Most of the 20 million customers of United Bank for Africa Plc, UBA, now transact business online.
UBA’s Group Chairman, Mr. Tony Elumelu said last week that digital transformation has been heightened by COVID-19 because UBA now has less than 15% of its 20 million customers doing business inside the banking halls. The remaining 85% now transact online. This was 65% before COVID-19.
Elumelu said: “UBA is seeing an explosion in its digital platforms. Thankfully, the bank invested significantly in technology, and now, they are investing even more so that they can serve their customers better. So, the digital connectivity technical infrastructure should be strengthened in such a way as to aid this explosion we are seeing,”
Mr. Elumelu spoke during a virtual session organised by the TIME100TALKS on Thursday on the theme, ‘Empowering Entrepreneurs’. Bill Gates, Founder of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and United States Senator Tammy Duckworth were other speakers during the virtual event.
The UBA Chairman said that the coronavirus pandemic has presented a perfect opportunity for foreign investors to invest in Africa, due to the huge opportunities that are inherent in the African economy.
“This is the time to invest. Africa is a land of opportunities; there is huge population and there is now the realisation by African leaders who are creating an enabling environment to encourage these investments,” Elumelu said.
While pointing out that the African continent is well positioned to emerge into a strong digital economy, Elumelu said there is now more macro-economic stability than ever before, especially given that the young African is energetic, restless and has the ambition to succeed, in the face of difficult circumstances.
“Challenges exist in Africa, but we have huge returns on investments. There is huge population and there is realisation by African leaders who are now creating an enabling environment to encourage investments into Africa. There is no better time to make the multi-million dollar bet I made in Africa, than the times we live in now,” he said in a chat with Kimberly Dozier, a Time Correspondent who moderated the session.
He also spoke on how the Tony Elumelu Foundation, which he founded, has been supporting the growth of its entrepreneurs especially in the tough business climate presented by the ravaging coronavirus pandemic.
“Through the TEF virtual platform called the TEFConnect, we are able to engage our entrepreneurs on a day-to-day basis; get resource speakers from all over the world and ourselves, to talk to them and to train them and let them know how to manage difficult moments like this. And I can say that at-least 72% of our 9,500 beneficiaries are hanging in there, expanding their businesses. You know most SMEs typically die after their first year, but we are seeing a different trend, where beneficiaries of our programme in different countries are contributing towards fighting the virus in their different countries. We are seeing the creation of jobs, the one million jobs we set out to achieve,” he noted.
The TEFConnect Community is a meeting ground where entrepreneurship ecosystem players share information and ask questions on their business activity. Currently one million entrepreneurs are on TEFConnect.
Tony Elumelu seized the opportunity to call on all bodies and key sectors such as the private and public sectors, development agencies, including the African Development Bank and other institutions to work together to make a difference, adding that “What the world needs today and Africans, in particular, is hope and that to me is what will make the difference but that hope has to be backed by tangibility, some substance so that we can make it work.”
TIME100 Talks, an initiative of TIME magazine, is a new live event series that brings together leaders from every field to spotlight solutions to urgent global problems and encourage cross-disciplinary action.
