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… Says as it Grabs 6th BAFI Award

By VICTOR ARJIROMANUS

For their outstanding performance in service delivery and eradication of poverty, through loans support and other financial assistance, one of the renowned micro-finance banks, Lift Above Poverty Organization(LAPO), has again bagged the meritorious award as ‘Micro finance Bank of the Year 2019 at the Banks and other Financial Institutions(BAFI) awards, by BusinessDay media.

L-R, Taiwo Abu Head, Accounts & Reporting; Oluremi Akande, Head Corporate Communication; Dr. Godwin Ehigiamusoe, MD/CEO of LAPO Microfinance Bank; Haruna Jalo-Waziri, MD/CEO CSCS PLC; Mrs. Ngozi Ehigiamusoe, MD, Micro Investment and Support Services; Peggy Idehen, Company Secretary, Henry Owie, Head, Segments; Victor Ehigiamusoe (in white shirt)

The financial service institution, which has won the category award for the 6th time is a pro-poor financial institution committed to the social and economic empowerment of low-income households through provision of access to responsive financial services on a sustainable basis.

Expressing his delight, and giving reasons why LAPO, has been a continued recipient of the award for the past Six years, the MD/CEO, LAPO Microfinance Bank, Dr. Godwin Ehigiamusoe, said;

“We have outreach, financials, services and obviously our focus, that keeps us ahead of other competitors.We do know that there are lots of micro finance banks that maybe doing more of micro banking rather than micro finance. But for us it’s a commitment to serve the under-served, and owners of small and micro enterprises.”

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Giving other criteria used for selection of the best for BAFI Awards, Dr. Godwin said ‘that, ‘the BusinessDay Media take due diligence by  going through both quantitative and qualitative data information on the organisation’’

Continuing, he said; ‘’For me, we have won it the sixth time, that is to say that right from the beginning of the microfinance bank of the year award we have always been the winner. I see that they look at our footprints across the country. We have our operations in 34 states, and when you add the federal capital territory to it that is 35.”

“ Secondly, we provide a range of financial services to our clients and thirdly, is the fact that we have made a very firm commitment to serve the people at the bottom end of the enterprising like micro and small businesses, and, lastly is the fact that LAPO actually goes beyond financial services to support our clients.”

Vowing continuous quality delivery and best practices, Dr. Godwin said that his organization will not rest on its laurels, challenging other microfinance banks to upbeat their games.

“if win have won it six times, if you were to bet for the seventh time, you are likely going to say that we will, especially when we know our performance this year, and when we do our assessment of 2019 next year, we know where we are going and we will continue to do better.

‘’We know any serious actor in the micro-finance sector today will want to beat LAPO. We are aware of that, but as they also aspire to get to the position we are, we are also not asleep, we want to do more. So everyday of our bank, we come up with new strategies and options that we can choose to provide quality services for our clients.

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However, we do also challenge other people; we strongly feel that if you have quality institutions across Nigeria that translates to quality services to a large number of Nigerians, especially women who currently do not have access to quality financial services.”

Vanguard