IDPs; career counselling day; and Staff Promoting Acts of Random Kindness (SPARK) initiative – which is now Start Performing Acts of Random Kindness. The CR&S week has become more successful in subsequent years and it is fast becoming a household name in the Bank’s host economies.
There are five main activities to be implemented during this year’s CR&S Week in Nigeria, FBNBank UK and across the SSA markets. These activities include SPARK APP,Kind Comments Day, Visits to orphanage/less privileged homes, SPARK School Engagement, and Women Economic Empowerment. The major highlight of the Week will be the launch of the SPARK APP. The app is strategic in the Bank’s journey to institutionalize “A Day of Kindness” on a national level, and globally position the Bank as a Corporate Citizen in leveraging new media to drive sustainability practices.
The SPARK App is a sensational application designed to have individuals abreast with the act of kindness through various kindness-based quotes and inspirational phrases that will be displayed on one’s phone screen, especially when the phone is idle.
Kind Comments Day is an initiative that focuses on inspiring and encouraging everyone to be deliberate with the use of kind words in relating or interacting with anyone.
In addition, with Women Empowerment, the Bank will support, VVF patients in need of surgical operations and also empower them with vocational skills as they integrate back into the society.
The SPARK Schools Engagement will be implemented through the National Competition of JAN SPARK School Integration. The activity is aimed at rewarding the various participating students, following their SPARK activity, Through the partnership with JAN, SPARK is integrated into the JAN Company Program, where students are taught the values of SPARK. The SPARK schools’ competition has been tied with Company programme regional competition,ensuring they imbibed the values taught during the training. One of the highlights of the event is the visit to orphanage homes and the less privileged, across various cities which will be carried out by volunteers from the Bank.
Speaking on the week, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, CEO, FirstBank said “The CR&S Week is another opportunity to strengthen our commitment and extend our reach beyond the communities where we operate in Nigeria and across our subsidiaries. Over time, our goal has stayed the same, to create platforms through which our positive impact is felt.”
“For us in the FirstBank Group, beyond saying that we care, we take a step further and show it,” he concluded.
Through the years of commemorating its annual CR&S Week, FirstBank has impacted lives across its host communities in Nigeria, the United Kingdom and its SSA subsidiaries. These impacts comprise the partnership with Lagos State Government on the provision of a Primary Health Centre at Ijedodo Community, Lagos State; engagements with over 60 charities, Non-governmental organisations, orphanages, correctional centres, schools and Internally Displayed Persons (IDP) Camps which resulted in touching the lives of over 20,000 underprivileged individuals in the society including widows, orphans and children with disabilities.
FIRSTBANK COMMEMORATES 2022 INTERNATIONAL YOUTH DAY, DEDICATING THE WEEK TO CELEBRATING THE YOUTH
FirstBank of Nigeria Limited has announced its commemoration of the 2022 International Youth Day, globally celebrated today, 12 August 2022 and themed “Intergenerational solidarity: Creating a World for All Ages.”
The International Youth Day is commemorated every year on 12 August, bringing youth issues to the attention of the international community and celebrating the potential of youth as partners in today’s global society. The Day also amplifies the message that action is needed across all generations to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and leave no one behind.
Leading up to the day, the Bank dedicated the week of 8 – 12 August with a lineup of activities to reiterate its commitment to Youth Empowerment.
As a Bank renowned for its role in developing the economy through sustainable employment and entrepreneurship endeavours, the 2022 edition of the Youth Week will promote economic empowerment and employment, digital technology, and education as its focus during the celebration.
The Youth Week comprises various activities, including a Fashion illustration workshop, Design skill training, Gen Z/Millennial Webinar and many more exciting activities. These activities would give participants opportunities to win various exciting gift items.
Under the First@arts program, the Bank will empower the youths through Artistry Workshop Sessions & Arts Classes. Interested in the art of fashion design and illustrations, visit the Bank’s social media handles – Instagram: @firstbanknigeria, Facebook: First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Twitter: @FirstBankngr – for information on how you can be among 10 lucky winners to have the opportunity to learn the business of fashion at Claire Idera fashion studio.
Likewise, the Creative design workshop will enable youths design skill training; design thinking principles and their application in the context of layout, typefaces and colour. Interested youths can also participate on the FirstBank social media handles, where 25 lucky winners will be selected to learn the Art of Design at Geneza School of Designs.
Commemorating the Youth Week, Dr Adesola Adeduntan, Chief Executive Officer of FirstBank said: ”We remain committed to celebrating the younger demography whose voices, actions, vigour, and tireless participation in the political, economic, and social activities have continued to birth major contributions towards the sustainable development of Africa and the world at large. The planned activities will promote better collaboration and solidarity across generations to foster successful and equitable relationships, and partnerships thereby ensuring “no one is left behind” and empowering everyone to leverage their full potential toward achieving the much-desired Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This Youth demography has a striking significance for us at FirstBank with the Millennials and Gen Zs constituting almost 60% of our workforce. This shows that youths are an integral part of our organisation and every country where we operate”, he concluded.
