Business

Sam Empowerment Foundation and Vivacity Development Convene an Executlive Consultative to Reimagine Nigeria’s Workforce

Published

4 months ago

July 1, 2025

As Nigeria navigates a rapidly evolving global economy, Sam Empowerment Foundation (SEF) in partnership with Vivacity Development will host a national consultative conference titled “Nigeria Works 2030: The Future of Work Initiative” on July 17, 2025, in Abuja.

The conference will explore practical, inclusive, and forward-thinking solutions to reposition Nigeria’s workforce for relevance, resilience, and competitiveness in the decade ahead. It will particularly highlight the role of technology, green innovation, entrepreneurship, and skills alignment in preparing Nigerians; especially women, rural populations, and underserved groups for a new world of work.

Speaking ahead of the event, Kiema Ogunlana, Program Director – SEF, emphasized the urgency of action:

“The future of work is not a distant idea; it’s here. And the real question is: are we ready? We need to move beyond rhetoric and start building a system that supports workers at all levels to thrive in this new reality.”

The conference aims to spark collaboration across government, private sector, academia, and development partners, with the goal of driving reforms in education, workforce policy, and access to future-relevant skills like AI, digital literacy, renewable energy, and creative enterprise.

“Nigeria has the numbers, the creativity, and the drive,” Kiema added. “But unless we connect our people to the right tools and ecosystems, we’ll keep missing the mark. This is our chance to get it right for everyone, not just the privileged few.”

Vivacity Development brings a wealth of experience in social impact strategy and communications, helping to ensure that perspectives from grassroots communities to national institutions are meaningfully engaged in shaping the outcomes.

“We’re calling on all change-makers; policymakers, institutions, investors, and community leaders to come with real commitments,” Kiema said. “This is about building a future that works for Nigeria, and for all Nigerians.”

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Business

TAJBank Emerges Nigeria’s Biggest Non-Interest Bank

Published

1 week ago

October 23, 2025

The Gleamer

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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