Heritage Bank Plc has been highly commended by the Lagos State Government on the bank’s financial literacy initiative aimed at driving financial inclusion of young persons in the country.
The commendation which came through the office of the Deputy Governor, Mrs Oluranti Adebule, at the weekend referenced major components of the bank’s financial literacy initiative and entrepreneurial support which it had embarked on in its very short period of existence as a bank.
One of the specific areas the Deputy Governor referenced is the launch of a comic book, “The Protectors” by Heritage Bank last May, which the Managing Director of the emerging bank, Ifie Sekibo, had designated as “Children’s Banking Month 2016” to drive financial inclusion among children, who he referred to as “holding an important position in the destiny of our great nation, Nigeria.”
Sekibo stated then that “Our theme for this year’s celebration is “Taking the Early Lead” and aligned with this is our financial literacy campaign geared towards equipping you with the requisite knowledge to make you a remarkable leader in future. This is also in keeping with the bank’s vision of creating, preserving and transferring wealth across generations.”
In a letter of appreciation to the Managing Director of Heritage Bank, Adebule, who was represented at the comic book launch by the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Education, Adesina Odeyemi, stated that “the launch of the financial literacy comic book for young persons by the bank recently, spoke volume about her (Heritage Bank) organizational abilities and the resolve to reposition the bank to capture young people through various initiatives, programmes, events and resource kits to increase awareness of the world of finance and the creation of wealth.”
The Deputy Governor noted that “your policy of equipping young people with the requisite financial skills to drive a vibrant economy as exemplified by the extension of financial literacy framework to primary and secondary schools pupils/students, university undergraduates, NYSC members in the past are very commendable.”
She declared, “you are surely on the right track and we urge you to remain steadfast in the pursuance of this laudable goal.”
A statement from the Corporate Communications Department of the bank listed other components of the financial literacy and youth empowerment initiatives and collaboration as including the N3billion Central Bank of Nigeria Youth Innovative Entrepreneurship Development Programme (YIEDP) in which Heritage Bank is now the sole partner-bank with the CBN and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) with about 1500 NYSC and post-NYSC youth as beneficiaries in the first phase; the launch of a N500 million Young Entrepreneurs and Students (YES) Grant in Lagos in partnership with the Nigerian Youth Professional Forum (NYPF) and the Young Entrepreneurship Business Training Programme (YEBTP) in which the bank collaborated with the Centre for Values in Leadership to empower young entrepreneurs and deepening financial inclusion in a 6-month programme that involved grooming, mentoring and financing about 100 aspiring and start-up entrepreneurs in the Ajegunle Community, Lagos State.
