The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) has decried the current high interest rate charged by commercial banks, saying it is stifling the growth of businesses.
Speaking at the 2017 CIBN Graduates Induction and Prize Award in Lagos recently, the President/Chairman of the CIBN, Prof. Segun Ajibola, said the Institute was already engaging with different stakeholders to work out modalities of providing an enabling environment for professionals with entrepreneurial spirit.
He said the Institute recently participated at a roundtable organised by the Senate where discussions were held on how to make bank loans more affordable in terms of interest charges.
Ajibola, who spoke on the theme: ‘Entrepreneurship Mindset: A Critical Success Factor for the 21st Century Professional’, said that entrepreneurship had been a veritable solution as the global economies continue to find viable alternatives toward addressing social and economic challenges.
The Institute inducted a total of 1,034 graduates, which included 42 graduates of the Chartered Banker MBA; 234 Associates (ACIBs); 689 Microfinance Certified Bankers (MCIB) and 69 Diploma graduates.
He added: “Companies tend toward hiring independent contractors and freelancers instead of full-time employees. Analysts predicted that performance economic system will likely overturn the concept of full-time works that focus on lifetime careers.
“The primary factor that will facilitate this transition is digital disruption that makes workforce increasingly mobile and virtual, thereby decoupling jobs and location.”
Ajibola implored the new inductees that were conferred with CIBN certificates to translate the knowledge they acquired into an entrepreneurial mindset.
“Wherever you find yourself, whether employed in the private, public sector or self-employed, the critical success factor is to think, feel, speak and act like a business owner. For those in the paid employment, there must be a paradigm shift from civil service mentality of whether the owner sells the bunch of palm leaves or not, the load carrier will collect his due.
“Also the slogan I will do it well, when I start my own business. You may not do any better, because in the words of Aristotle, `we are what we repeatedly do,” he added.
He said the induction was opportunity to admit student members who had passed the prescribed examinations, fulfilled all other conditions set by the Governing Council into the Associateship (ACIB) and Microfinance Certified Bankers (MCIB) cadres.
In his presentation, the founder, Augusto & Co. Limited, Olabode Augusto, said the rate at which the economy was creating jobs was not keeping pace with the population growth.
He said in spite of the large fast growing population being a problem, “it presents significant opportunities for the entrepreneur who can provide solutions to segments of the population that have the capacity and willingness to pay.”
He advised the new CIBN graduates to target their products and services at those who have capacity and willingness to pay.
