Ezekiel Okpulor
In recognition of their outstanding performance in service delivery and eradication of poverty, through loans support and other financial assistance for the society, Lift Above Poverty Organization(LAPO), has been honored with meritorious award as ‘Micro finance Bank of the Year 2019’ at the Banks and other Financial Institutions (BAFI) awards, hosted by BusinessDay media.
The financial service institution, which has won the category award for the 6th time is a pro-poor financial institution committed to the social and economic empowerment of low-income households through provision of access to responsive financial services on a sustainable basis.
According to the Managing Director, LAPO, Dr. Godwin Ehigiamusoe, Expressed his delightness and enphasised on trigger behide the success.
“We have been a continued recipient of the award for the past Six years, we have outreach, financials, services and obviously our focus, that keeps us ahead of other competitors, we do know that there are lots of micro finance banks that maybe doing more of micro banking rather than micro finance, but for us it’s a commitment to serve the under-served, and owners of small and micro enterprises.”
He explained and commended the protocol adopted by BusinessDay in selecting the nominees and awardees for BAFI Awards.
Dr. Godwin said that, the BusinessDay Media took due diligence by going through both quantitative and qualitative data information on the organisation
He added, ‘’For me, we have won it the sixth time, that is to say that right from the beginning of the microfinance bank of the year award we have always been the winner. I see that they look at our footprints across the country, we have our operations in 34 states, and when you add the federal capital territory to it that is 35.
“ Secondly, we provide a range of financial services to our clients and thirdly, is the fact that we have made a very firm commitment to serve the people at the bottom end of the enterprising like micro and small businesses, and, lastly is the fact that LAPO actually goes beyond financial services to support our clients.”
‘’We know any serious actor in the micro-finance sector today will want to beat LAPO, we are aware of that, but as they also aspire to get to the position we are, we are also not asleep, we want to do more, so everyday of our bank, we come up with new strategies and options that we can choose to provide quality services for our clients.
“We do also challenge other people, we strongly feel that if you have quality institutions across Nigeria that translates to quality services to a large number of Nigerians, especially women who currently do not have access to quality financial services,” he noted.
