The Deputy Managing Director (DMD) of ProvidusBank, Kingsley Aigbokhaevbo, has restated the bank’s commitment to continue to sustain its small and medium enterprise (SME) programme for the foreseeable future as part of its efforts to boost entrepreneurship in the country.
Speaking at an event held by the bank to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the launch of the SME programme in partnership with the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) in Lagos, Aigbokhaevbo said the management of Providus Bank was pleased with the positive impact that the programme has had on Nigeria’s SME space since it was initiated in five years ago.
The DMD, who spoke after listening to the glowing testimonials that some of the programme’s alumni gave, promised that the programme would be sustained as it was the Bank’s key SME programme, which is designed to empower SME owners in Nigeria.
He said, “Being an entrepreneur is not a joke; we know that within the first five years, most of the SMEs struggle to stay afloat. When we set up Providus Bank, we asked ourselves what we wanted to do differently. This is one of the things we did differently. The driving force behind the initiative is that the founders of the bank wanted to give back to society.
“So, apart from creating employment, what else could we do? The SME idea came to mind, and we said, how can we help these businesses that have almost 95 per cent of them going down within the first five years of their existence?
“This is because they face challenges such as a lack of funding, poor infrastructure, among other things. We decided to see how we can come into this space and help to build businesses and give back to society. This is the main reason to provide that support as we also pursue one of our strategic pillars for Providus Bank to be, if not the number one, at least one of the top three banks for SMEs support and entrepreneurship growth.”
Aigbokhaevbo, who thanked the EDC for partnering with ProvidusBank on the initiative, urged the graduates to help spread the word about the benefits of the programme.
