Adesola Adeduntan Identifies Technology As Key To Post-Covid-19 Growth

<p><em>Adesola Adeduntan First Bank Chief Executive Officer&comma; during a Digital Disruption Series webinar organised by the Surrey Business School of the University of Surrey&comma; England&comma; identified technology and capacity as key to Post-Covid-19 economic rebound&period; His perspectives&comma; published in <strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong>&comma; is presented by Bolaji Israel<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Dr Adesola Adeduntan&comma; Chief Executive Officer&comma; First Bank of Nigeria Limited said technology&comma; innovation and enhanced capabilities have become necessary to achieve significant business growth in the post-COVID-19&period;<&sol;strong><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>Adeduntan made this remark on Thursday during a Digital Disruption Series webinar organised by the Surrey Business School of the University of Surrey&comma; England&period;<&sol;strong><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>The webinar was themed&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Digital Disruption&colon; How Can Companies Thrive in Africa Post-COVID-19&period;”<&sol;strong><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>According to the FirstBank boss&comma; it is about studying the environment and leveraging the digital space to proffer solutions tailored to suit emerging challenges<&sol;strong><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>Adeduntan cited FirstMobile&comma; the Bank’s mobile banking and &ast;894&num; USSD platforms as some of the digital disruptions that had impacted positively on the financial institution&comma; the banking industry and the financial ecosystem as a whole&period;<&sol;strong><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We have the largest bank agents – close to 90&comma;000 – of them spread across the country&comma; helping to bring in people that were financially excluded into the financial system&comma;” he said&period;<&sol;strong><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>On barriers to growth in creating innovative and indigenous knowledge&comma; the CEO cited capital constraint&comma; social infrastructure and cultural approach as some of the limiting factors encountered by businesses in Africa&period;<&sol;strong><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;In Nigeria&comma; to solve the capital constraint&comma; the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Banker’s Committee contribute certain percentage of our profit to a pool of fund to serve as equity for entrepreneurs&comma;” he said&period;<&sol;strong><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>According to the FirstBank CEO&comma; absence of social infrastructure in African countries has denied citizens the ability to lead better and quality life&comma; thus leading to the migration of many young and brilliant minds from the continent&period;<&sol;strong><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>He said the bank evolved a deliberate approach in its employment&comma; remuneration&comma; exciting work roles and talent development to inspire and retain its young workforce&period;<&sol;strong><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>Dr&period; Adeduntan added that there were significant opportunities in Africa&comma; with over one billion population&comma; while noting that opportunities were available for young and innovative people willing to work smart and hard&period;<&sol;strong><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>The FirstBank boss noted that the bank had been in existence for 127 years&comma; and had been strategically positioned for exponential growth through its ability to leverage innovation to reinvent itself&period;<&sol;strong><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>Also speaking at the event&comma; Prof&period; Kenneth Amaeshi&comma; Thought Leader&comma; University of Edinburgh&comma; Scotland&comma; said COVID-19 had unravelled the need to realign Africa’s institutions&comma; and convert challenges to opportunities&period;<&sol;strong><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>Amaeshi said African governments should evolve more favourable policies and incentives that would encourage renewed innovation&comma; increase investment in education&comma; research and development and intellectual property protection&period;<&sol;strong><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;As much as we want to celebrate technology development in Africa&comma; we need Africans to participate and contribute to the knowledge going on in the digital space&comma;” he said&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;