By Peter Egwuatu
In furtherance of its corporate goal of promoting the culture of entrepreneurship, Diamond Bank Plc has urged the entrepreneurs in Kaduna to take advantage of its Micro Scale and Medium Enterprise (MSME), funds to boost their businesses.

Declaring the one-day seminar open on DamondXpress Account, Victor Ezenwoko, Head, regional business of Diamond Bank, said the programme was conceived as a way of providing support to small and medium businesses.

He disclosed that the bank resolved to focus on growth and development of this aspect of the economy, in view of the multiple impacts it has on the economy in general.

Ezenwoko, revealed that the move was informed by the realisation that no nation can truly develop without unlocking the creative energy of the vast majority of her people, involved in small businesses.

In her presentation on “Diamond Bank Offering for MSMEs” at the Diamond BusinessXpress seminar, Chidinma Lawanson, said “ One of the products developed by the bank was Diamond Businessxpress Account, developed to help entrepreneurs to grow their venture.

We offer them a proposition, because we understand their need for a flexible account that will enable them carry out transactions at a minimal rate, the account is with zero Cost of Transactions (COT). Our modest fixed monthly service fee means you can carry numerous transactions monthly without worrying about COT, the savings is planned in a way that it can be ploughed back into the business”.

Explaining further, she said, “Diamond BusinessXpress comes in three variants with terms and conditions linked to the size of your business and volume of transaction.

“Starter (Micro) level has a fixed monthly charge of N1, 500 for a maximum monthly turnover of N4million; minimum account balance of N5, 000 and free daily cash lodgment of N500, 000. Growing (Small) level fixed monthly charge of N3, 000 for a maximum monthly turnover of N12million; minimum account balance of N10,000 and free daily cash lodgment of N1million; Established (Medium) level has a fixed monthly charge of N6,000 for a maximum monthly turnover of N40million_ minimum
account balance of N25, 000 and free daily cash lodgment of N2million”.

The major features of the human capacity development initiative were highly motivation presentations made by resource  persons drawn from within and outside Kaduna State.

In his presentation entitled “Marketing and SMEs”, Ayo Aminu, who is the chief executive officer of Kaduna based firm CLIQUE, introduced the participants to the fundamentals of marketing which SME operators required to know in order to make a success of their enterprise.

He pointed out in the course of his presentation that through having appropriate marketing philosophy, an SME operators can acquire customers, hold on to existing ones, win –back lost ones, as well as create brand visibility.
For Ibrahim Maigari Ahmadu, a motivational speaker and chief executive officer, “Cyberia and Information Solutions, based in Kaduna who delivered a paper entitled “The Power of Ideas”. Maigari, began his presentation by sharing with the audience an e_mail, received from a friend, which highlighted the ingredients that make a nation great.

Maigari said that he has to do with the vision of their individual members of the nation.Going further, the last presentation of the event, entitled “The Web and You” delivered by the chief executive officer of Zero_One Communication Limited, educated the participants about how they can use the opportunities available in the new media, such as Internet to market their products and services.

Many participants commended the bank for the initiative stating that they are now better equipped to deal with day to day challenges in their businesses. One of the participants at the event, Funke Adeloye,  a fashion designer, commended the management of the bank for the DiamodBusinessXpress Enterprise Series” held  in the northern city of Kaduna.

It would be recalled that one of the issues which, Pascal Dozie, founder and former chairman, Diamond Bank Plc, helped bring to the front burner of global discourse, during the annual meeting of World Bank in Washington D.C, in the year 2000, was the need for global initiative against the deadly scourge of poverty.

Dozie, who is widely regarded within the business cycle, as a unique entrepreneur, with a heart for the poor, during the meeting argued that lack of access to financial resources is one of the fundamental
causes of poverty in developing countries which Nigeria is inclusive.

Speaking specifically on economic situation in Nigeria, Dozie disclosed that 70 percent of Nigerians are poor and the impact of poverty is evident in many areas of the country ‘s national life — loss of values and national prestige, international suspicion, and veiled avoidance, decline in foreign investment, destitution and insecurity.

In line with his conviction that economic situation in the country is dominantly artificial and can be addressed through constructive approach, Dozie, on his return back to Lagos, after the meeting, initiated the establishment of an active unit mainly for the financing of small and medium enterprise, of the bank.

Vanguard, gathered that the bank is the first in the history of the country to have designated a unit solely for the financing of that sector of the economy. Through the initiative, the bank has been able to assist in uplifting many Nigerians out of penury by providing financial assistance to operators of businesses in that sector.