Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of United Bank for Africa (UBA), Mr Kennedy Uzoka, and singer, Ayo Balogun, popularly known as Wizkid, have addressed the importance of their recently established partnership to Nigerian small and medium businesses.
Speaking on the reason behind the choice of Wizkid as the bank’s brand ambassador, Mr Uzoka said the decision was prompted by UBA’s commitment to small and medium enterprises.
He made this known during the fireside chat at the 2019 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Forum, pointing out that the bank was unrelenting in its effort at ensuring SMEs thrive within the business environment in Nigeria.
“We are unveiling Wizkid as our brand ambassador to show our unrelenting support for SMEs and to further create a platform for them to thrive. This is a strong collaboration that will help us as an institution to propel our dream of making Africa a truly self-sufficient economy,” he stated.
Identifying the next step, Mr Uzoka added that, “UBA is a bank that is interested in the growth of SMEs as well as youth empowerment and we have done many things in the past in this regard. We have partnered the Tony Elumelu Foundation to support the youths across Africa who we know are the future of our continent’s economic renaissance.”
Adding his voice to the partnership, the Nigerian music star stated that the music industry and entertainment as a whole was in need of capital support from financial institutions to propel its growth.
The ‘Ojuelegba’ crooner also hinted that the partnership with UBA will not be limited to the music industry, saying, “It is my passion and my biggest dream to help the youth and to build schools around Africa, and this partnership, I believe, is a step towards that direction; UBA and Wizkid, now let’s change the world.”
