-by our correspondent.
Ecobank Nigeria has launched Smart Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Agency Banking campaign targeted at empowering 100,000 entrepreneurs under the Ecobank SME and Agency Banking proposition.
In a statement, the Head of SME, Ecobank Nigeria, Emeka Agada, said the initiative is in line with the bank’s commitment to support the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria realize their financial inclusion objectives across the country.
MD/CEO Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akinwuntan
According to the statement, aside from improving financial inclusion, the campaign also aims to create self-employment for new entrepreneurs and help diversify income streams of existing small businesses across Nigeria.
Agada said Ecobank has made it easy for entrepreneurs and small businesses to become the Bank’s Agents under the initiative. “This laudable initiative is to empower small businesses and create new entrepreneurs, it is open to every honest and enterprising adult capable of using smart phones and/ or Point of Sale (PoS) Machines … subject to their meeting the terms and conditions as set out for Agents.”
“An Xpresspoint agent, who will be trained and provided branding materials for free, could perform basic banking services such as account opening, deposit collection for Ecobank, interbank transfers to other banks, card and card-less withdrawals, bill payment, airtime top-up, remittance services among others while earning money through-fees and commission on all successful transactions done through the agency.” He noted.
For her part, the Head of Ecobank Agency Network, Nike Kolawole, encouraged small businesses to partner with the bank to drive financial inclusion and employment noting that the Ecobank Agency proposition remains the best in the industry today.
“Banking has greatly evolved and has become closer to the people, with the introduction of Agency banking, no one needs to visit a bank branch to carry out a transaction, with your phone, you can perform your own transaction or perform transactions for other people on behalf of the bank and earn commissions.” She noted.
Comment here