Heritage Bank, EDC Collaborate to Boost SMEs

Heritage Bank Limited and the Entrepreneurship Development Centre (EDC) of the Pan African University (PAU) have gone into a partnership to bring together top chief executive officers to strengthen the activities of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) in the country.

To this end, an event titled: “Emerging Horizons for SMEs in the Country,” would see chief executive officers among other things, discuss with SME operators on a variety of issues on how to grow their businesses. The forthcoming event, which would be the 9th EDC annual SME conference, to be sponsored by Heritage Bank, is scheduled to hold in Lagos next month.

According to a statement from the bank, the CEOs scheduled to speak during the conference are  Mrs Mary Akpabome (Executive Director, Heritage Bank), Prof Pat Utomi (CEO Centre for Leadership),  Dr Cosmos Maduka (Founder, President/ CEO Coscharis Group), Mrs Ifeyinwa Ighodalo (CEO Design Options), Mr Emmanuel Ijewere (CEO Ijewere & Co), Mr Raphael Afaedor (CEO Supermart), Mr Olalekan Olude (Co-Founder Jobberman) and Mr Victor Afolabi (CEO GDM).

Other speakers are Senator Babajide Omoworare (National Assembly), Dr Emeka Osuji (Pan –Atlantic University), Ms Ebi Atawodi (GM Uber.com), Mr Emeka Ezomike (Manager Tax Regulatory Services KPMG), and Mr Daniel Oparison (Marketing Strategist Pagatech).

“Partnering with EDC to organize this conference is part of our efforts to help SMEs get better and bigger, which is one of the strategic objectives in our acquisition of Enterprise Bank,” Heritage Bank’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Ifie Sekibo said.

“Each of these CEOs have proven track record in various business endeavours which are nationally acclaimed. We believe that their testimonials will serve a big boost of inspiration for SME operators that would attend the conference,” he added.

Over the years Heritage Bank had partnered with EDC and other organisations to help SMEs build competence, access new opportunities and develop necessary leadership skills required for success in the business world. These include the Heritage Bank SME Clinic, Heritage Governance Model, the Paris Club Credit Scheme and the Enterprise Stories, a radio programme which focuses on stories of successful entrepreneurs. The sponsorship of the annual EDC SME conference was to complement these initiatives, which are aimed at promoting SME development in Nigeria.

Culled from: http://www.thisdaylive.com