Guaranty Trust Bank will continue focusing on caring about human feelings to win the digital payment space in future, said Segun Agbaje, chief executive officer.
Agbaje made the statement while discussing the topic,” Going beyond the Digital Experience” at the Social Media Week (SMW) held recently in Lagos.
The weeklong event provided brands, agencies and technology providers with latest insights, trends and best practices, together with access to a global community of marketing decision makers.
”I will be lying if I tell you that the bank that will win the payment space in future is one with the best technology.
“So, the person that is going to win, whether a FinTech, a Telco or a bank, is one that is going to build the right technology that can leave customers with that feeling that there are people who care about them and not artificial intelligence, ” Agbaje said.
He said the bank was well placed to win, as it had the required digital platforms. ”We have GT-Connection, GTPay, GABS-Lite, we have all the digital platforms required.
“In addition, we have “Habari”, a digital platform for children. No matter what the people say, it is the most successful interactive platform in Nigeria today.
” On it we have music, on it we have E-Commerce, on it we have the credit, we have the most successful of all endowed things on that platform.
“We are going to put travels, event management and you are going to come into our ecosystems and you will believe that we care about you,” Agbaje said.
The CEO said another reason that the bank was going to win was that it never stopped interacting with people. According to him, the idea of Fashion and Food fair is so that the bank can engage with small businesses that are in those segments. For each of these events, we bring more than 250,000 people in two days and continue to engage them and try to understand what they want.
” So already, we are beginning to put that balance together between a digital platform and a human experience; we care about our people and we have the ability to build a successful business platform,” he said.
Agbaje said what was driving the payment space was the people and SMEs. “We have 180 million SMEs in Africa doing 4.5 billion transactions a day, so when you take the young population, you take the huge proliferation of SMEs that you have, then you see the engine of growth that is really driving the payment space,” he said.
Unity Bank advocates increased investment in creative industry
Nigeria’s commercial lender, Unity Bank Plc has advocated more investment in the creative industry to drive its contribution to the Nigerian economy.
Opeyemi Ojesina head, personal and SME, Unity Bank Plc, made the call in Lagos on Wednesday while speaking at a panel to explore financing options for the music industry at the just concluded Social Media Week.
Nigeria’s music industry witnessed an explosion over the past decade, growing by 9 per cent in 2016 to hit $39 million, and is set to grow by 13.4 per cent by 2021, with an estimated worth of about $73 million, according to statistics.
Highlighting impediments to flow of credits and investment, Ojesina stated that the music industry with the involvement of stakeholders in financial services sector needs a deliberate action plan to boost investment that will grow opportunities for entrepreneurs in the sector.
“To attract the required funding in the music industry, all the stakeholders involved must be deliberate about it. But most importantly, the people in the industry must begin to understand the business of their craft and build the necessary structure that would enable financial institutions to make an informed investment decision’’, Ojesina said.
Also speaking, the head of digital, events and sponsorships, Unity Bank Plc, Bashir Salami reiterated that the Bank has been exploring several financing strategies to support musicians and grow the industry.
