First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Nigeria’s premier and leading financial services provider, has announced the promotion of 1,179 employees to new grades as part of the year-end appraisal outcomes.
The promotion exercise is a demonstration of the bank’s commitment to empowering its employees and driving productivity against all odds, especially amid the social, economic and health impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Adesola Adeduntan, chief executive officer of FirstBank, said the resilience and sustainable performance and growth of FirstBank for the past 127 years have been largely attributed to the commendable efforts of the bank’s employees.
“Promotion is one of the numerous incentives we employ to reward our employees and boost their passion as they work towards the accomplishment of their individual career goals as well as the delivery of the bank’s strategic objectives. In this regard, the promotions serve to specially thank our employees who worked assiduously with dedication throughout the unprecedented times of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Adeduntan said.
“As a bank, we are committed to grooming and retaining top talents who are motivated to demonstrate and live our core values of entrepreneurship, professionalism, innovation and customer-centricity,” he said.
FirstBank has a clearly defined career growth and talent programmes that cater for the leadership development needs of employees across levels. These include the Senior Management Development Programme (SMDP), Leadership Acceleration Programme (LAP) and FirstBank Management Associates Programme (FMAP).
The SMDP is the bank’s intensive modular programme for a select group of senior managers and principal managers who are proven leaders in their respective functions and have been identified as central to the bank’s succession plan. Since its inaugural edition in 2017, the bank has graduated 52 of its exemplary senior staff.
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The LAP was specifically designed to infuse critical leadership and change agents within the middle management staff cadre (Assistant Manager – Manager Grade) of the bank. The programme is an intensive skill development programme structured to enhance core leadership and business competencies of the bank’s team leads and functional leaders who will in turn drive and advocate the transformation and innovation core at FirstBank – providing the bank with a sustainable thrust for ensuring superior performance and a talent pool of “change agents”. A total of 56 cohorts have successfully graduated from the programme over the last 18 months and are currently serving in various leadership roles in the bank.
On the other hand, FMAP is a 24-month fast-track comprehensive developmental programme targeted at young, dynamic, self-motivated, and highly driven individuals who possess the right skill set and excellent leadership potential among junior and entry-level employees. The programme is also open to non-FirstBank employees who meet the selection criteria. The programme commenced in 2018.
Recently, the giant strides made by the bank at impacting its employees were acknowledged by Great Place to Work Institute, which noted that FirstBank recognizes the immutable merits of maintaining a “brand-first” mindset and culture as a critical component of its business strategy.
“Its brand has evolved over the years, with strengthened manpower development policy to match the constantly evolving expectations of today’s increasingly discerning stakeholders,” the Institute said.
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