Sterling Bank Plc has partnered the Bedrock Initiative to train youths so that they can be employed as part of its contribution towards reducing unemployment in the country.

The training held during the Owerri Business Week. Its theme was: ‘Gaining business momentum.’

Divisional Head, Business Growth and Transaction Banking at Sterling Bank, Obinna Ukachukwu, proposed a bottom-to-top approach to  tackle Nigeria’s economic challenges.

He said the efforts aimed at solving Nigeria’s problems should be a bottom-up approach, whereby the led would revolutionise their thinking  about reshaping the country such that the leadership would have no choice than to key in.

“We can transform this country from bottom to top, if the people who are in the majority decide to do the right thing. First of all, as a voter, let every adult of 18 years and above procure their permanent voter card (PVC) and get ready to vote and participate in the electoral process.

“If they participate and make their votes count, their elected leaders would not have any other option than to follow the minds of those that elected them,” he said.

Ukachukwu, a key speaker at the  forum, noted that there were various ways of getting things done, especially by deviating from the conventional way.

He urged entrepreneurs and young start-ups to follow their mind and continue to build.

He recommended that young Nigerians should begin to think of building for tomorrow to transform the country. “This means that you are building your business outside of yourself. You need not build a business around yourself, but liberate yourself from the business so that your dream would be bigger than you. Let the next generation build and improve on what you have started.

“Let your business be around people and service delivery. Also, you should build your business so that it could thrive even after the founder’s death. Think on community service above self.”

Neveah Limited, an exporter of agro-commodities and solid minerals company, has announced the redemption of its N2.7 billion Series 1 Commercial Paper under its debut N10 billion Commercial Paper.

In a statement, the commodities exporting firm said its  credit rating has also been renewed.

“The Series 1 Commercial Paper had a tenor of 180 days and matured on May 24, 2022. Institutional investors, majorly asset and fund managers subscribed to the issue. This redemption evidences Neveah’s commitment to fulfilling its obligations while optimally utilising proceeds for its short term working capital needs,” it said.

Continuing, Neveah said Datapro has accorded it a long-term investment grade rating of BBB and a short-term rating of A1.

The rating, valid till May 2023, was assigned due to Neveah’s revenue profile and strategic diversification of income sources.

Neveah’s Head of Accounts, Chukwuemerie Kanu said: “The rating has shown the credibility of Neveah Limited in meeting its short- and long-term obligations. It is a viable investment ground for investors, and we are out to ensure that risks are at all times minimised if not eliminated.”

SystemSpecs has announced the winners of the 30th-anniversary edition of its annual Children’s Day Essay Competition (CDEC).

Leading about 2,000 other entrants from 795 schools across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, 11-year-old Oluwaseun Samuel Temitayo-Ojo of Igbobi College, Yaba, Lagos emerged the winner in the junior category while 15-year-old Ekemini Keziah Effiong-Robert of the African Church Model College, Agege, Lagos, emerged winner in the senior category.

Somadina Edeh, 10, of Independence Layout Nursery and Primary School, Enugu state and 12-year-old Emmanuel Nkanu Nkanu of St Anne High School, Calabar, Cross River emerged first and second runners-up, respectively, in the junior category.

Chetachi Best Mbalu from Lagooz School, Iyana-Ipaja, Lagos state, the 13-year-old junior category winner in 2021, emerged second in the senior category in 2022. 13-year-old David Nkereuwem of Holy Mary Comprehensive College, Benin City, Edo state, was the third in the senior category.

In the 30th anniversary and third edition of the annual competition, Nigerian children aged nine to 16 shared relevant technology-led ideas with the potential of transforming the nation’s educational system.

This year, the first-place winner of the competition in each category will respectively receive a high capacity laptop, a topnotch headphones, a free three-month coding course at uLesson Coding School, monthly 10-gigabyte internet data for one year, branded travel suite case, a unique keepsake hoodie, a thermal flask, and school bag.

Read Also: Full list of AMVCA 8 winners

Second-place winner in each category would also receive a high capacity laptop, a topnotch headphone, a free three-month coding course at uLesson Coding School, monthly 5-gigabyte internet data for one year, a trendy hoodie, a thermal flask, and a school bag.

Third-place winner in each category would receive a high-performance tablet, a headphone, a free three-month coding course at uLesson Coding School, a branded hoodie, a thermal flask, and a school bag.

