Diamond Bank rewards winners of BET4 programme with N3m each
Diamond Bank plc has rewarded the five winners that emerged from the 4thedition of Building Entrepreneurs Today (BET4), out of the fifteen selected to go through the programme, with the sum of N3million each.
The programme, which is a strategic initiative of Diamond Bank to invest in the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) segment of the economy by increasing the capacity of small businesses to run thriving businesses, is targeted at building and celebrating future employers of labour in the country.
The five winners were Pere Albert Amaechi, Adebanjo Adetola, Tochukwu Uwakeme, Uzokwe Ike and Onofua Emmanuel.
Speaking during the Diamond Bank BET4 award gala night, Victor Ezenwoko, executive director, Lagos and West Business, Diamond Bank plc, said the event was put together to celebrate future employers of labour in the country, adding that the programme had so far helped to build the capacity of entrepreneurs in Nigeria to manage their businesses effectively.
Ezenwoko explained that the two segments of businesses that drove the economy were agro business and MSMEs, stressing that these were areas what the bank had focused on as it made the BET programme a platform to train entrepreneurs to grow their businesses.
“Diamond bank has been pursuing the programme with all it has, but more important is the determination and doggedness of the participants over the years, which has helped them stand out among their peers when it comes to managing their businesses effectively,” he said.
He stressed that the programme would not have been possible without the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC), which had been dedicated to touching the lives of people, adding that Diamond bank would continue to partner with them.
“One thing is to have a dream and another is to live the dream. It is now time to work and this calls for discipline, clear purpose and judicious management of your resources,” he told the participants.
Peter Bamikole, director, Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) of the Pan Atlantic University, commended the bank for its sustained partnership with the EDC on the BET programme.
Bamikole said the bank’s support of young entrepreneurs through the BET programme had given a massive lift to various businesses with its attendant contribution to job creation and professional and sustainable business management.
He explained that in the past four years Diamond Bank plc had been supporting MSMEs by giving them the knowledge they needed to build viable ventures and manage success.
“The participants are taken through the functional elements of managing businesses effectively and Diamond bank and EDC have partnered to change the fortunes of small businesses in Nigeria,” Bamikole added.
Onofua Emmanuel, one of the winners, who is in the business of crop farming, expressed his gratitude to Diamond bank for the seed money and, more importantly, for the training he had gone through during the period of the programme. He disclosed that the knowledge he had got from the programme could not be monetised, adding that seed money would enable him invest more in his business.
IFEOMA OKEKE