The Africa Prudential Plc has charged cooperative societies in Nigeria to adopt digital tools in their business, culture and structure.
This, the firm noted, would properly position the cooperative societies in the new digital economy and unlock the potential of the sector.
The call was made by the Managing Director/CEO, Africa Prudential Plc, Obong Idiong, while speaking as a guest speaker at the fifth Cooperative Summit and 2019 International Cooperative Day, organised by the Cooperative Federation of Nigeria (CFN) at Jos, Plateau State, recently.
While delivering his paper on Cooperatives and the Digital Workspace, Obong noted that digital technologies were changing the lives of consumers.
He noted that social media provides them with a new voice.
According to him, mobile devices and online platforms alter what people expect from businesses.
He noted that ‘big data’ was giving organisations the opportunity to understand and fully engage with their stakeholders, “whether these are members or customers.”
The theme of the conference was, “Cooperatives for Decent Work,” which a statement from the firm stated aligned with the Sustainable Development Goal 8 (SDG8) which aims to promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all. The company’s Chief Technology Officer, Khadijat Abdulkadir, who also spoke at the summit, explained that Africa Prudential Plc has added SDG9 to the mix this year as the company provides innovative value by automating the cooperative sector, and providing access to EasyCoop—an Enterprise Resource Planning solution which takes care of end-to-end automation and administration of cooperative societies—as a way to drive value for the cooperative sector.
Taking its advocacy role further, Opeyemi Onifade, Head, Cooperative Society Business confirmed that Africa Prudential Plc would be at the Global Conference ‘Cooperatives for Development’ and General Assembly of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) to hold in Kigali, Rwanda from October 14 to 17, 2019.
