BY CHINENYE ANUFORO
Stanbic IBTC Bank, and IE Business School, a leading business school in Spain, have signed a direct financing agreement to help people acquire relevant skills in entrepreneurship and business.
The parties signed the MoU in Lagos on Tuesday to kicks-tart the partnership in which the bank will provide loan facilities for students enrolled in IE’s top ranked MBA programmes. IE is ranked 3rd Business School in Europe by the Financial Times. Its Global Executive MBA was recently ranked number 1 by the Economist.
The collaboration, which will be operative for an initial period of one year from May 2015, and renewable for another year, covers financing for IE’s MBA and Executive MBA programmes.
Stanbic IBTC Bank will finance a part or the total cost of the programmes which IE offers to qualified candidates who have been accepted to the programme. The financing will come in the form of an Unsecured Personal Loan (UPL).
Speaking at the event, Executive Director, Personal and Business Banking, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Obinnia Abajue, said the partnership fits into the institution’s goal of fostering economic empowerment through strategic interventions that enable individuals and businesses realize their aspirations.
He noted that it was the pursuit of this objective that informed the creation of the Stanbic IBTC Business Leadership Series, which made its debut last year, to build a new cadre of leaders among people and businesses in Nigeria. Similar capacity-building initiatives spanning various sectors of the economy, including MSME, transport and logistics, trade and finance have also been organized by the Stanbic IBTC Group on an ongoing basis to support individuals and businesses, Obinnia stated.
On his part, IE’s Vice Chairman, Diego Del Alcazar Benjumea, who noted that the institution is dedicated to building business leaders worldwide, stated that Stanbic IBTC Bank was chosen for the partnership after a thorough appraisal revealed its uncommon commitment to multi-sectoral capacity-building and economic empowerment.
Having become Africa’s biggest economy, with its rebasing throwing up previously underreported sectors such as telecommunications, entertainment, and retail, IE´s Country Director, Eniola Harrison, said Nigeria requires, in both the public and private sectors, a critical mass of skilled manpower to drive its future growth, while sustaining its growing international profile and reputation.
Source : SunOnline
