E-Financial
Obi, eTranzact Founder Tasks Business Leaders on Creating Unique Value for Customers
Dr. Valentine Obi, founder and group CEO, eTranzact, has called on business leaders to be unique in formulating business strategies in order to deliver valuable products for its customers.
L-r: Dr David Olaniyi Oyedepo, Chancellor, Covenant University, Canaanland, Ogun State and Dr. Valentine Obi, founder and group CEO, eTranzact, after the lecture recently.
Dr. Obi’s eTranzact is Nigeria’s premier payment processing platform boasting of home grown Switch with its processing power which activates its partners’ to drive billions of dollars in transactions yearly through eTranzact card, and direct from bank account gateways.
Delivering a speech at the African Leadership Development Centre, ‘ALDC Leadership Masterclass’, with the topic: Business Strategy and Innovation, held recently at Covenant University, Ogun state, recently, Dr. Obi, urged business leaders to identify set of customers they intend to serve in their respective markets, in order to enable them create unique strategies that will deliver valuable products to these customers.
According to him, “if you’re trying to serve the student community, being the best is different from if you’re trying to serve working class people with families. There is no best way to compete.
“There are lots of good ways to compete depending on who you’re trying to serve.
“So we are not competing to be the best, we are competing to be unique. It is about making choices and the most fundamental choice is, Who am I trying to serve.”
He also described business leaders quest to serve everyone in their sector as one of the mistakes in strategy formulation.
He said, “One of the worst mistakes in strategy is to try to serve everybody.
“You can’t meet the need of every customer, you just can’t do it, it’s impossible.
“You can’t meet all the needs of every customer. Fundamentally, if you have a strategy, you’ve got to decide which needs, of which customers, you’re actually going to seek to meet.
“Secondly, Another tremendous mistake in strategy is to get into a competition with your competitors on the same thing.
“If your competitor is trying to be the lowest cost, it’s pretty unusual to win, if you then try to chase them and be low costs.
“The essence of strategy is to find a unique position in your business that delivers unique value to the customers you choose to serve.
“So, to be truly successful, we really need a strategy and that strategy isn’t about just being the best, but a set of choices we make on a long term to distinguish ourselves from competitors.
“It defines how we are going to compete differently. And it also really articulates the competitive advantages that we will seek to create and use, in order to win.”
He further pointed out that if we’re doing the same thing as our competitor, it means we don’t have a strategy.
“You’re just trying to do the same thing better. That’s not strategy, that is operational excellence.
“Strategy is around choices that you make, versus the choices that your competitors are making
“Simply implementing best practices, buying the latest machine, using the internet to communicate with your customers. There are lots of things that managers do, to actually keep making the company more productive and more efficient. All those things are a necessity, but they’re not strategy.
“Strategy is not about doing the same thing better. Strategy is about finding that different place for the organisation to deliver value.
“What makes it challenging, however is that, you have to do both of these things at the same time .You have to keep adopting best practices, but at the same time having real clarity about what is going to make you different in the marketplace”.
Speaking on the part of businesses craving to be number one or number two in the industry, Dr. Obi said that those are mere goals and aspirations but not strategy, he noted that strategy is the unique positioning that allows us to get to whatever goal we set for ourselves.
He called on businesses not to confuse strategy with goals, noting that the two cannot be mixed together.
He said, We cannot mix goals and strategy together, we have to separate them, we need to separate the goal we’re trying to achieve, and then the strategy is how we’re going to get there.
“Also, When we think about strategy, we also have to recognize that strategy is holistic. It’s not about any single action that you might want to take. It is not just one thing one steps. Strategy is not to go international, that’s not a strategy. Raising research and development is not a strategy. Strategy is holistic.
“It’s the whole set of choices that you make collectively in order to position the company for success, over time, in the marketplace.
“It’s not just, one step, it’s a set of steps. Strategy involves all the functions of the organisation. It includes marketing, production, finance, everything together to create that unique positioning, that’s what strategy is all about”, he added.
Fidelity Bank Plc has recorded gross earnings of N315.4bn for the first quarter ended 31 March 2025, representing a 64.2 per cent increase from the N192.1bn reported in the corresponding period in 2024.
Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, managing director and chief executive officer, Fidelity Bank,
According to the bank’s unaudited financial statements filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited, the impressive performance was driven by significant growth in interest income, foreign exchange revaluation gains, and higher fee and commission income.
Interest and similar income calculated using the effective interest rate method rose by 58.1 per cent to N256.1bn in the period under review, up from N161.9bn in the same quarter of 2024.
Additionally, the bank earned N25.4bn from other interest and similar income, compared to N8.2bn in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
Despite a 28.5 per cent increase in interest expense to N90.7bn from N70.5bn, net interest income climbed to N190.8bn, reflecting a 91.5 per cent growth from N99.6bn in the same quarter last year.
Fidelity Bank recorded a credit loss expense of N6.3bn, a decline of 49.2 per cent compared to the N12.4bn reported in Q1 2024. Consequently, net interest income after credit loss expense rose to N184.5bn from N87.3bn.
The bank also saw growth in its non-interest income. Fee and commission income increased to N23.8bn, up from N18.3bn in Q1 2024.
Foreign currency revaluation gains contributed N9.8bn to earnings, representing a 200.8 per cent increase from N3.3bn in the same period last year.
