PalmPay, fintech company, has been awarded the prestigious “Customer Focused Digital Bank of the Year” Award at the Africa’s Beacon of ICT Merit and Leadership Awards, organised by the Nigeria Communication Week.

The award ceremony took place in Lagos, celebrating exceptional achievements and contributions in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector.

PalmPay’s recognition as the “Customer Focused Digital Bank of the Year” underscores its commitment to delivering exceptional customer service and innovative digital banking solutions. The award highlights PalmPay’s dedication to addressing the financial needs of its customers providing a seamless and user-friendly digital banking experience.

Receiving the award on behalf of PalmPay, Enakeno Umuteme, Head of Marketing and Communication, expressed gratitude and pride in the company’s accomplishments. “We are honored to be recognized as the ‘Customer Focused Digital Bank of the Year’ at this esteemed event. At PalmPay, we have a 24/7 customer service system with a dedicated response team to assist users whenever possible”.

“As an innovative company, we enhance customers’ banking experience through cutting-edge technology and exceptional service.”

The Africa’s Beacon of ICT Merit and Leadership Awards, an annual event organized by Nigeria Communication Week, aims to recognize and celebrate outstanding contributions in the ICT sector. The awards bring together industry leaders, innovators, and stakeholders to acknowledge the significant impact of technology on society and the economy.

This award reinforces PalmPay’s position as a leader in the digital banking space, and it serves as a motivation for the company to continue its mission of providing accessible, reliable, and customer-centric financial solutions to individuals and businesses across Africa.

Access Bank through its W initiative is supporting women entrepreneurs in the event industry to tap the industry opportunity and scale their businesses.

Abiodun Olubitan, group head of women banking at Access Bank at a recent roundtable discussion with women entrepreneurs urged event industry practitioners to scale their businesses while seizing opportunities in the sector.

“The event industry is worth $2 billion annually and we need to pay attention to it,” Olubitan said. She noted that the bank is ready to support women entrepreneurs to expand, saying that the bank wants “to associate with them, hear them and support their business to grow, faster than they would do it on their own.”

Speaking also, Gbemisola Ajibulu, team lead, W Initiative, Access Bank disclosed that the bank decided to put the event together to underscore the role of practitioners in the event industry which is primarily dominated by women and their contribution to the economy at large.

“We understand that women play a very important role in the economy generally and the events industry is also a very important sector as well and it is majorly dominated by women,” Ajibulu said.

“We are not just a bank, we also care about businesses and their growth and about women doing business and how they can be equipped both with training and loans – both financially and non-financially at whatever capacity we can help when we need to do so as a bank” she added.

Bolanle Olosunde-Jenrola, chief executive officer of Writer Corporate & Personal Brand Story Architect, trained participants on how they can leverage social media to market their products and grow their client base.

“By putting yourself out there online, you make it possible for someone who is far away and has never heard of you before to patronize your products. So that way, businesses can now scale and increase their customers base,” she explained.

“Marketing online ensures that you can have multiple customers because many people know you,” she noted.

Kemi Awe of Kiversworld Catering and Services, a participant at the event applauded Access Bank for the W initiative and supporting small business operators to scale their businesses.

“Before this event, there were several things that I didn’t know about my business that I was able to learn during the breakout session. I now understand that it is possible to have all my CAC registration done by the bank, this will make my business official and registered,” she said.

“I also enjoyed the social media training session and the tips that were shared to enable me to grow my business online. In all, it was an amazing experience,” she added.

Senator Osita Izunaso, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Capital Market, has urged the Federal Government to regulate cryptocurrency in order to offer some level of accountability and investor protection.

Izunaso made the call while briefing journalists in Abuja after the Committee’s screening of Dr Emomotimi Agama, Director-General Designate of Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) and three executive commissioners behind closed-door.

The Executive Commissioners are Frana Chukwuogor, Legal and Enforcement; Bola Ajomale, Operations, and Mrs. Samiya Usman, Corporate Services.

According to Izunaso, the issue of cryptocurrency must be regulated because Nigerians are involved in cryptocurrency trading. Izunaso said: “Since Nigerians are trading in crypto, why are we not regulating it.

Where is the money going to if we don’t regulate the activities in the crypto market. “You can’t stop them from trading in the crypto market. So because we can’t stop them, you have to regulate it.”

The lawmaker also said investing in stock exchange and capital market would help boost the Nigerian economy.

“President Bola Tinubu has told Nigerians that he is looking for N1 trillion economy. “That can only be done through stock exchange, through the capital market.

And I believe that we are going to see more of government activities in stock exchange, in capital market, in commodities exchange, in crypto.

“This is because these are the areas that will further inject money into the system because the problem we have is the problem of liquidity. “We don’t have enough money, we don’t have enough liquidity in the system.

“That is what is crushing the naira and making the naira so little when it’s competing with other currencies. “But if we develop our capital market, develop our crypto market, we will bring more liquidity into the system.

That will help to cushion all the problems we have,” he added. Also Agama said that he would accelerate the development of the capital market in a manner that will boost wealth creation, attract investments and create jobs for Nigerians.

According to him, he was appointed to change the narrative of the capital market and reposition it to the path that would boost economic growth.

He said: “We are bringing on board innovation, development. We are going to change the narrative of the Nigerian capital market. “We are going to turn it around. That is the essence of our appointment by Mr President. “With this team, we assure Nigerians that we’re going to do the best that the President has the desire to do.

“So, we should all wait to see what is going to happen. Our desire is to move this market forward. “And to help in achieving the President’s N1 trillion economy in the shortest possible time. “Yes, the President is going to be a year in office in a few days.”