In addition, the top three winners in each category will gain automatic admission into the SystemSpecs National Summer Coding Camp, while the remaining in the top 30 Honour Roll would also be handsomely rewarded.

The School’s Award in the senior and junior categories went to the African Church Model College, Agege, Lagos and Igbobi College, Yaba, Lagos respectively, winning 20 and 10 high-capacity laptops per school. This is aside from other benefits that include the implementation of an end-to-end electronic funds collection and payment system for both schools.

Oluwasegun Adesanya, Group Head, Corporate Services, SystemSpecs, said the firm’s annual Children’s Day Essay Competition aligns with its core values – Innovation and Diligence – and its CSR commitment geared towards developing capacity for national growth and development through technology.

He noted that this year’s competition is unique because it is part of SystemSpecs’ 30th-anniversary celebration.

“The quality of essays that we received from this year’s participants was mind-blowing. We have also identified inspiring solutions proffered by these young Nigerians as we are set to take the next step of translating their ideas to reality through our corporate social responsibility and collaboration with relevant stakeholders,” Adesanya added.

Adesanya applauded the support from leading bodies for the 2022 competition, especially uLesson – a frontline Edtech startup, the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), Ministry of Education across all states, and State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB).

Africa Fintech Summit has conferred the “Excellence in Fintech-Banking Relationships” award on Ecobank Group with in recognition of its support for the fintech’s growth on the continent.   The bank received the award at the summit’s meeting in Washington DC, United States.

The Africa Fintech Summit is a global knowledge-sharing platform for innovators, regulators and entrepreneurs, facilitating conversations and partnerships that help them explore financial technology solutions to improve Africans, economies and societies.

It holds twice yearly in Washington D.C. and a selected African country and sees stakeholders from around the world assemble to chart a course for fintech in Africa by mobilising investments, hashing out enabling policies, and sharing growth strategies.

The summit, which was the seventh of the bi-yearly event, also recognised TeamApt for Excellence in Digital Banking, PiggyVest- Excellence in Savings and InvestTech, Flutterwave-Excellence in Fintech Infrastructure, while Excellence in Blockchain Technology went to Appzone Group.

Group Executive, Operations and Technology, Ecobank, Dr. Tomisin Fashina, who received the award for the bank, said the award was well-deserved as it was attributable to the Pan-African bank’s influence in Africa and its support and initiatives aimed at fostering relationship with Fintechs to win in the marketing place, stressing that the bank have put structures and initiatives in place to collaborate and cooperate with fintechs to facilitate the bank’s vision of financial integration of Africa.

According to him, “As a bank, one of our strategic objectives is to bank 100 million Africans, across Africa. We won’t go out there with account opening documents to do this. We believe we can achieve that by collaborating and cooperating across board, and the fintechs come into that space. We came out with ‘Ecobank as a service’, this is at the heart of why we published our sandbox to encourage fintechs, big techs and any player that want to do business in Africa to ride on our platforms and help facilitate our vision of a financially integrated Africa. We see ourselves as a key player in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and we believe we are the ultimate bank to facilitate trade across Africa.”

Ecobank has many initiatives to support growth of fintechs on the continent. The Ecobank Fintech Challenge launched in 2017 identifies and partners with fintechs that are ready to scale, providing them with mentoring, networking, support, and opportunities to access Ecobank’s 33 African markets, as well as opportunities to integrate with Ecobank digital offerings. This has recorded significant results and success stories since its inception.

The 22nd President/Chairman of Council, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Ken Opara, has unveiled a two-year agenda to transform the institute and banking.

Opara, who was sworn in Lagos, said he would bring his over 30 years’ experience in banking, including credit, treasury, retail, consumer and commercial banking, international operations and corporate banking to lift the banking.

Opara, who is also the Executive Director, Lagos and Southwest Directorate, Fidelity Bank Plc, had served as the First Vice President and Chairman, Board of Fellows and Practice Licences, CIBN.

Opara paid tributes to the founding fathers of the institute who contributed to its growth and development.

He told over 5,000 guests, both physical and virtual across the globe, that “Our strategic focus is crafted into an acronym  “FUTURE”,  which focuses on six key strategic pillars: Financial innovation and transformation, Dealing with industry uncertainties, Trade and Finance collaboration.

Others are: Unveiling pathways for membership growth, Re-engineering and Rebranding the industry’s business model around Gen Z and Ethical conduct and governance.

