Uche Uzoebo is the Chief Distribution & Stakeholder Engagement Officer at Shared Agent Network Facilities Limited (SANEF). An experienced professional with over 20 years of cross functional background in Banking and top management experience in Banking, Business Development, Project Management and Financial Inclusion.
She is a proven change result-oriented professional with solid business acumen, leadership, and management qualities. A Financial inclusion/Digital Payment Expert, Gender Specialist/Advocate working with Entrepreneurs particularly women to impact them.
Uche is a Certified Product Manager, a certified Business Development Service Provider (BDSP), LPI-IFC TPMA Certified Trainer, a member of the Association of International Product Marketing & Management (AIPMM), a member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), a Fellow of Acumen West Africa and a Fellow of The Microfinance Association, UK. In this interview with the editor, Lehle Balde, Uche shares what it takes to build a financial inclusion advocacy and policy career.
Who/what inspires you?
I draw inspiration from my ability to surmount challenges that come my way in all facets of endeavor, including work/professional journey. These tasks and challenges have laid a solid foundation for the depth of experience and expertise I have built across various sectors.
I believe bridging the gap between the underprivileged and privileged has the ability to create wealth, provide inclusion and sustainability for their family and future generation because it is what they would then teach their children.
I am also inspired by learning new things, expanding my horizons, and using what I know to create solutions to the myriad of problems to be fixed in the world. I believe learning should be an everyday occurrence.
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Where does your passion for the inclusion of the poor come from?
Financial Inclusion is vital in providing livelihood and empowerment to the people. Women & youth have the power to change their expected outcome and provide for their household. The sheer honor and privilege to be part of an ecosystem that untwist the fate of so many people’s vision and livelihood in itself is gratifying. My life passion is to deepen the frontiers of financial inclusion by creating strategies, tactics, and ways through which financial services can reach the unbanked and the underserved. Financial inclusion is a multifaceted issue that requires engaging and working with many stakeholders. Collaboration has been the key to bridging the gap. I believe no one should be left behind, and the more people in the formal financial system means functioning economies and overall growth. We should all be passionate about inclusion!
How do you stay motivated and focused?
Constantly breaking barriers and seeing results of the work I’m doing keeps me motivated. Setting targets and goals for myself and always striving to meet and surpass those targets. Each time I meet a target, I raise the bar a notch higher.
I find it fulfilling to be able to have a bit impact in changing the course of an individual’s mindset to be able to cautiously make decisions that would change their socioeconomic status.
For me, the thought of looking forward to the pulsating climax of successfully getting the job done is an elixir that constantly keeps me motivated and focused amongst other factors such as family, my team, stakeholders, and the drive and fulfillment that I get from my job.
What has been the most exciting part of your job?
The most exciting part of my work is the impact we can achieve. Meeting and hearing different stories of women and youth & being able to track and follow their journeys as they grow gives me exceptional joy.I strive daily to meet expectations, and when I look back at the end to monitor the results, I am reassured. The result of hard work is fulfillment. Whenever I look at the financial inclusion ecosystem and examine where we were and currently are, I am very excited about the future; it is also fascinating to go home every day knowing that I have met my set goals and targets and have deepened financial inclusion through agent banking.
What advice do you have for young women wanting to chart a similar career path as you?
I would say to set goals, volunteer in projects, get mentorship and keep an open mind.
Be available and flexible to learn great lessons. No lesson is too difficult to understand, and no task is insurmountable. Remain focused and be consistent; you will reap great results if you sustain such values.
