Stanbic IBTC Opens New Markets for Small Business Owners

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc has restated its desire to support the micro, small and medium scale enterprises sector in Nigeria through capacity building and enabling platforms to connect sector players with new markets.

According to the member of the Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, this will be achieved through the various programmes targeted at MSME in the country.

To actualize this, the bank conceptualized and commenced a capacity building programme for small business owners a few years back. It also recently established Enterprise Direct, a platform that provides quick turnaround time for businesses as well as points them to new markets.

“The SME sector is pivotal to the economic growth and development of any nation and Nigeria is no exception. The capacity building training was conceived to avail SME operators’ the exposure to modern and innovative marketing, financial and management skills that are useful to their businesses and which will help them to attract the necessary funding for growth,” Executive Director, Business and Commercial Clients, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Remy Osuagwu, said.

The capacity building seminar which is open to all interested entrepreneurs across the country is a yearly event that helps to equip participants drawn from the small and medium scale enterprises sector with financial, marketing and management skills that they can readily deploy to nurture and grow their businesses.

Remy stated that Stanbic IBTC Bank, backed by the rich heritage and know-how of the Standard Bank Group, is committed to building a strong SME base in Nigeria and one of the ways it hopes to achieve this is by empowering operators with the right business skills and adequate funding.

“Stanbic IBTC Bank has a rich pedigree of building capacity for SMEs and providing much-needed support in terms of funding, skills acquisition, and connection to new markets because we understand the important linkages provided by SMEs to industries and employment generation,” the Executive Director added.

One of such support was Stanbic IBTC’s partnership with the Kaduna State government to establish the Kaduna-Stanbic IBTC Entrepreneurship Centre (KADSEC). The centre, the Bank said, was in response to the needs and requirements of local entrepreneurs in the state, and serves as an incubator to nurture budding entrepreneurs and businesses to sustainable successes.

At the launch of the centre in Kaduna, Stanbic IBTC stated that the centre will provide services such as capacity building programmes for interested business owners, entrepreneurs, mentorship, on-site business management counselling, financial advisory, market development assistance, networking opportunities, provision of patronage linkages, export assistance, and easy access to loans from Stanbic IBTC Bank, among other benefits.

Stanbic IBTC Enterprise Direct was another platform established by the Bank to provide quality and timely information for SMEs on new business practices, new business opportunities or new markets.