Providus Bank Pledges Continuous Support for SMEs in Nigeria  

The Deputy Managing Director (DMD) of ProvidusBank, Mr. Kingsley Aigbokhaevbo, has restated the bank’s commitment to continue to sustain its Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Programme for the foreseeable future as part of its efforts to boost entrepreneurship in the country.

Speaking at an event held by the bank to celebrate the fifth year anniversary of the launch of the SME programme in partnership with the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) in Lagos, Aigbokhaevbo said that the management of Providus Bank was pleased with the positive impact that the programme has had on Nigeria’s SME space, since it was initiated in five years ago.

Aigbokhaevbowho spoke after listening to the glowing testimonials that some of the programme’s alumni gave, promised that the programme would be sustained as it was the Bank’s key SME programme, which is designed to empower SME owners in Nigeria.

He said: “Being an entrepreneur is not a joke; we know that within the first five years, most of the SMEs struggle to stay afloat. When we set up Providus Bank, we asked ourselves, what we want to do differently. This is one of the things we did differently. The driving force behind the initiative is that the founders of the bank really wanted to give back to the society.

“So apart from creating employment, what else could we do? The SME idea came to mind and we said how can we help these businesses that have almost 95 percent of them going down within the first five years of their existence? Because they face challenges such as, lack of funding, poor infrastructure, among other things we said let us see how we can come into this space and help to build businesses and give back to the society. This is the main reason is to provide that support as we also pursue one of our strategic pillars for Providus Bank to be, if not the number one, at least one of the top three bank for SMEs support and entrepreneurship growth.”

Aigbokhaevbo, who thanked the EDC for partnering effectively with Providus Bank on the initiative, urged the graduates to help spread the word about the benefits of the benefits of the programme.  

In his speech at the event, the Head, Strategy and Business Development at ProvidusBank, Mr. Ernest Elue, also thanked staff of the EDC and the graduates for partnering with the bank to help achieve its goal of positively impacting the country’s SME ecosystem.

Earlier, in his remarks, the Programmes and Partnerships Director at the EDC, Dr. Olawale Anifowose, said that the success of the initiative was a “testament to the true support that Providus Bank has for SMEs.”