LAPO Microfinance Bank bags CIBN award for Covid-19 response

LAPO Microfinance Bank Limited has been honoured with the ‘Most Supportive Microfinance Bank’ award by the Chartered Institute of Bankers (CIBN).

LAPO MFB, the largest player in the sub-sector shared the award with two other microfinance banks for its proactive response to clients needs since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

It will be recalled that the Bank had moved swiftly to develop and deploy practical and effective measures to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on clients, staff, and its stakeholders in the early days of the pandemic.

The measures included shutting down all the company’s operations across Nigeria on March 25 for three months even before the enforcement of the federal government-sanctioned lockdown in Lagos, Ogun and the Federal Capital Territory.

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To support official efforts, LAPO MFB also embarked on an intensive Covid-19 awareness campaign which was broadcast on prominent radio stations across the country in Yoruba, Hausa, and Pidgin; the campaign also featured extensive communication deployed on the organization’s social media pages and websites.

In addition, the microfinance bank distributed rice, tomato paste and other food items to clients across the country to alleviate the hardship caused by the pandemic.

Also, LAPO Microfinance Bank has also made cash contributions to two states to complement their ongoing efforts to provide palliatives to low-income Nigerians, the segment which the bank serves.

LAPO MFB was also quick to adapt its pre-loan training manual to digital platforms to provide easy, non-physical access to clients.

To ensure that clients are abreast of the realities and opportunities inherent in the “new normal” economy, LAPO is also deploying structured quarterly Webinar sessions to its Clients to provide deep insights for business optimization.

Hope Moses-Ashike

Hope Moses-Ashike is an Associate Editor, Banking and Finance, with more than a decade of experience reporting on Nigeria’s financial system and broader economy. She closely tracks market movements, monetary policy decisions, company disclosures, regulatory actions, economic indicators, and global developments, and interprets what they mean for businesses, investors, policymakers, and households. Her reporting helps readers understand complex issues such as inflation trends, foreign exchange market dynamics, interest rate decisions, bank performance, and investment risks. She also covers major international events and periodically travels to Washington, D.C., to report on the World Bank/IMF Spring and Annual Meetings. Her dedication to financial journalism has earned her multiple recognitions and invitations to high-level professional development programmes. She is an alumna of the International Visitors Leadership Programme (IVLP) in the United States and holds an Advanced Financial Journalism Certificate from the Press Association Training in London, UK. Her other notable achievements include completing the Lagos Business School CMC Programme, the Bloomberg Media Africa Initiative Programme, and a Master Class in Journalism at Rhodes University in South Africa.