Stanbic IBTC equips SME operators with financial skills

The two-day seminar, which held in Lagos, attracted over 400 participants.
The key objective of the workshop, according to the bank, is to equip SME operators with financial, marketing and management skills that they can readily deploy to transform their businesses and grow their bottomlines. “The SME sector is pivotal to the economic growth and development of any nation and Nigeria is no exception, which is why the seminar was conceived to avail SME operators 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, Personal and Business Banking, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Obinnia Abajue, said.
Abajue, who was represented by the Head of Business Banking, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Lloyd Onaghinon, 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 and skills acquisition because we understand the important linkages provided by SMEs to industries and employment generation. This seminar is one of several ways the bank continues to build capacity in the SME sector,” Abajue said.
Speaking further on the seminar and the expertise of Stanbic IBTC, Abajue added that the course content and the resource persons, who are highly skilled and experienced, have been carefully chosen to ensure participants derive maximum benefits from the seminar. “We have streamlined the seminar course content to include essential topics such as Building Financial Records, Achieving Success in Marketing, Business Planning and People Management, among others. The seminar is a unique offering by Stanbic IBTC to develop and sharpen participants’ business skills,” Abajue said.
Chief Executive Officer, West Atlantic Resource & Equity House Ltd, Adegboyega Adebajo, who made presentations on Economic Outlook for 2015 and Business Planning, noted that developments in the global economy, notably those emanating from America, Europe and Emerging Asia, impact on the local economy, with small and medium enterprises also affected.
He highlighted dwindling oil prices, epileptic power supply, insecurity, inadequate infrastructure, monetary and fiscal policy environment and the general elections as major developments that would shape the outlook of the Nigerian economy and the people this year and beyond. To survive and succeed, SMEs have to be strategic in developing their business objectives, then factor in environmental issues and adopt appropriate business models. This is especially against the backdrop that lack of managerial and technical skills among Nigerian small-scale entrepreneurs, inadequate financial resources as well as infrastructural deficiencies are often cited as major drawbacks.
Chief Executive Officer of Knight & Bishop Consultancy Ltd, Mrs. Mope Abudu, who made a presentation on People Management and Making Operations Cheaper and Faster, said workers are the most prized asset of any organization. She said that the people factor accounts for 67 per cent, while economic factors make up 33 per cent in the overall business impact. The goal of getting the best performance from employees towards the attainment of organizational objectives should revolve around a business model that attracts, retains, educates, trains, motivates, empowers and rewards employees.
A participant and beauty therapist, Tega Gbadagri, while commending Stanbic IBTC for organizing the training programme, described the initiative as impressive and reflective of the bank’s genuine desire to help its SME customers succeed. “I learnt a lot from the programmme and I made an action plan which I have decided to implement to enable me boost my business management,” Gbadagri stated.
On his part, Chief Executive Officer, Bernard Adenuga Nigeria Ltd, Mr. Soji Adenuga, who operates in the agriculture sector, said given Nigeria’s huge population and the sector’s potential to diversify and transform the economy; more effort should be made by government to further empower the agro-allied industry.