He noted that with globalisation, the future was defined by technology, innovation, efficiency, functional optimisation and fast changing lifestyle. He stressed that the youthful segment of the society was more characterised by these changes, adding that there was the need to drive initiatives that would attract them.

According to Opara, while concerns around safety, control, stability and processes were germane, ignoring the existence of this phenomenon whose time had come would be at the peril of any operator.

The CIBN chief, who replaced Bayo Olugbemi, pledged that the institute under his administration would play a pivotal role between the practitioners and the regulators while ensuring adherence to sound corporate governance and ethical behaviour.

Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, represented by the Commissioner for Finance, Rabiu Olowo, applauded the contributions of the banking industry, particularly Lagos, through the leadership of CIBN.

Olugbemi thanked the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele; Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) Chief Executive Officer, Hassan Bello, Body of Banks’ CEOs and other stakeholders for their support to him during his tenure.

He said: “As I pass on the baton to my successor, whom I have known for many years as a seasoned banking professional, who is very passionate about the institute, I am absolutely convinced that he would take the institute to greater heights.’’

Beyond trading, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology offers vistas of opportunities Nigerians can take advantage of to better their lives, an expert, has said.

The expert, Rume Ophi, stated this in an interview in Lagos.

Ophi, the founder of CryptoPreacher Blockchain Academy (CPA), said career prospects as well as business opportunities beyond HODLing and other trading in cryptocurrency, were springing up across world that Nigerians, especially the youth, could take advantage of.

Ophi, who is also the co-founder of ThinkCrypto Club, Washington DC United States, explained: “Many a times, people say that they are interested in cryptocurrency and want to make money from it. All they want to learn is how to trade with it. To be fair, I can’t blame them because some years ago when I began my career in the cryptocurrency space, my only focus then was on trading, Holing and buying as many digital assets as I could discern.

“That was years ago. But today, many career paths are in high demand in the crypto market. Rising demand for cryptocurrency has made this space a hot cake. And despite the ban on cryptocurrency trading in Nigeria, there are various career opportunities in this market. As the demand for cryptocurrency increases, so too, does the number of cryptocurrency jobs.

“Legacy companies continue to embrace cryptocurrencies, which means those organisations will need more experts in the field. Many of these companies are open to working from home from any part of the world. Many thanks to COVID-19, Nigerians can take advantage of this. These companies, which include Apple, Amazon and PayPal, are looking for people to get cryptocurrency jobs. For example, Walmart is looking to hire a cryptocurrency expert to lead its digital currency strategy,” he said.

Noting the opportunities in blockchain, Ophi, who is the Premium Ambassador, Newscrypto, asked: “Can you believe that blockchain expertise is the fastest-growing skill according to the latest skills index and is one of the hottest in the United States’ job market?

“The demand for people with blockchain skills is high. Due to its many fields of application, it is looking to hire those who have the skills set to navigate this new technology. Nigerians can earn a desirable income from blockchain technology through mining, collaborating with cryptocurrency companies, or faucets.

“Nigerians can also make money by operating cryptocurrency master nodes and earning while playing games. The blockchain industry is lucrative and earning a decent income is a step to living your best life. Now you know the easiest ways to make money with blockchain technology, it’s time to explore the industry.”

Ophi, who is the Head of Mobilisation for stakeholders in Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria (Siban) Presidential Task Force (PTF), also explored some opportunities in the world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). “This is a very popular concept, which is making waves in the crypto world. It has been created with the aim of protecting the intellectual properties of many artists and players in the creative arts space. The NFTs have skyrocketed in market value over the past year. Specifically, in 2021, users sent at least $44.2 billion worth of cryptocurrency to ERC-721 and ERC-1155 contracts, the two types of Ethereum smart contracts associated with NFT marketplaces and collections, according to Chainalysis.

“Of course, over here, the story of the Nigerian Corps Member who sold his painting of a drummer and a video of him giving the aged entertainer his share of the proceeds is a very good example that comes to mind. You too can look for good NFT projects, if you feel you want to get into them. I think one example of an NFT that performs well on the market is the Bored Ape Yacht Club. So, imagine you got in very early when it was like USD 0.08, you would be telling another story today.

“Beyond these opportunities, I tell my students that Nigeria needs crypto analysts, people who study in-depth and predict the value, demands, patterns, and exchanging volumes of explicit digital forms of money and the whole crypto market.”