E-Financial
MasterCard, JAN Partner on Nigerian Youths Development
MasterCard and Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN) through its Girls’ Enterprise Programme (GEP), have announced a joint collaboration to provide experiential education and training on financial literacy and entrepreneurship to Nigerian youths. 600 secondary school students across 20 schools in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja will benefit from the programme.
The Girls Enterprise Program is a part of JAN’s Leadership Empowerment Achievement and Development (LEAD) camp which recruits and trains senior secondary level 2 (SS2) students on different aspects of setting up and running a business, including writing business plans, selling shares to raise capital, electing officers, managing a business and financial records as well as returning profits to shareholders as dividends.
Further to the LEAD camp, forty volunteers and sixty small businesses have been deployed for practical sessions to fully implement the program.
Ten participants will be assigned to each partner with small businesses for two weeks on internship, and afterwards undergo a one day interactive session with the Microfinance institution.
At the end of the exercise, 100 “girlpreneurs” will assess resources and loans to start-up their businesses. All the 600 participants will also form peer support groups based on their locations.
Speaking about the partnership, Omokehinde Ojomuyide, vice president and Area Business head for MasterCard in West Africa commented: “MasterCard is privileged to work with Junior Achievement Nigeria to turn around the lives of young people in the country. We fully stand behind the youth, the future of this country, and gladly support this initiative to build capacity in entrepreneurship, which is a crucial component of financial empowerment. The partnership between MasterCard and Junior Achievement is ideal because we both share a passion for educating youth as they become financially active in society”.
According to the Central Bank of Nigeria, the unemployment rate in the country stands at 23.9 per cent, a worrisome trend that CBN agrees poses a negative impact on the economic development of the country.
Furthermore, the youth unemployment rate is recorded at 46.5 per cent. Entrepreneurship caters for the creation of opportunities for large and small-scale employment, resulting from the setting up of business units.
In this way, entrepreneurs play an effective role in reducing the problem of unemployment in the country which in turn clears the path towards economic development of the nation.
Commenting on the partnership with MasterCard, Junior Achievement Nigeria Executive Director, Mrs. Kumbi Wuraola said: “We are excited about this collaboration that will see entrepreneurial skills and a new breed of financial literacy delivered to Nigerian youths. The LEAD camp is designed to empower girls in secondary schools to become young leaders and achievers, as they prepare to commence their dynamic career futures.”
For over a decade, MasterCard has partnered with Junior Achievement to provide financial empowerment education to young people across the world. MasterCard’s partnership with Junior Achievement began with the Junior Achievement—Young Enterprise programme which stresses entrepreneurial thinking among youth as well as featuring entrepreneurial opportunities for them.
Titan Trust Bank has selected Oracle FSS for its core and digital banking technology, it is understood.
The start-up bank recently obtained its license by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
It’s understood that Temenos and Infosys also competed for the deal.
The shortlist came down to the two most widely installed international core systems in Nigeria, Infosys’ Finacle and Oracle FSS’s Flexcube.
The Nigerian banking sector has seen a great deal of upheaval over the years, with many mergers, start-ups and closures. Flexcube is a well respected name since the late 1990s (the pioneer was Access Bank, now one of the country’s top five banks) and has been a commonly selected platform since then.
The new bank is believed to be one of five to have gained regulatory approval of late (Globus Bank is another).
Local media sources say the new licences stem from the Central Bank’s desire to attract new investments into the sector and better serve the country’s 50 million+ unbanked and under-banked citizens.
Titan Bank is said to be headed by a former executive director of Heritage Bank (which is a Finacle user).
Oracle FSS did not respond to request for comment.
International Monetary Fund (IMF), has appointed Tony Elumelu, Nigerian billionaire and group chairman of Heirs Holdings, owners of United Bank of Africa, to its advisory council on entrepreneurship and growth, convened by Kristalina Georgieva, the fund managing director.
The announcement was disclosed in a statement on Friday.
According to the statement, the IMF advisory council comprises global business leaders, policymakers, and academics dedicated to identifying and addressing regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship.
The IMF said Elumelu will be instrumental in ensuring that Africa’s entrepreneurship is central in policy making.
“Elumelu, Africa’s leading advocate of entrepreneurship and whose Foundation has funded, mentored, and trained over 25,000 African entrepreneurs since 2015, champions entrepreneurship as the engine for the economic transformation of Africa,” the statement reads.
“A self-made entrepreneur, Elumelu’s embracing of entrepreneurship is fundamental to his concept of Africapitalism, his belief that Africa’s private sector can and must play a leading role in the continent’s development, making long-term investments that deliver social and economic value.
“Elumelu will be instrumental in ensuring that Africa’s entrepreneurial potential is central to global economic policy making.”
Speaking at the inaugural meeting of the advisory council on March 26, Georgieva said the appointees would share their experiences on how macroeconomic and financial policies “can provide a supportive environment for innovation, entrepreneurship, and productivity — key ingredients for a thriving private sector and strong economic growth”.
Africa’s Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises, fintech industry, scaling remittances, and cross-border payments will be the driving forces behind the continent’s digital ballooning payments system, which is estimated to reach $1.5 trillion by 2030.
This is according to a MasterCard-commissioned study by Genesis Analytics, which states that the digital payments economy is growing faster on the continent.
This comes as the World Bank says Sub-Saharan Africa has shown significant growth in financial inclusion over the past decade, much of it driven by mobile money account adoption.
Dimitrios Dosis, president, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa at MasterCard, comments: “Africa is filled with immense possibilities, and its people have the potential to shape the global economy in the decades ahead.
“MasterCard remains deeply committed to driving digital transformation across the continent, working closely with entrepreneurs, merchants, banks, start-ups, telcos, and governments. By increasing our investments, expanding innovation, and fostering inclusion, we are helping build a more connected and accessible digital future.”
The payment technology company went on to say as a longstanding technology partner to Africa, its continues to strengthen its commitment to the continent’s digital growth through strategic investments, public-private partnerships, and innovation initiatives that drive financial health and economic growth.
In addition, it says trends in Africa signal a strong shift towards digital transactions, with businesses and consumers increasingly embracing contactless solutions, further accelerating economic participation and financial accessibility across the region.
“For over five decades, MasterCard has worked alongside African governments, businesses, and communities to advance financial inclusion and economic development.
“With Africa projected to host nine of the world’s 20 fastest-growing economies, we are focused on leveraging our expertise and a technology to support the continent’s continued digital transformation.
“Our investments today will help build a more resilient economy for the future,” says Mark Elliott, division president, Africa, MasterCard
By fostering collaboration with key stakeholders, MasterCard says it aims to enhance digital connectivity, expand economic opportunities, and enable millions of people and businesses to thrive in the digital economy.
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