One aspect of its operations that LAPO Microfinance Bank Limited does not take for granted is capacity building. This it does in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) policy framework for microfinance bank in Nigeria.
The revised microfinance guidelines stipulate that efforts shall be made to promote capacity building through the apex associations of the microfinance banks and institutions in collaboration with development partners.
Consequently, the bank partnered AFOS Foundation and the German Catholic entrepreneurs to strengthen staff and potential staff organisation grow. This is important as the development will help the organisation effectively manage its exponential growth and realise its strategic plan of having 5 million clients in 2017.
Speaking during the graduation ceremony of trainees and talent pool under AFOS-LAPO project programme, Godwin Ehigiamusoe, managing director/CEO, LAPO, said: “For us to achieve this strategic plan, we need more clients and more hands, and human resource is one of the ways to achieve the strategy. That is why we recruited people in the organisation and train them in various managerial skills so that tomorrow, they can take any managerial position in the organisation.”
He said the first badge graduated in 2013, and immediately they graduated, a second batch was recruited as the training was at an interval of one year.
“For the recruitment process, we went to higher institutions to get CVs. We put up adverts in different media areas to ensure we get quality people. The ones recruited have taken up managerial positions and they are paid for their jobs. They are doing well and some are involved in the training. The training is also important in that they are able to pass the training down to their people,” he said.
For this badge, the management training cut across different department in the organisation, he said, saying the talent pool is a continuous improvement programme, were 39 staff who had over time exhibited outstanding leadership qualities, capacities and expertise were selected.
According to him, “today we are celebrating them not just because they have finished the one year programme but because they are going to be beneficial to the organisation, which they have started doing and they are going to play their roles in ensuring we achieve the five years strategy goal.”
He further said that the bank had over 8000 entries and out of which they were streamlined to 40, which came for the interview, and after series of interviews, 12 best were selected.
Kenneth Achu, project manager, LAPO-AFOS Project, said the German Ministry of International Cooperation had accompanied LAPO in its growth and expansion with the understanding that the growth and expansion will need people to manage it and it was always sustainable and more reliable if one was groom in-house in capacity and develop in-house competencies to accompany this growth and expansion.
While speaking on the challenges of putting up the programme, Achu explained that the greatest challenge had been getting staff having full time routine jobs and activities with deadline to meet with, also take part actively and be focused on the trainings and the different capacities and competencies that were being transmitted through the programme.
“However, the demonstration of the commitment of the staff, the interest they see and the value addition that could be gotten from the programme, totally dwarf the challenges that we identified and we are grateful that we were able to tackle these challenges,” he said.
Obosa Omorodion, one of the members of the talent pool, said she had been with LAPO Microfinance Bank since January 2007, in the finance department, when they saw her competence in the way she handled her job, they picked her during the selection process.
During the managerial training, they were taught how to be organised, how to handle and motivate colleagues they were working with.
Enekemere Peter, one of the graduates from the management training programme, said during the training, he was able to build self confidence because he was taught topics like – working as a team, building interpersonal relationships, communications, project and change management, among others.
HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE
