First City Monument Bank (FCMB) has explained that the rationale behind its widely acclaimed comprehensive capacity building programme, tagged, ‘’Business Enterprises and Sustainability Training (BEST)’’, for Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs), is to lay a solid foundation for their long term success.
The bank added that this will also enable entrepreneurs to have access to business management skills and advisory services, learn and acquire competencies which they can apply for effective
management of their respective businesses in a sustainable manner.
FCMB held the sixth edition of the BEST programme for existing and start-up SMEs held in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State on June8, 2019. Hundreds of exist ing and start-up entrepreneurs from the six states in the South-south zone took part and benefited from the intensive training and empowerment exercise. This followed the huge success recorded at previous editions of the training across Nigeria since it commenced last year.
The initiative, led by FCMB Training Academy, the Bank’s Business Banking Group and seasoned
facilitators, focused on business and skills development, marketing, finance and accounting for SMEs. It covered various topical areas such as identifying business opportunities, surviving in a harsh business environment, improving productivity, raising capital, optimising sales, cost and
revenue management, among others. It is one of the value-added offerings of FCMB to complement its efforts in the areas of lending and advisory services to SMEs with the objective of stimulating their growth and contributions to overall national development.
According to the Executive Director, Business Development of FCMB, Bukola Smith, the Bank recognises the increasing role and impact of SMEs.
‘’The BEST initiative is one of the innovative ways we empower, promote and support the growth of our SME customers because without effective training and exposure, it could be quite difficult for their businesses to succeed. We believe this training will go a long way to impact positively on the SME operators who have participated in this programme. It will propel them to further develop themselves in order to compete favourably within and outside the Nigerian market.
