OBIAGELI IBENNAH – The serial entrepreneur

Obiageli Ibennah is a strategist. Known by her friends and acquaintances as the serial entrepreneur for her many involve­ments in different small businesses and her ability to spontaneously come up with a viable business idea or improve on an ex­isting one; qualities which have equipped her for consulting and advisory in the area of Micro Small and Medium Enterprise Businesses.

In a world where industry lines are blurring and sustainable competitive advantages are becoming the exception, envisioning new market concepts and trends are crucial, and the key to staying ahead is the ability to explore many transient competitive advantages simultaneously. As a commercially astute and result driven individual, she acknowledges the importance of, and presses toward achieving this feat.

Currently, she is the MD/CEO and Managing Partner of Bridgeway Microfinance Bank Ltd, with 16yrs work experience in the banking and service industry in both international and local capacities.

Her immediate past responsibilities were at Key­stone Bank (erstwhile bank PHB) where she was hired as Product Development Strategist in Feb 2009, and where she spent the following 6 years occupying various roles including Ag. Divisional Head of Products Division and Head of Small and Medium Enterprises bank wide before moving on to establish the microfinance bank.

It was during this time that she carved a niche for herself in the area of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and worked directly with international and local bodies including the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and National Association of Small and Medium Enter­prises (NASME) and SMEDAN through which she was able to build the SME segment of Keystone Bank from inception using the diagnostic report by IFC as a guide.

She realized firsthand the gap that exists in the financial sector and the challenges which pre­vent it from successfully rendering financial aid and capacity building to the real sector, to trade and commerce, and was committed to creating strategies to successfully navigate the hostile busi­ness environment for SMEs. To consolidate her achievements in this regard, she used research she had previously done, on the back of a survey carried out by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in conjunction with SMEDAN where it was revealed that the micro segment constitutes 99.87% of the total MSME market, to explain why various DFI’s including commercial banks have failed in delivering service to this sector. (Look out for her article on ‘The Place of BOI and other DFIs in Nigeria’s economic growth’).

It is for this singular reason that she saw the need for Bridging Gaps (Bridgeway MFB’s Slogan) by building an institution which would directly serve this segment, together with a board whose joint ex­periences in the financial industry span over 70yrs.

She has deployed her experience in Product Development to ensure Bridgeway Microfinance Bank Ltd has the right products to serve the micro segment. Products which are designed to bank the unbanked and build their capacity by reducing book keeping delinquencies which stem from high illiteracy levels and in so doing equip these groups to access financing by helping them keep business records that enable them lend against cash flows i.e. uncollaterised lending that business people in this sector need. Through this, their businesses will experience real growth and conversion from “Micro” to “Small” and only at this point can they be served by commercial banks.

Through these experiences she has become capable of adding value to the sector by creating suitable SME structures, position the bank for public private partnerships and resolve financial issues that are the bane of Micro Small Medium Enterprises (The Vision).

Prior to this, she worked as a Product Develop­ment Strategist and Customer Service analyst with Centrica, British Gas in the United Kingdom for about 18months. She has an MBA from Leeds University Business School, where she delivered the winning Business Pitch for her school at that years Barclays Business Competition, and she is AIRB (Association of International Retail Bankers) and ACCA (Association of Certified Chartered Ac­countants) part qualified.

She started her banking career in her service year at Union Bank in 1999, and was immediately after employed by Standard Trust Bank (Now UBA) in 2000, by 2002 she moved to Consolidated Discounts Ltd where worked as Funds Manager with till 2005 when she left to study for her Masters in Business Administration in September of the same year and returned to the country in Feb of 2009.

She married a year after that, and has 2 beautiful children. When asked to sum up her life in three words she says God, Family and Career.

Her favourite past time is to be involved in wor­thy, achievable causes (like the just concluded Breast Cancer screening exercise she did for her community where she partnered with the George Kerry life Foundation to screen 250 women, free, in her community).

Her favourite quote is by George Elliot which says “It’s never too late to be what you might have become”.