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bY Elizabeth Chukwuma
the United Bank For Africa, UBA plc, a Pan Africa Bank, which Tony Elumelu , its Chairman , and founder Tony Elumelu Foundation,popular, TEF have kickstarted its virtual, capacity building quarterly business seies Workshop , for the Medium and Small Scale Enterprises, Entrepreneurs, MSMEs, to further acquaint them on how to go about their business in this post COVID 19.
The Wuhan Town in the Asian country of China emerged coronavirus, popular, COVID 19, had adversely affected the nation’s economy leading to complete lockdown of the country since March, 2020, ostensibly to stop the spread of the disease in the country. Many of the MSMEs, were said have shut their factories in keeping with the government policy.
The Pan African Bank may have been encouraged to organise the post –COVID 19 capacity building Workshop to the mentor the MSMEs, because of the believe that ‘’building a successful business requires the right support , like financial products and services specifically designed to help the business grow’’.
Many of the UBA ,sponsored MSMEs, Entrepreneurs may have looked forward to such a capacity building workshop going by the way they are going about it in their Microsoft Team Groups. From Lagos, Ottah in Ogun state, Kano, PortHarcourt, Abuja, Ibadan and Kaduna, and other major cities, the story is the same, no MSMEs Entrepreneur wants to miss benefiting from the workshop as they rush to register on –line.
A member of the organising Committee of the MSMEs quarterly Workshop who spoke with the Magazine disclosed that the capacity building initiative is where the leading business gurus share their insights on best practices of running successful businesses in the face of huge economic challenges. It is not surprising why the UBA sponsored MSMEs and the thousands of other beneficiaries of the Tony Elumelu Foundation are not ready to miss attending the Workshop, no matter the cost implication.
There is no gain saying the fact that ‘’the outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic had presented a huge challenge to many of such MSMEs Entrepreneurs. This may have informed why the Pan African Bank is putting together the work , to help the MSMEs ‘’to mitigate their potential loses over the last five months that the economy had been in the limbo as a result of the pandemic.
An attendee of one of the quarterly workshops in the past disclosed that he had gathered enough it. He cited the tips which had helped him in re-evaluating his business which was going down but had suddenly picked after applying that some of those business tips into his Company. The Lagos based MSME Entrepreneur who could not hide his feelings was emphatic when he said that the UBA quarterly business series workshop had provided many of them with the essential tips that had helped them to reevaluate their business models andre strategises as businesses wade into this trying times.
A Statement by the Bank by said the topic for this quarterly edition of the capacity building workshop for the MSMEs is ‘’Bran Repositioning and Marketing for Businesses in post COVID 19. The Workshop which is holding today, Wednesday, September 16, 2020, , via Microsoft Teams , will be hosting lampe Omoyele, the Managing Director, NITRO 121, described as a true Brand Management Prfessional.
He is expected to give the business leaders and upcoming Entrepreneurs tips on the best ways ‘’to ensure that their businesses survive especially in the wake of the pandemic’’. Omoyele , who is also the founding partner of The Lucent Consulting Company , was described by many as a widely respected business leader ad mentor in the marketing and Advertising industry of sub0Saharan Africa.
Jude Anele, the Head of the Pan African Bank Consumer and Retail Banking, was optimistic that with Omoyele, who is vast experienced in Brand Management, he will point out to the small business owners i the direction that is needed to galvanise their brands and reposition it in such a way as to attract the right customers.
Anele, who could not hide his feelings said the Money Lending Bank unending Commitment to help SMEs, which remain the engine of the deloping economy would never stop.’’We are aware that small businesses are the backbone of the economy in every country’’, he had said.
According to , to him ‘’in many climes, ‘’in busineses with fewer than 100 employees, it account for 98.2% of all the businesses’’. This aptly captures the importance of the SMEs to a thriving economy like Nigeria, which may have informed why UBA is still very much committed to seeing the SMEs flourish.
Michelle Nwoga, Group Head, Marketing and Consumer Experience said the Bank’s mission which ‘’is hinged on ensuring that Customers and Entrepreneurs run their businesses that can stand the best of times with requisite knowledge and Experience required to take their businesses to the next level.
The good news is that the UBA plc, Workshop is open to all business owners and leaders across the country. Note that the Bank is one of the leading Financial Institutions in Nigeria and Africa in general. At present, the Bank, which offers banking services in 20 other African countries and maintains visible presence in the United Kingdom, France and the North American country of the United States have over 20 million customers globally which could not be matched by ant any other Commercial Bank in the country for now.
This may have informed why officials of the Bank could their chest that , ‘’it is actually connecting people and businesses across Africa through retail, commercial and corporate banking, innovative cross border payments and remittances, trade finance and other ancillary banking services’’.
