By Anthony Nlebedum
LAPO MFB takes sustainability seriously. The concept is embedded in all facets of the operations of the leading microfinance bank which has earned a name across the nation for the spread, quality, reliability and impact of its products and services. The bank’s focus on sustainability is not an accident or a fashionable corporate slogan. It is embedded in its DNA.
Inspired by the vision of founder Dr. Godwin Ehigiamusoe for mass empowerment and sustainable philanthropy, the Group began life in the early 1980s in response to the impact of the implementation of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) on the country’s middle and lower classes. Over four decades later, the fruits of that vision – the tremendous impact on businesses, communities and individual lives – proliferate wherever LAPO operates and often, far beyond.
It is therefore no surprise that sustainability – the ability to maintain and support vital economic, environment and social processes over time – animates and guides institutional policies and initiatives of LAPO MFB. Creating and maintaining value for customers, partners and the community is at the heart of the bank’s corporate mission. Sustainability captures the important difference between teaching a person fish and teaching them how to fish. The LAPO approach prioritizes innovative, consistent and measurable support – the “teaching” component in the popular adage. It goes beyond a transactional mindset to focus on making an enduring difference and even increases over time.
The LAPO MFB approach has proved successful because the vision to do good is underpinned by a rigorous approach in its business operations and a commitment to good cooperate citizenship and good neighborliness in every community that it is part of. It is anchored on the Nigerian Sustainable Banking Principles (NSBP) established by the Central Bank of Nigeria and it also aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Fidelity to these national and global frameworks provide the structure within which LAPO’s sustainability focus is prioritized and operationalized.
The bank’s record in 2022 using the NSBP parameters underscore its commitment. A few examples will suffice. For instance, in alignment with the first NSBP Principle – integrating environmental and social considerations into lending activities -, LAPO MFB has complied by making them an organic part of its core banking system.
The second NSBP Principle encourages financial institutions to avoid negative footprints of their business operations. In compliance, LAPO MFB has saved N7.3m through more efficient utilization of digitalization processes that have saved 124,7770 sheets of paper by avoiding unnecessary printing. This energy saving focus has also encouraged greater discipline in switching off electrical appliances, use of energy saving bulbs, inverters and solar panels in LAPO MFB’s offices across the country. Result: energy consumption has dropped. These measures are, of course, good for the environment.
The results of the bank’s compliance with Principle 4 are just as useful but perhaps a bit more dramatic. This Principle enjoins financial institutions to promote economic empowerment through a gender-inclusive workplace culture. LAPO MFB, one of the most gender-friendly institutions in the country, has taken significant steps to align. Through the Supporting Female Entrepreneurs initiative, it has supported thousands of female entrepreneurs with a lending product specially designed for them. The progressive gender focus can be seen in statistics of LAPO MFB’s staff, management and board. 61% of staff are female vs 39% male. The company’s board currently has four women and three men. And the management also has a significant proportion of women: 36%.
Compliance is also robust on Principle 5 which promotes financial inclusion – “The provision of financial services to individuals and communities with limited or no access to the formal financial sector. In line with its commitment reaching and supporting the unbanked, LAPO MFB which has provided financial services to over five million Nigerians through a loan portfolio of $400m as at December 2021, has agents in 34 states of the country. It caters to a diverse range of persons including the poorly educated and physically challenged. Its customer base, the largest in the microfinance subsector, increased by 2388 new accounts in 2022.
On other Principles – capacity building, risk management etc. – LAPO MFB continues to demonstrate fidelity to all healthy and tested rules, parameters and conventions that advance responsible institution building as well as sectoral, community and national progress. For the bank, compliance is not just a matter of ticking boxes or avoiding penalties but a passionate commitment to a better, inclusive future. And one word captures this passion: sustainability.
