Firstbank storms Port-Harcourt, Abuja with SMEs Business Clinic

&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">In recognition of the significant role SMEs play in achieving sustainable growth and development in the economy of the country&comma; Nigeria’s premier and leading financial services provider&comma; First Bank of Nigeria Limited would host SMEs in its 2020 second edition of the SME Business Clinic&period; The event themed &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Building a sustainable Business” would be held on 25th and 27th February 2020 in Port-Harcourt and Abuja respectively&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">A statement signed by Folake Ani-Mumuney&comma; Group Head&comma;&NewLine;Marketing &amp&semi; Corporate Communications and made available to OpenLife&comma; SMEs&NewLine;are encouraged to take the FirstBank SME diagnostic tool by visiting<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;smeconnect&period;firstbanknigeria&period;com&sol;">https&colon;&sol;&sol;smeconnect&period;firstbanknigeria&period;com&sol;<&sol;a>in order to&NewLine;stand a chance to be amongst the participants that will be in the SME Business&NewLine;Clinic in Port-Harcourt and Abuja&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">The FirstBank SME diagnostic tool is designed for SMEs&NewLine;to check the health of their business&comma; better understand it and drive&NewLine;profitability&period; The SME Clinic will feature one-on-one business advisory&NewLine;services&comma; mentoring&comma; networking opportunities and participants will also be&NewLine;acquainted with the requisite knowledge and business tools needed to drive&NewLine;efficiency in the day-to-day operations of their business&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Speaking on the event&comma; Gbenga Shobo&comma; the Deputy&NewLine;Managing Director&comma; FirstBank&comma; said &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;at FirstBank&comma; we are proud of the giant&NewLine;strides we have taken over the years towards enhancing the SMEs for their&NewLine;businesses to thrive&comma; have a fair play in the market and contribute to the&NewLine;Gross Domestic Product of the country&period; We remain the trusted financial partner&NewLine;of SMEs and reiterate our resolve to be known as the brand that enables their&NewLine;success&semi; much the same way that we have for over 125 years enabling Nigerians&NewLine;and the economy at large”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">The coaches at the event are Seye Olurotimi&comma; Lead Consult at&NewLine;Cedar Tribe Limited&comma; an SME branding expert and business&NewLine;growth consultant with vast experience helping SMEs grow effective brands and Robert&NewLine;Yakubu&comma; founder of the Instabiz Academy and the Business Mastery Program&comma; a&NewLine;digital entrepreneur and business strategist empowering entrepreneurs&comma;&NewLine;marketers and business professionals in Port-Harcourt&NewLine;and Abuja respectively&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">The SME Clinic session is organized in partnership&NewLine;with SME Traction&comma; a leading business coaching platform <em>aimedat<&sol;em> empowering SMEs to make informed choices about their&NewLine;businesses&comma; thereby facilitating growth and bolstering their contribution to&NewLine;the development of the economy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Expressing her delight on the impact the inaugural SME&NewLine;Clinic has had on her business&comma; the CEO&comma; Nibbles Plus More Ventures&comma; Owoeye&comma;&NewLine;Oluyomi&comma; stated that &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;the first step I took after the SME business clinic was&NewLine;do a strategic road map for my business&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Riding on the information I got from the business&NewLine;trend session on consumer landscape&comma; I had a clearer understanding of who my&NewLine;target audience are and have included that in my business plan&period; The feedback we&NewLine;believe will help us identify untapped markets and problems in our industry&comma;&NewLine;how to reach them and what value we can offer them”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Like we were told at the clinic&comma; progressing into the&NewLine;counter intuitive zone of the business model reinventing box is what brings&NewLine;about Innovation&period; Something must trigger innovation and not just our intuition&period;&NewLine;Hence&comma; we have chosen research&comma; she concluded&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;