Experts Highlight Opportunities in Outsourcing Sub-sector

By Nume Ekeghe

Experts have stressed the need for firms to embrace outsourcing as a cost-saving measure.

They pointed out that from the banking, oil and gas, manufacturing to information technology and telecoms sectors, the experts pointed out that companies are increasingly adoptingoutsourcing in their businesses.

The experts made these remarks at the 2018 outsourcing expo which took place in Lagos recently.

The Managing Director, Karios Business Services Limited,Babatunde Fajimi, predicted that outsourcing business would continue to grow.

According to him, a recent survey revealed that the sub-sector had assumed a critical place in assisting corporate Nigeria.

“Outsourcing has been proven by scholars to transformative and also an investment that anticipate financial return. It is a voyage that transcends profit and once trust is broken, it will be difficult for both the user and provider to move smoothly,” he said.

Also, the Executive Chairman, GMC Logistics Limited, Mr. Sonny Allison, said outsourcing has a lot of benefits, just as he identified job creation as one of such benefits.

According to him, there was the general notion about outsourcing increasing unemployment and workplace stress, which he described as false.

He argued that outsourcing helps in increasing workplace efficiency and job creation.

On his part, Senator Gbolahan Dada,  representing Ogun West Senatorial District, highlighted the need to cut cost and increase revenue in order to grow the economy. This, he said, could be achieved through outsourcing.

He said wealth creation would be possible through the development of policies to support outsourcing.

He said: “Nigeria has a large population made up of brilliant minds and talents that could be used for the nation’s advantage. Unfortunately, most of them have left the country in search of greener pastures.”

Access Bank Harps on Improved Awareness on Green Bond

Access Bank Plc has urged the federal government to increase awareness on green bond, saying Nigeria has the potential to dominate the market.

Speaking at a forum on Nigeria’s Green Bond Market Development programme that was hosted by the bank in Lagos,Access Bank’s Executive Director, Risk Management, Mr. Greg Jobome, stressed the need for more Nigerians to be carried along in the green bond market.

According to him it would be very helpful “if we involve the man on the street and they understand what the green bond is about, but if the government keeps it for experts, treasurers, dealers, analyst, they will miss it.

“We have to make it all encompassing because it is about sustainable development goals. It is about our children and the kind of world they will live in.

“The little steps we are taking now will hopefully lay the foundation blocks for our world.”

Furthermore, Jobome noted that with Green Bond occupying only 0.2 per cent of the global bond market, “we are not so far behind and we have the opportunity than the rest of the world.”

He added: “The potential is bigger for Nigeria and Africa, so if we do it right, we will actually dominate the statistics.”

According to him, there are huge projects that would directly impact the masses that the government can undertake with the proceeds of a Green Bond offering.

“There are a lot of things that t we can do now that rest of the world, particularly the developed countries cannot do.

“If you build a mass transit in the United Kingdom, the impact will not be up to one percent of the impact of the same infrastructure in Lagos.”

Continuing, he said: “Anyone can buy the green bond and we need to get everyone to make that choice of sustainable investment because the interest is almost the same with the regular bonds.”

Speaking on the role of standards and benchmarks for the Nigerian Green bond Market, Country Treasurer, Access Bank, Sunmbo Olatunji, said there was need to make the market for Green Bond liquid.

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