Heritage Bank Plc, Nigeria’s most innovative banking service provider,
has partnered Entrepreneurship Development Centre (EDC) of the Pan
African University (PAU) as part of its strategic plan to identifying
and supporting Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSME) in the
country.
The Bank supports EDC to also celebrate “Global Entrepreneurship Week
(GEW)”, a celebration of the innovators and job creators, who launch
startups that bring ideas to life, drive economic growth and expand
human welfare. During one week each November, GEW inspires people
everywhere through local, national and global activities designed to
help them explore their potential as self-starters and innovators.
GEN helps people in 160 countries unleash their ideas and turn them
into promising new ventures—creating jobs, accelerating innovation and
strengthening economic stability around the world.
To this end, Heritage Bank, which is a bank that is well known for
supporting small businesses, has deliberately focused on the SME
segment in a bid to create a fresh set of vibrant entrepreneurs that
will create jobs and distribute wealth in the Nigerian economy because
of recent statistics which indicate high unemployment among the youths
that make up a large percentage of the population.
The event see chief executive officers among other discuss with SME
operators and train them on a variety of issues on how to grow their
businesses.
According to a statement from the bank:“Both entrepreneurship and
participation of women in the workforce are powerful accelerators for
sustainable economic growth, yet women continue to remain as one of
the most untapped resources in the world. A total of 421 small
business start ups professionals were produced this year. Heritage
Bank and EDC are providing new networks and better access to capital
to help women entrepreneurs overcome barriers along their path to
success and encourage others to follow their path.”
The Director of EDC, Pan African University (PAU), Dr. Peter Bankole,
while speaking at the event was quoted in the statement as saying
that: “This is the grand finale of Enterprise Development Center (EDC)
for 2016 where we bring graduates under this platform to dine and wine
in a special way and more so, to celebrate them as great achievers.
What makes this year’s unique is that EDC and Heritage Bank have
produced another set of vibrant graduates at a period when the nation
is in need of their acquired skills to help equip themselves and
others which can cause reduction on the negative impact recession has
caused the nation’s economy.
Recession is bad for every sector in the economy hence, there is the
need for individuals to wake up from slumber and take action
especially by attending subsequent editions of EDC/Heritage Bank
programmers as solution”