For more information and participation in the Youth Week, kindly visit the bank’s verified social media platforms; Instagram: @firstbanknigeria, Facebook: First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Twitter: @FirstBankngr
Our attention has been drawn to the news reports online with the conflicting claims that FirstBank branch or/head office has been sealed.
Please be informed that the referenced story is a misrepresentation of the facts and misleading. Neither our branch nor head office was sealed. On the 4th of August, 2022, there was an unlawful enforcement at the Bank’s Coomassie House Branch of a garnishee order issued by a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja which order the Bank is still challenging in court.
While the Bank has taken appropriate legal steps to deal with the situation, we wish to reassure our customers of unhindered banking services and unique customer experience in all our branches and through our numerous alternative channels.
FIRSTBANK LAUNCHES SINGLE-DIGIT LOAN FOR WOMEN-OWNED BUSINESSES, REINFORCES ITS ROLE IN STRENGTHENING GENDER INCLUSION IN NIGERIA
The FirstGem fund (FirstGem loan) is a single-digit loan scheme, exclusively designed to put women at an advantage in contributing to the socio-economic development of the country.
The loan scheme covers female-owned or partnered SMEs in various sectors of the economy
Launched in 2016, FirstGem has been impactful in driving financial inclusion, influencing women’s empowerment through gender-advancement programmes like savings culture, financial literacy, wealth management and building an investment portfolio.
In furtherance of its role in promoting female entrepreneurship across the country, Nigeria’s premier banking institution and leading financial inclusion services provider, FirstBank of Nigeria Limited, has announced the launch of the FirstGem fund (FirstGem loan); a single-digit loan scheme, exclusively designed to put women at an advantage in contributing to the socio-economic development of the country.
The FirstGem loan scheme is designed for female-owned or partnered SMEs in the following sectors Food/Beverage processing & Packaging, Beauty and cosmetics, Confectionery, Catering & Restaurants, Transportation (Logistics) and Agric/Agro-Allied (retail value chain). With an interest rate of 9% per annum, FirstGem loan is a collateral-free loan that is available to the bank’s existing and prospective female customers. Based on eligibility, customers can access loans from N500,000.00 to N3,000,000.00.
Speaking on the loan Folake Ani-Mumuney, Group Head, First Bank of Nigeria Limited said, “we are delighted with the role our FirstGem product plays in creating an avenue to enlarge the business activities and endeavours of female entrepreneurs across the country. Our FirstGem value proposition offers real solutions to constraints encountered by female entrepreneurs and working professionals, as it exposes women to opportunities for the advancement of their business. We implore every female business-minded individual to take advantage of the FirstGem loan as it puts them at an advantage to contribute their quota to the national economy.”
Launched in 2016, FirstGem has been impactful in driving financial inclusion, influencing women’s empowerment through gender-advancement programmes like savings culture, financial literacy, wealth management and building an investment portfolio. FirstGem is designed specifically to meet the needs of the female gender, aged 18 years and above.
FirstGem is targeted at a broad spectrum of women, working professionals, entrepreneurs or market women through an array of benefits such as free business advisory services, access to finance, specialized training on business development initiatives (virtual and physical events), regular insights on business / investment opportunities and mouth-watering discounts at partner merchant outlets (spas, salons, grocery stores) offering lifestyle products and services.
Recently, FirstBank announced its partnership with CDC Group, the UK Government’s development finance organisation to economically empower women-owned and led businesses as well as local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria. The facility, which is in the sum of US$100 million will have a minimum of 30% allocated in the form of credit lines to women entrepreneurs.
FIRSTBANK PARTNERS WITH ELOY FOUNDATION TO PROMOTE THE SUSTAINABILITY OF FEMALE OWNED SMALL BUSINESSES
In furtherance of the need to empower female business owners across the country, The ELOY Foundation, in partnership with FirstBank presents the ELOY Foundation Business Shower, created to support female entrepreneurs on their journey to building sustainable businesses. The support from FirstBank will be carried out through the FirstGem loan scheme designed for female-owned or partnered MSMEs and its SMEConnect initiative.
The partnership focuses on key sectors of the economy and designed to have female entrepreneurs exposed to essential business skills like training, networking and the ELOY Foundation Business Toolkit, a compilation of business survival skills nuggets. The business shower will avail businesses a platform to pitch their ideas to win seed grants and join the ELOY Foundation Sustainable Empowerment Programme 2022. Participants will also be able to access the FirstGem single digit loan, where eligible.
