By Babajide Komolafe
MONEYTRUST Microfinance Bank has said it will leverage on entrepreneurship to redefine microfinance banking in Nigeria.

To achieve this, the newly licensed MFB, has developed two unique products namely mom-prenuer (MP), which is targeted at women empowerment and youth-preneur, which is targeted at promoting innovation and enterprise among youths.

Managing Director/Chief Exeuctive,   MoneyTrust MFB, Chike Memeh,   disclosed this while speaking to journalists at the sidelines of the branch opening ceremony in Lagos. He said that said the aim of MoneyTrust MFB is to be a bank that is integrated into our customers’ aspiration by adding value. “It is not just about prompt services but being dependable partner you can rely on”, he said.

He stressed that the bank is in business to add value to its customers adding that in addition to mom-prenuer and youth-preneur, the bank also offers a wide range of services including pool funds management; cooperative partnership plan; as well as micro health scheme.

He said: “We have tailor made account types suited for various cadres in the public. Apart from the traditional current account, savings and fixed deposit accounts, some of our unique products are targeted at kids, youths, small business owners, associations, religious bodies and others”.

Memeh said that MoneyTrust believes in the financial inclusion policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and hence have specific products that support the poor and less priviledged. “Our Youth-Preneur product is developed to encourage innovation and enterprise by deliberaly nurturing their talents.

We have developed Talent Hunt program for which MoneyTrust shall facilitate initial investments into selected ventures. We also have productstargetted at the “unbanked” through Cooperative Society Partnership Plan (CSPP). Our Pooled Funds products are also designed for this class of clients,” he explained.

“We believe banking should be more of reforms, innovation and enterprise. We are not one of those cut out for traditional banking, that wait for customers to come to the bank. We are restless in those types of situations. We like doing things differently. Even when things are good, we would like to spoil it and do it in a different way.

“We think that Nigeria has developed very fast over the years. The banking industry has evolved, that is why a number of Nigerian banks are among the top 1000 banks in the world. So, that is positive. But we are still a long way to go, especially when you look at merchant banking and micro-banking.

On the lower end, there is a lack of depth of microfinance in the country. Microfinance is majorly for the poor and unbanked. They hardly have banks. So, what we find in such areas are the informal transactions like the esusu going on in the markets. There is hardly any bank that supports that sector for growth. That is what MoneyTrust was set up for,” he added.