By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Importers and exporters in the country have been assured by Ecobank Nigeria of more support with the view to boosting trade and commerce in the country.
The lender, at a customer forum organised for exporters and importers in Lagos at the weekend, stated that, “We take into cognizance the role of exporters and importers in the economy.”
According to the Country Head, Commercial Banking at Ecobank Nigeria, Mr Rotimi Morohunfola, “The economy is largely driven by trade, this is why we decided to hold this forum to engage our customers, feel their pulse, and also bring in the regulators like CBN to build capacity and further enlighten them on new trends and market practices.”
Mr Morohunfola explained that the forum was one of the several avenues by which the bank extends support to promoters and stakeholders in export and import business.
The interactive session afforded the financial institution the opportunity to obtain feedback from participants with a view to serving them better.
Mr Morohunfola further re-assured participants of the bank’s determination to support them at all times, urging them to continue to do business with the lender.
Presentations were made by Transaction Services Group, Treasury and Trade Operation departments of the Ecobank.
On support for small businesses, Head, SME, Commercial Banking, Ecobank Nigeria, Mr Sunkanmi Olowo, said the Bank had put in place several initiatives to promote small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
According to him, “Ecobank is commonly regarded as SME friendly bank. This is because of our support for the sub sector. For instance, we have an online mall called MyMall which presently have over 5000 SMEs trading on the platform globally; we are in partnership with EDC and Lagos Business School (LBS) where SME operators are trained and empowered to start their businesses; we offer window for them to access foreign exchange and also explore the CBN window to assist them. In fact, as a bank, we do a lot for the sub sector.”
Deputy Director, Trade and Exchange department at the CBN, Mr Olu Vincent, applauded Ecobank for holding the forum.
He enlightened participants on various measures to achieve seamless transactions.