The ELOY Foundation Business Shower will hold in 5 locations across the country. Kicking off in Lagos on 23 June 2022, the train moves to Port Harcourt on 25 June 2022, then Abuja on 30 June 2022. In July, Kano and Abia will host female business owners on the 2nd and 7th, respectively.
The ELOY Awards Foundation Business Showers will offer an avenue to sustain women empowerment by providing entrepreneurial training and mentorship from experienced businessmen and women, arming participants with tools and information to help them grow their businesses.
According to Tewa Onasanya, Founder of the ELOY Awards Foundation, “it is not just enough to talk about empowering business owners, it is very important to sustain empowerment by providing guidance towards their business progress and giving them access to different resources to help them continue to thrive. MSMEs are the backbone of any nation and there is a great need to sustain this chain of the economy. It is on this common ground that FirstBank has partnered with the ELOY Team to contribute meaningfully in empowering women to achieve fulfilment in their chosen business endeavours.”
Speaking on the partnership, Folake An-Mumuney, Group Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications, FirstBank said, “we commend ELOY Foundation for their efforts on this initiative as the continued strengthening and inclusiveness of female driven business endeavours is essential to the growth of the national economy. We are happy to partner with ELOY Foundation on its Business Shower. Together, we will drive the entrepreneurial viability of participants and expose them to business nuggets that will take their business to the next level.
Woven into the fabric of society for over 128 years, FirstBank plays a leading role in supporting women through strategic empowerment, capacity building and mentorship programs for women in MSME, leveraging its FirstGem and SMEConnect propositions to women across diverse sectors of the economy as well as strategic partnerships with women empowerment organisations like ELOY.
Registration is currently ongoing for the ELOY Business Shower via the link below.
Female business owners are encouraged to send in their business pitch video and business plan for a spot on the ELOY Foundation Sustainable Empowerment Program and a chance to win a grant for their business.
FIRSTBANK REWARDS CUSTOMERS IN ITS FIRSTMOBILE CASH-OUT PROMO
In collaboration with Interswitch, FirstBank has launched a promo to reward users of the FirstMobile app, its industry-leading mobile banking application. The promo tagged FirstMobile Cash-out Promo will run for 3 months. The promo, which started on Monday, 21st March 2022 will end on Tuesday, 21st June 2022.
Various prizes including, N1,000,000, N40,000, N10,000.00 cash prizes, N40,000 Airtime, LED Televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioning systems will be won in the course of the three months campaign. A minimum of two bills payment worth N1000 and five airtimes of at least a total of N2000 in a week qualify a customer for any of the prizes. The promo is open to new customers and existing users of the FirstMobile app.
FirstMobile customers who do a minimum of 6 transactions weekly on the FirstMobile app, will be eligible for the respective rewards: N10,000 cash for 200 winners; Gift items (TVs, Refrigerators and AC) for 10 winners; N10,000 airtime for 340 winners.
On the other hand, 500 customers that carry out a minimum of 10 transactions monthly will win N30,000 cash. The Grand Prize of N1,000,000 will be won by 2 lucky customers who carry out a minimum of 20 transactions or a minimum of two bills payment of N1000 plus five airtime transactions of at least a total of N5000 in a week.
Speaking on the campaign, Chuma Ezirim, FirstBank’s Group Executive, e-Business & Retail Products said, “as the leading financial inclusion services provider in Nigeria, we are delighted to partner with Interswitch, an Africa-oriented technology-driven company, to reward our customers for their continuous patronage. Together with Interswitch, we remain committed to ensuring the continued safety of customers’ funds across multiple electronic payment channels irrespective of where our customers may be across the world. FirstMobile remains another obvious step towards leveraging evolving technologies to bring fast and convenient digital banking solutions to our customers”.
FirstMobile is built to reflect FirstBank’s resolve at reinforcing the digitisation of payment systems, whilst putting customers at an edge to conveniently meet their everyday needs at any time, irrespective of where they are. The app provides convenient access to both financial and non-financial transactions by FirstBank account holders via their mobile devices. It is sleek and convenient to use – evident in its easy enrolment process as all FirstBank customers with Verve and Naira Mastercards can begin using the app without having cause to visit a FirstBank branch. It is also poised to offer a more reliable and more convenient overall digital banking experience.
To set up the FirstMobile app, customers with android phones should visit the Google Play store to download and install the FirstMobile app. Customers with Apple devices can download it from the Apple Store. Once installed, customers are required to open the app, tap the register button, and use their FirstBank issued Naira MasterCard or Verve card to activate the app. After details have been inputted, an OTP code will be sent via an SMS to your phone number that is linked to your bank account and you are then required to Input a 5 digits code that will be your login password, select two security questions and answer them, create a personalised 4 digits transaction pin that will help your confirm transactions. Upon the conclusion of these steps above, click Done and start enjoying the app.
