By Dipo Olowookere
As a financial institution committed to wealth creation, Wema Bank Plc, pioneer of Africa’s first fully digital bank ALAT, has sponsored a number of small and medium scale businesses to a capacity-building training on building sustainable wealth which was organized by PwC in Lagos.
The Nigerian economy is driven significantly by a vast number of SMEs. Research showed that as of October 2017, the country had in excess of 30 million small businesses operating within its borders.
However, in the face of increased competition and heightened economic headwinds, the need to secure the right knowledge and expertise required to speed up growth and guarantee profitability in business is even more critical.
Wema Bank, keen to grow the capacity of small businesses and build lasting relationships that help them grow into profitable ventures, sponsored a number of small and medium scale businesses that cut across the manufacturing, hospitality, renewable energy, retailing, agricultural value chain and education sectors to a training at the prestigious PwC Business School.
Recently, Wema Bank secured a combined $35 million from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and ICD to fund small businesses across the country.
The bank also provides regular training, research on business-building strategies as well as offer tech driven solutions required to boost growth, enhance efficiency and sustain profitability.
It was gathered that the training in Lagos featured experts from key growth sectors as well as business managers and successful entrepreneurs. Discussions and insights were shared and the subject matter experts touched on critical aspects of business building including bookkeeping and accounting to tax efficiency, raising funds for business and much more.
Speaking on the bank’s decision to empower small businesses, Head of Retail Banking at Wema Bank, Dotun Ifebogun, explained that the bank believes strongly in the growth potential of small and medium scale businesses and is keen to provide the required financial and non-financial support needed to ensure these businesses realize their potential.
