One of Nigeria's commercial
banks, Stanbic IBTC is partnering with Google to train young Nigerians in the
SMEs sector on digital skills.
According to a statement by
the Bank in Lagos, “the collaboration would facilitate capacity-building for
SMEs in the country, adding that beneficiaries would be trained on skills and
value of digital marketing”.
The statement further read
that the training would also help entrepreneurs to strengthen their businesses
and support digital education initiatives geared toward job creation.
“By organising the capacity
building sessions in different parts of the country, the partners hope to build
critical mass of businesses through increased adoption of digital technology
and enhance their contributions to economic development,’’ it said.
The bank added that the
programme scheduled to kick-off in Lagos and Kaduna on July 19, would also hold
in seven other states across the country.
It said that the initiative
aimed to digitally empower no fewer than 1,000 SMEs operators in one year.
The statement quoted Mr
Obinna Ukachukwu, Head, SME Banking, Stanbic IBTC, as saying that digital
technology on empowering youth and stimulating growth of SMEs was imperative
for diversification.
Ukachukwu said that the bank
had embarked on several capacity-building initiatives in various sectors of the
economy, including transport and logistics, trade and finance “to support
individuals and businesses’’.
He pointed out that SME was
pivotal to economic growth of any nation, and that Nigeria should not be an
exception.
He stated that the bank’s
collaboration with Google would expose the youth and SME operators to modern
and innovative marketing, financial and management skills, using digital
technology.
This, according to him, will
help them to achieve successes in their endeavours.
“We are quite pleased to
partner with Google on this strategic initiative.
“Our ultimate goal is to
cause, in the long- term, an exponential growth in the digital technology
space, knowing that this is the path to the future, with the youth and SMEs as
the main anchors,” he stated.
Mrs Bunmi Banjo, Head of
Digital Education, Google Africa, according to the statement, said that the
company was happy to collaborate with Stanbic IBTC to provide free digital
training to local entrepreneurs.
“With over 97 million online
subscribers, Nigeria continues to be one of the highest online populations in
the world, and this presents big opportunities for the small and medium
business sector.
“We believe that when these
SMEs have the right digital skills, they can better leverage the Internet to
grow their businesses, create more jobs and boost economic growth in Nigeria,’’
Banjo said.
She added that the
collaboration entailed further training focus on general digital skills for
proprietors of SMEs, who were between 18 years and 35 years of age.
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