On the cost side, operating expenses remained elevated. Personnel expenses rose to N19.7bn from N14bn, while depreciation, amortisation, and impairment increased significantly to N8.7bn from N2.2bn. Other operating expenses also grew to N87.5bn from N52bn.
Despite the cost pressures, the bank posted a profit before income tax of N105.8bn, more than doubling the N39.5bn recorded in the same period last year. After a tax charge of N14.7bn, profit for the period stood at N91.1bn, marking a 190 per cent increase compared to N31.4bn reported in Q1 2024.
Earnings per share rose to 181 kobo from 98 kobo in the corresponding quarter.
The bank’s total comprehensive income for the period rose to N101.6bn, up from N35.8bn in Q1 2024, bolstered by exchange differences on translation of foreign operations and revaluation gains on debt instruments.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has uncovered another suspected illegal investment platform identified as TOFRO.COM (Tofro).
The commission raised the alarm in a notice issued on Thursday and made it available to the newsmen.
The commission warned Nigerians against falling for their tactics to obtain money from them through the promise of unusually high returns.
SEC said that the suspected investment platform holds itself out as a cryptocurrency trading platform, adding that such an investment scheme is not registered by the commission.
It said that based on its investigations, Tofro’s operations exhibit the typical indicators of a fraudulent Ponzi scheme.
According to the SEC, it promises unusually high returns, heavy reliance on a referral system to sustain payouts, and failure to honour withdrawal requests from subscribers.
SEC, however, strongly advised Nigerians to be wary about investing with Tofro, noting that any person who places such an investment with the entity does so at their own risk.
The notice reads, “The attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission has been drawn to the activities of an online platform known as TOFRO.COM (Tofro), which holds itself out as a cryptocurrency trading platform.
“The Commission hereby informs the public that the Tofro is NOT REGISTERED by the Commission either to solicit investments from the public or operate in any other capacity within the Nigerian capital market.
“Investigations have revealed that Tofro’s operations exhibit the typical indicators of a fraudulent Ponzi scheme, including the promise of unusually high returns, heavy reliance on a referral system to sustain pay-outs and failure to honour withdrawal requests from subscribers.
“Accordingly, the public is strongly advised to be wary about investing with Tofro, as any person who places such investment with the entity does so at his/her own risk.
“The Commission similarly reminds potential investors of the need to VERIFY the registration status of investment platforms via the Commission’s dedicated portal: www.sec.gov.ng/cmos before transacting with them.”
The Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) has received shareholders’ approval to invest $2.5 million or 25% equity stake in the proposed Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Bank (YIB) — a new investment vehicle designed to provide equity funding to youth-led businesses in Nigeria.
The approval came during the bank’s 8th Annual General Meeting (AGM) which was held in Abuja.
The move is a strategic step aligned with the bank’s broader mission to support Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), job creation and entrepreneurship among Nigeria’s youth.
According to Tony Okpanachi, DBN Managing Director, Youth Entrepreneurship Investment (YIB) is not a conventional bank. It is an investment vehicle that will deploy equity into promising youth-owned enterprises.
“This is about backing ideas and unlocking growth through long-term capital — not debt,” Okpanachi told journalists after the AGM.
The initiative is a partnership between DBN, the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), and the African Development Bank (AfDB), with additional backing expected from development finance institutions.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) is currently in discussion to provide debt financing, which would bolster the capital available to the vehicle without diluting equity.
“This $2.5 million is DBN’s initial stake,” Okpanachi said. “We are co-investing alongside NSIA, and this sets the stage for broader institutional participation — both local and global.”
YIB aims to fill a critical funding gap in Nigeria’s startup ecosystem. While the country has a vibrant pool of young entrepreneurs, access to early-stage funding remains limited. Many businesses rely on short-term loans or informal capital, which often constrains scalability and long-term planning.
Okpanachi emphasised that YIB’s structure is deliberately designed to avoid the trappings of a traditional bank.
“This is not a commercial bank. It won’t provide loans or open retail accounts. It’s structured purely as an equity-focused investment vehicle, targeting scalable ventures with strong fundamentals and youth ownership”, he noted.
This will be DBN’s second strategic investment following the establishment of its wholly owned impact credit guarantee subsidiary, which offers partial credit guarantees to MSMEs.
Final structuring of YIB is underway. Following the shareholder greenlight, the promoters are now coordinating with the relevant stakeholders to complete incorporation, legal frameworks, and capital mobilisation.
“We expect all groundwork to be finalised by the end of this year. With operations likely to begin by early 2026,” Okpanachi disclosed.
The move comes amid growing concerns over Nigeria’s rising youth unemployment rate.
By investing directly into youth-led businesses, DBN and its partners aim to accelerate job creation, promote innovation, and catalyse broader economic development.
“There’s already strong interest from global players,” the MD noted, though he declined to name institutions due to ongoing negotiations.
“What we are doing is laying the foundation. YIB will serve as a credible, well-structured platform to crowd in institutional capital and scale youth-driven entrepreneurship.”
He added that YIB is not a one-off initiative but part of a long-term strategy to create sustainable investment channels focused on Nigeria’s demographic dividend.
“This is more than a financial transaction,” Okpanachi said. “It is a statement of intent. We believe in the entrepreneurial potential of Nigerian youth — and we are backing that belief with real capital.”
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