FirstBank’s ‘SMEConnect’ Scales Up Businesses

<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>First Bank&&num;8217&semi;s SMEconnect<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> presents FirstBank’s &OpenCurlyQuote;SMEConnect&&num;8217&semi; which provides the needed fertilizer for SMEs to strive as earlier published in Nairametrics<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Small Medium Enterprises are the ultimate drivers of the economy&comma; and when they are under-utilized and not given the much-needed support to thrive&comma; it has an overriding effect on the overall growth and development of a Nation&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In a demonstration of its continuous commitment to National development&comma; FirstBank’s &OpenCurlyQuote;’SMEConnect&&num;8217&semi; continues to create an atmosphere for SMEs to build&comma; grow and scale&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>SMEConnect is FirstBank’s value proposition geared towards building the capacity of SMEs to deliver business goals and contribute even more significantly to national development&period; It is a digital platform through which SMEs can access the bank’s plethora of services&period; The portal is designed to help SMEs access the Bank’s unique propositions and identify various gaps that hinder their business growth&period; With FirstBank’s over 127 years of impacting the economy&comma; the portal helps proffer tailored services solutions&comma; whilst creating avenues for business improvement&comma; profitability and sustainability&period; Currently&comma; there are 4&comma;225 registered businesses and<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;wsj&period;com&sol;"> 20&comma;880<&sol;a> users on the platform&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>SMEConnect was birthed out of the need to bridge the gap and connect SMEs to resources&comma; products and services that will enable them to overcome the challenges of poor business structures&comma; lack of infrastructure&comma; poor market penetration&comma; limited access to information and professional services&comma; inconsistent government policies amongst others&comma; hence the bank has identified seven strategic pillars considered essential for the sustainability and growth of SMEs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The pillars are&colon; connect to infrastructure&comma; connect to talent&comma; capacity building&comma; connect to policy and regulation&comma; connect to resources&comma; connect to market as well as connect to finance to further reinforce the Bank’s role in putting SMEs at an advantage whilst contributing to national growth and development&period; SMEConnect serves as a medium of connecting SMEs to these solutions from the comfort of their offices&comma; homes&comma; and anywhere they are in the world&period; The uniqueness of the platform lies in the fact that these offerings are either free or substantially discounted&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The unique selling proposition of SMEConnect is the congregation of value-adding products &amp&semi; services on one platform for easy access and at rates &lpar;prices&rpar; that are competitive and &lpar;in most cases&rpar; discounted&period; The SMEConnect has special features such as the Business <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">Diagnostic<&sol;a> tool which has been specifically developed to evaluate one’s business and give one a business effectiveness score&comma; it goes further to tell one what one has done well and what one needs to improve on&period; One is also able to request a business coach on the portal and get up to a 34&percnt; discount&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>SMEs can also have access to free business advisory services through the business diagnostic tool&comma; they can showcase their products and services at no cost at all&comma; interact with their customers and other SMEs alike&comma; Connect to free capacity building workshops&comma; seminars and webinars and get regular updates on policies and regulations impacting SMEs&period; All these interesting features combine to make FirstBank the first-choice bank amongst SMEs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Other features of the SMEConnect platform include enlightening blog articles that provide tips on growing businesses&comma; e-newsletters&comma; and useful webinar content&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>What are the pre-requisites for SMEs to be listed on the portal&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>SMEs can join the SMEConnect community by visiting https&colon;&sol;&sol;smeconnect&period;firstbanknigeria&period;com&sol; to sign up seamlessly for free&period; Users only need to enter their email addresses and create a password to get started&period; Businesses must be registered and have a corporate account with FirstBank to list their business on the business hub and access all the beneficial offerings on SMEConnect&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Furthermore&comma; individuals and businesses can register to be users of SMEConnect without listing their business&period; SMEConnect is open to businesses operating across all sectors&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Businesses who wish to list their businesses on the business hub in addition to being registered and having a corporate account with FirstBank must accept the terms and conditions of the platform&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There are some exceptions&comma; however&comma; businesses that deal in cryptocurrencies&comma; sports betting and other similar business ventures that do not align with the Bank’s T&amp&semi;Cs https&colon;&sol;&sol;smeconnect&period;firstbanknigeria&period;com&sol;terms&rpar;are currently not allowed to be listed on the business hub&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Visit https&colon;&sol;&sol;smeconnect&period;firstbanknigeria&period;com&sol; to sign-up and enjoy the rich benefits the FirstBank SMEConnect offers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;