Fidelity Bank at the weekend emerged as the most SME-friendly bank in the country.
The bank emerged winner in the SMEs Bank of the Year category in an award organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce (LCCI) 2015 Commerce and Industry at the Muson Centre in Lagos.
According to the LCCI, Fidelity Bank beat other contenders in the category by “going beyond lending” and “engaging itself in nurturing, developing and growing SMEs in the country through several innovative programmes.”
This, it said, was because the bank recognised SMEs’ increasing role as critical agents of economic development and transformation in Nigeria.
The chamber further stated that the bank was accorded the recognition and award owing to its consistency in helping SMEs in the country “to build the needed capacity for entrepreneurial success.”
Speaking at the occasion, the President of LCCI, Alhaji Remi Bello, said the “award was conceived to recognise and celebrate deserving corporate organisations that have made significant contributions to the advancement of the Nigerian economy.”
Bello said, “Today, we are celebrating excellence, best practices in corporate governance, value-addition, backward integration, achievements, innovations, corporate social responsibility and high standard of business and professional ethics.
“Our awardees have distinguished themselves in various spheres of enterprise. They symbolise the hope and promise of a prosperous Nigerian economy.”
He stated that investors, who have remained “resolute, undeterred and irrepressible” in the face of harsh business environment as is the case with Nigeria, deserve to be celebrated.
