Mar 25, 2022

Digital Times Nigeria Published FirstBank will on Friday, 25 March 2022, hold a round table discussion for the Gen Zs and Millennials to learn from speakers cutting across diverse experiences, socio-economic backgrounds and career paths, that spoke at the FirstBank’s recent webinar held on 8 March 2022, to commemorate the 2022 International Women’s Day (IWD). The event themed “Discrimination, Bias, Stereotype: Still Walking Tall!” will have Cobhams Asuquo, award-winning music producer, songwriter and musician; Osas Ighodaro, Actress, Host, Producer & humanitarian; Ore Runsewe, the founder of Arami Essentials, a natural beauty brand and Foluso Gbadamosi, Executive Director, Junior Achievement Nigeria share their experiences with the event participants. Denola Grey, Actor, Model, Fashion Consultant, and on-air multimedia personality (OAP) will moderate the event. Organisers of the event advise those willing to attend the event, to register via the link: https://firstbanknigeria.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_JKkhnSYXQx-YFkaFNQ2Ieg FirstBank said in a statement on Thursday that from the roll call of speakers, it is one event to look forward to irrespective of environment, background or career path, as participants will be exposed to insights and shared experiences on the need to stand tall and forge ahead in the face of “Discrimination, Bias, and Stereotype”  This webinar which begins at 11 am is designed by FirstBank to amplify the voices of millennials and Gen Zs Recall that FirstBank on 8 March 2022, in commemoration of the 2022 International Women’s Day (IWD) – themed ‘Breaking the Bias’ brought together a galaxy of speakers that held its audience spellbound. Published L-R: Executive Director/Co-Founder, AppZone, Emeka Emetarom; Executive Director, Inlaks, Tope Dare; Osita Ede, Divisional Head, Product Development; Ifeoma Onibuje, Divisional Head, eBanking; Stanley Amuchie, Executive Director/Chief Operations and Information Officer; and Chiefo Ejiofobiri, Branch Leader, Corporate Branch (all of Fidelity Bank Plc) at the official launch of PayGatePlus by Fidelity Bank and OnePipe in Lagos recently. Fidelity Bank Plc has been commended for simplifying digital payments and the customer journey following the recent launch of PayGatePlus, a one-stop solution for payments that cater essentially for all business categories within the financial ecosystem. PayGatePlus which is powered by OnePipe is a next-generation embedded finance platform that enables organisations in any sector to seamlessly integrate financial services into their existing offerings. Digital Times understands that the platform offers services such as web payments, virtual accounts, funds transfer, direct debit, online collections via NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP), BVN validation, and Buy Now, Pay Later. At the platform’s official unveiling held at Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos recently, the bank was praised for leading the charge in embedded finance with several guests emphasising that it was rapidly becoming the standard for delivering unified, enhanced user experiences. Degbola Abudu, Founder and CEO of Capricorn Digital Limited, while congratulating the bank on improving payment service delivery, noted that the platform’s launch would result in a diversification of new digital financial products across different platforms in the coming years. “I think PayGatePlus will be of immense value to the industry as it will enable different types of payments. Whether it’s the virtual account that can be created seamlessly or payments that will enable the distribution of loans across different channels, we see this platform as really enabling the bank to push many digital products through different digital channels including one like ours,” Abudu stated. “If you call traditional banking 1.0, remote banking 2.0, then PayGatePlus is 3.0. I think, the biggest value apart from the distribution which we have talked about is the ability for you to use embedded finance to remove frictions for your customers,” disclosed Akeem Lawal, Group Chief Executive Officer, Interswitch Group. Founder/CEO of OnePipe, Ope Adeoye stated that the platform’s launch demonstrated that the payment industry was making significant progress. “Our view is that the market will recognise the importance of concepts like this. Fidelity Bank will blaze the trail and there’s a high probability that other competitors will come into the space down the line.” In assessing OnePipe’s relationship with Fidelity Bank, Adeoye disclosed, “When we started working on the idea for embedded finance for non-finance companies with Fidelity Bank serving as infrastructure at the base, there was quite an effort spent on trying to understand each other. We enjoyed working with Fidelity Bank because the process was collaborative and smooth. On his part, Executive Director, Inlaks, Tope Dare lauded the bank for blazing the trail in open banking and embedded finance which further reinforces its commitment to delivering unrivalled customer service. “We hope to see more players in the financial services industry collaborate to ensure we grow a bigger economy that would be beneficial to everyone in the ecosystem,” he said. In a similar vein, Executive Director/Co-Founder of AppZone, Emeka Emetarom applauded the bank for collaborating with the Financial Technology (FinTechs) industry rather than competing with them. “We are hoping that all the other banks will take a cue from Fidelity Bank and ensure the adoption of embedded finance across the financial services industry,” said Emetarom. Stanley Amuchie, Executive Director/Chief Operations and Information Officer, Fidelity Bank Plc encouraged customers to use the platform as guaranteed that they would return with positive testimonials. “Everything we do as a financial organisation including the design of our products and services has the customer as our main focus. It is on this basis that we have worked very hard over the last few months, together with our technical partners to innovate a solution that enables businesses across different sectors to easily integrate financial services with their product offerings,” said Amuchie. Fidelity Bank is a full-fledged commercial bank operating in Nigeria with about six million customers who are serviced across its 250 business offices and digital banking channels. In 2021, the bank was recognised as the “Fastest Growing Bank” and “MSME & Entrepreneurship Financing Bank of the Year” at the 2021 BusinessDay Banks and Other Financial Institutions (BAFI) Awards. Share Post Published In furtherance of its role in promoting the sustainability and viability of the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), Nigeria’s premier and leading financial inclusion services provider, FirstBank will by 11:00 am on Thursday, 24 March 2022 convene its SMEConnect webinar. The webinar is themed ‘Leveraging Alternative Payment Methods (APMs) to drive revenue for your business.’ The virtual event is open to everyone, especially small business owners and attendees who are to register via https://firstbanknigeria.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_hxkQXlKuSji6JDqaA6x34Q  to participate in the event. Guest Speakers at the event include Jeffrey Williams–Edem, Group Business Head, Merchant Acquiring, Interswitch Group and Kolawole Ogunmekan, Head, Digital Innovation Lab, FirstBank. All over the world, the advent and reinvention of technological practices have birthed numerous opportunities that have spearheaded the continuous growth of the business environment. Amongst the areas impacted by technology are the payment methods and systems which have relentlessly evolved as businesses have been exposed to easy, seamless and time-saving ways to foster their business transactions with customers and other stakeholders. The objective of the forthcoming webinar is to update businesses with current technologies as they concern payments and demonstrate how the adoption of alternative payment methods can play an integral role in driving revenue growth. Speaking on the event Mr. Gbenga Shobo, Deputy Managing Director, FirstBank said: “Payment systems have continued to evolve through the years and given our pedigree of being woven into the fabric of society for 128 years, we have played a vital role in enhancing the various payment systems. “This journey has been the bedrock to fortifying our experience in supporting our customers through their adaptability and embrace of new payment methods, as with these our SMEs have been at an advantage in expanding their businesses.” For many years, the FirstBank SMEConnect webinar series has been the cornerstone for exposing SMEs to vibrant and flexible ways to have their businesses strengthened through visibility to new opportunities that are critical to sustaining and expanding their businesses. The webinar has been one of the Bank’s gateways to delivering the capacity-building pillar of its value propositions to SMEs which has had many businesses reinvent themselves with the relevant competitive edge.