Stanbic IBTC Bank expands SME capacity building initiative

Following the enthusiastic participation by operators since the initiative was launched two years ago, Stanbic IBTC Bank, a member of Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, has expanded the scope of its capacity building workshop for Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs).

Over two days in August, the sessions will hold in eight cities across the country. They are Abuja, Ibadan, Kano, Lagos, and Onitsha. Others are Port Harcourt, Aba and Enugu. While the event will hold simultaneously in Abuja, Ibadan, Kano, Lagos, Port Harcourt and Aba on August 9, Onitsha and Enugu will be the next point of call on August 10.

Babatunde Macaulay, executive director, Personal and Business Banking, said the course content and resource persons, who are experts in manpower development, 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 Book Keeping and Financial Management; Operational Efficiency; Customer Relationship Management and State of the Nigerian Economy. The seminar is a unique offering by Stanbic IBTC Bank to develop and sharpen participants’ business skills,” Macaulay said.

“Our key mandate of financial intermediation ensures that we are mindful of providing the right support and solutions for individuals and businesses to achieve their goals. Stanbic IBTC boasts of highly trained and motivated staff that have expertise in SME financing and support,” added Macaulay. He enjoined SME operators to take advantage of the seminar to build capacity that can help them manage and grow their businesses successfully. The forum is open to both Stanbic IBTC customers as well as interested SME operators.

Macaulay said the SME sector is pivotal to the economic growth and development of any nation and Nigeria is no exception, especially as the government attempts to diversify the economy in the aftermath of declining revenue from oil due to plummeting prices. He said the seminar was conceived to expose SME operators to modern and innovative marketing, financial, and management skills that are useful to their business operations and which will help them to attract the necessary funding for growth.

According to Macaulay, the Stanbic IBTC Group, 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 in the sector 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,” he said.