By Adaku Onyenucheya
With Nigeria’s large population, market, traffic and economy to support businesses, the country has been yearning for foreign investors to take advantage of the huge potential of the country.
Attracting and boosting the confidence of foreign investors to improve foreign direct investment (FDI) into Nigeria has been a major focus of the current administration. As part of the efforts, the country has committed to fiscal, monetary, regulatory and tax policies.
The move was one of President Bola Tinubu’s missions at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) held in New York, the United States, where he urged Nigerians in the diaspora to drive investment inflow into the country, while also wooing foreign investors.
Of particular note is the social involvement of financial service providers in the urgent move to save the economy. And First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Nigeria’s pioneer financial service provider, is taking the lead in this regard.
Having provided financial inclusion in Nigeria for the past 129 years, the financial institution said it has always supported businesses to boost growth and socio-economic development with significant investments in technology, innovation and transformation in the financial market of the country. Since its establishment, the bank has consistently built relationships with customers focusing on the fundamentals of good corporate governance, strong liquidity, optimised risk management and leadership, as well as led the financing of private investment in infrastructure development in the economy, by playing key roles in the Federal Government’s privatisation and commercialisation schemes.
With its global reach, the bank has also provided prospective investors wishing to explore the vast business opportunities available in Nigeria, an internationally competitive brand and credible financial partner.
Bank’s involvement in boosting investment flow
With hundreds of business locations and thousands of banking agents spread across the country, the bank seeks to provide a range of retail and corporate financial services to serve its millions of customers across Nigeria, Africa and the diaspora.
Chief Executive Officer, FirstBank Group, Dr Adesola Adeduntan, expressed the bank’s commitment to boosting cross-border businesses including trade and investment opportunities essential to enhancing trade relations amongst countries, thereby strengthening the economies of host communities and reducing poverty.
While speaking at the UNGA, he emphasised that there is no better time than now for foreign investors to get into Nigeria, citing the president’s commitment to creating a favourable environment for economic growth.
He said as part of their contribution in pushing the president’s eight-point agenda for a quantum growth in GDP, they are working with like-minded entities like Bank of America to bring together foreign investors and Nigerians in the diaspora to brainstorm on critical policy changes that the government will need to enact, to ensure Nigeria becomes the preferred FDI destination.
“The president is focused on creating an enabling environment that allows FDI to come into our country to foster economic growth and development. Our role is to showcase what is possible and available and most importantly, once those transactions and investments begin to take shape, it is for us to come in as a provider of debt to those transactions,” he stated.
Promoting local businesses with innovation
Through its several initiatives, local businesses have been given support to help them showcase abroad and promote FDI back home. The Africa International Trade Exhibition (A.I.T.E 2023), held in New York, was one of the initiatives embarked upon to support local businesses in growing as well as improving socio-economic development.
With this year’s theme, ‘The imperatives of global trade for African small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as a game changer for the continent’s future prosperity’, the FirstBank reiterated its commitment to being a financial gateway for businesses in the continent.
The visioner of AITE, Tunde MacAlabi, said the initiative was conceived to assist African SMEs in penetrating the North American market, which has huge potential. According to him, with the African-American population in the U.S. being 30 million strong and spending close to $1.2 trillion as consumers, pushing authentic African-made products into the market can diversify the sources of foreign exchange income that is needed in Nigeria and Africa.
He said the project is private-sector driven to help bridge the commercial gap and increase the commercial engagement between Nigeria or Africa and the U.S.
On his part, the First Bank Group boss said the project beamed the spotlight on a sector that can be referred to as the bedrock of Africa’s economic prosperity. He said Africa’s SME sector is also a good representation of the unyielding and resilient spirit of the African people in the face of many daunting challenges.
“With a vision to become Africa’s Bank of First Choice, our commitment to the development and economic transformation of this continent is unwavering and we will continue to make the required investments to actualise this goal. I make bold to say that, in us, Africa has a dependable ally.
“Indeed, it is the turn of Africa to rise, and we are strategically positioned to provide the required financial services support to the SME sector that will catalyse the next phase of Africa’s growth and development,” he concluded.
Executive Vice President, Intra-African Trade, African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Kanayo Awani, commended the platform, which was aimed at rallying global investments and policy support towards the attainment of the goals of the African Continental Free Trade Agreements (AfCFTA).
According to her, everyone must leverage the platforms created by the bank and AITE, to forge partnerships, share ideas and contribute to the growth and development of African SMEs. She said this is to ensure their potential as the driving force for the transformation of the continent.
Embracing diversity
Also committed to diversity as shown via its policies, partnerships and initiatives, especially in gender equality, FirstBank boasts of its employees’ ratio of female to male, which is 39 per cent to 61 per cent and 32 per cent women in management roles. With a strong women’s network initiative that seeks to address the gender gap and increase the participation of women at all levels within the organization, it also aims to boost women-led businesses across the country. In addition, the bank’s membership in the United Nations (UN) Women is an affirmation of a deliberate policy that is consistent with UN Women’s Empowerment Principles, which are equal opportunity, inclusion and non-discrimination.
Over the years, the bank has received both local and international recognition for improving financial services and inclusion in the country and for six consecutive years, was named Most Valuable Bank Brand in Nigeria’ by The Banker Magazine of the Financial Times Group and ‘Best Retail Bank in Nigeria’ eight times in a row, from 2011 – 2018, by the Asian Banker International Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards.
The bank, in 2022, took a long stride on its growth trajectory with its viability and long-term issuer default ratings upgraded to ‘B’ from ‘B-’ with Outlooks Stable by Fitch, a leading global rating agency. Fitch also upgraded the bank’s National Long-Term Ratings to ‘A (nga)’ from ‘BBB (nga)’, to reflect its improved creditworthiness relative to that of other issuers in Nigeria. Furthermore, the Top 100 African Bank Rankings 2022 released by The Banker Magazine revealed the bank’s ranking as number one in Nigeria in terms of overall performance, profitability efficiency and return on risk. Other laudable feats last year include its international recognition on major indices by Euromoney Market Leaders, where the bank was crowned, Market Leader (tier-1 recognition) in Corporate and Social Responsibility (CSR) as well as environmental, social and governance (ESG).
Rewards for excellence
It was also crowned the ‘Highly Regarded in Corporate Banking and Digital Solutions’ as well as Notable in SME Banking. In the same year, the bank bagged Most Innovative Banking Product in Nigeria and Best Retail Bank in Nigeria by the International Finance Magazine and was awarded Best Corporate Banking Western Africa, 2022 and Best CSR Bank Western Africa, 2022 by Global Banking and Finance Magazine.
Other awards include ‘Best Bank in Nigeria’ by Global Finance Magazine 15 times in a row, Best Private Bank in Nigeria 2021 awarded by Global Finance Magazine, ‘Best Internet Banking Nigeria’ and ‘Best CSR Bank Africa’ by International Business Magazine.
Other awards include ‘Best Bank in Nigeria’ by Global Finance Magazine 15 times in a row, Best Private Bank in Nigeria 2021 awarded by Global Finance Magazine, ‘Best Internet Banking Nigeria’ and ‘Best CSR Bank Africa’ by International Business Magazine.
The recognition continued this year, where the bank received awards as the ‘Best Private Bank for Sustainable Investing in Africa 2023’ by Global Finance Awards, ‘Best Sustainable Bank in Nigeria 2023 by International Investors Awards’, ‘Best Bespoke Banking Services in Nigeria 2023’ by International Investors Awards’, ‘Best Financial Inclusion Service Provider in Nigeria 2023’ by Digital Banker Africa and ‘African Bank of the Year by African Leadership Magazine’.
