Awosika leads discourse on potentials in the tech startup sector

Consistent with its thought leadership position and as part of its commitment to drive growth and develop capacity in the SME segment, the Chairman, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Mrs. Ibukun Awosika will play host to over 50 technology companies at the FirstBank Tech Startup Conference, tagged “Let’s Talk Tech”, scheduled to hold on Tuesday, 21st June, 2016, at Lagos Oriental Hotel, Lekki.

The conference will convene a panel of speakers – comprising of senior bank executives and other sector experts, to discuss and engage with the audience on wide ranging issues specific to the tech sector as well as share ideas on the best ways of harnessing information and communications technology to lower operating costs and create new business opportunities within the economy

According to Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, Managing Director/CEO, First Bank of Nigeria Limited and Subsidiaries, “FirstBank as a nation builder, is an enthusiastic follower and supporter of the new inventive energy spreading across Nigeria. We strongly believe that in the near future, these companies will employ a significantly sizeable portion of the labour force while making a healthy contribution to the Nation’s GDP. We will continue our culture of collaborating and supporting this community with the ultimate objective of creating a system that will foster strategic collaboration within the ecosystem so as to push growth rates in this sector into hyper drive”.

He further stated that the current macroeconomic environment offers greater opportunities for Banks and Tech Startups to collaborate with one another in driving business growth through the development of customer-focused and attractive value propositions.

The Conference keynote address will be delivered by Ibukun Awosika, Chairman, First Bank of Nigeria Limited. She would be joined by other speakers and panelists including Dr. Yemi Kale, Statistician General of the National Bureau of Statistics of Nigeria; Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, MD/CEO, First Bank of Nigeria Limited and Subsidiaries; Mr. Jason Njoku of IrokoTV, Mr. Obinna Ekezie of Wakanow and Ebi Atawodi of Uber amongst host of Tech entrepreneurs.

Given the growth of the SME sector and their role in economic expansion and sustainable national development, FirstBank berthed the multi-pronged SME support programme to chart a veritable course for SME development in a new and reinvigorated era, emphasizing boundless opportunities for entrepreneurial business development.

Some of FirstBank’s other interventions towards the growth of SMEs include African Start-Up on CNN, the sponsored TV documentary on CNN showcasing SME success stories across Africa; SME Radio programme, The Economy & You! in association with Enterprise Development Centre to educate, inform and build capacity for small business owners by providing them with the resources needed to grow their businesses; SME toolkits in association with EDC (Enterprise Development Centre of Pan-Atlantic University) for empowering small businesses; Ignite (an afterschool graduate employability and enterprise training initiative); SMEConnect seminar series to provide practical help on relevant challenges faced by small businesses and focuses on capacity building, business plan writing, marketing products and services as well as accessing bank loans and documentation; constant social media engagement; and the SMEConnect website which is at the heart of all FirstBank’s SME activities.