Business
Nigerian-Italy Investment Summit moves to Italy with Rome Business Forum, Aims to Attract Foreign Investment
Giant Gee Nigeria Ltd with its institutional partners is set to host the Rome Business Forum from November 12th to 13th, 2025, in Rome, Italy. The forum, themed “Sustainable Growth Strategies Beyond Boundaries,” aims to deepen bilateral partnerships, showcase Nigeria’s potential, and attract targeted investments into priority sectors of the Nigerian economy.
This much was disclosed by the chief organizer of the event, Ambassador Augustine Chigbolu who is the Managing Director of Giant Gee Nigeria Ltd while speaking with our correspondent in Abuja.
He noted that the event is a follow-up to the successful Nigeria-Italy Investment Summit held in Abuja in May 2025. The Rome Business Forum will focus on high-growth sectors such as agriculture, information technology, fashion, and clean energy, with a view to promoting investment opportunities and partnerships between Nigeria and Italy.
The forum will also feature discussions on cybersecurity, private guard surveillance, kidnapping response, and legal management of security matters, among other targeted areas. Experts from relevant government and private agencies are expected to engage with their counterparts on these issues.
The event is expected to boost foreign direct investment, foster job creation, enable technology transfer, and enhance industrial competitiveness in Nigeria. It will also promote the visibility of Nigeria’s business environment in Europe and reinforce the country’s Economic Diplomacy agenda.
The Rome Business Forum 2025 presents a significant opportunity for Nigeria to attract sustainable foreign direct investment and deepen commercial ties with Italy and Europe.
Away from the business summit, Ambassador Augustine Chigbolu who also doubled as the 1st vice president of the Nigeria Archery Federation also briefed our correspondent about the upcoming programs of the Federation revealing that they are currently preparing to participate at the forthcoming International African Archery Championship scheduled to hold in Abidjan, capital city of Cote D’Ivoire.
“Our Federation has been working behind the scenes to prepare our Archers to enable them participate at major International championships and we consider this Abidjan championship as a very good opportunity for them,” Ambassador Chigbolu stated.
Business
TAJBank Emerges Nigeria’s Biggest Non-Interest Bank
Cyril Ogar
After five years of operations in Nigeria’s rapidly evolving non-interest banking (NIB) space, TAJBank Limited has become the biggest player in the NIB subsector based on its total assets and gross earnings values.
Disclosing this during his paper presentation on the key performance indices in the non-interest banking space over the past few years at a seminar organized by Leaders Corporate Services with the theme “Roles of Non-Interest Banks In SMEs’ Financing” for SME entrepreneurs yesterday in Abuja, an investment expert, Mr. Olabode Akeredolu-Ale, maintained that based on the non-interest banks’ approved financial statements for the half year 2025, TAJBank currently remained the biggest in terms of its total assets.
The expert, a chartered stockbroker, specifically confirmed that his recent investment researches on the NIBs and their financial performances showed that TAJBank, with its total assets rising to N1.017 trillion in half year 2025 up from N953.098 billion as of December 2024, which is about N53 billion higher than the nearest NIB’s assets, now ranked top in the banking subsector.
According to him, TAJBank’s gross earnings for H1 2025 also surged to N53.752 billion from N32.86 billion as of December 2024, representing a 64% growth, and higher than the nearest NIB’s gross earnings in the period under review.
This is even as he disclosed that on the NIBs’ earnings per share during the half year, TAJBank reported N61.36 kobo earnings per share, about 92% higher than the earnings per share of the next NIB during the period.
Akeredolu-Ale, who is also a chartered accountant, clarified: “The figures I am reeling out here on the NIBs are sourced from the banking and capital market regulatory institutions’ platforms, which anyone can access to verify.
“I am part of this event because of my research interest in non-interest banking and how the players in the subsector in Nigeria can help to leverage their competencies in innovation and ethical banking to support our MSMEs.
“Today, the MSMEs cannot access DMBs’ loans due to high lending rates and other inclement macroeconomic factors. This is where I think the NIBs have become very crucial to Nigeria’s economic growth.
“Overall, my findings on the NIBs indicated that they are all trying their best with non-interest loans to support entrepreneurs, particularly the MSMEs owners. I have advised those of them at this seminar to explore the cost-friendly financing options of the NIBs to grow their businesses by opening accounts with the NIBs”, the expert added.
Another speaker at the event, Benjamin Chukwudi, also commended the NIBs for their “catalytic roles in helping SMEs to access interest-free loans and providing them the needed financial management advisory, which have been helping them in sustaining their operations in the face of rising cost of doing business in the country.”
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