E-Financial
Obi, eTranzact Founder Tasks Business Leaders on Creating Unique Value for Customers
Dr. Valentine Obi, founder and group CEO, eTranzact, has called on business leaders to be unique in formulating business strategies in order to deliver valuable products for its customers.
L-r: Dr David Olaniyi Oyedepo, Chancellor, Covenant University, Canaanland, Ogun State and Dr. Valentine Obi, founder and group CEO, eTranzact, after the lecture recently.
Dr. Obi’s eTranzact is Nigeria’s premier payment processing platform boasting of home grown Switch with its processing power which activates its partners’ to drive billions of dollars in transactions yearly through eTranzact card, and direct from bank account gateways.
Delivering a speech at the African Leadership Development Centre, ‘ALDC Leadership Masterclass’, with the topic: Business Strategy and Innovation, held recently at Covenant University, Ogun state, recently, Dr. Obi, urged business leaders to identify set of customers they intend to serve in their respective markets, in order to enable them create unique strategies that will deliver valuable products to these customers.
According to him, “if you’re trying to serve the student community, being the best is different from if you’re trying to serve working class people with families. There is no best way to compete.
“There are lots of good ways to compete depending on who you’re trying to serve.
“So we are not competing to be the best, we are competing to be unique. It is about making choices and the most fundamental choice is, Who am I trying to serve.”
He also described business leaders quest to serve everyone in their sector as one of the mistakes in strategy formulation.
He said, “One of the worst mistakes in strategy is to try to serve everybody.
“You can’t meet the need of every customer, you just can’t do it, it’s impossible.
“You can’t meet all the needs of every customer. Fundamentally, if you have a strategy, you’ve got to decide which needs, of which customers, you’re actually going to seek to meet.
“Secondly, Another tremendous mistake in strategy is to get into a competition with your competitors on the same thing.
“If your competitor is trying to be the lowest cost, it’s pretty unusual to win, if you then try to chase them and be low costs.
“The essence of strategy is to find a unique position in your business that delivers unique value to the customers you choose to serve.
“So, to be truly successful, we really need a strategy and that strategy isn’t about just being the best, but a set of choices we make on a long term to distinguish ourselves from competitors.
“It defines how we are going to compete differently. And it also really articulates the competitive advantages that we will seek to create and use, in order to win.”
He further pointed out that if we’re doing the same thing as our competitor, it means we don’t have a strategy.
“You’re just trying to do the same thing better. That’s not strategy, that is operational excellence.
“Strategy is around choices that you make, versus the choices that your competitors are making
“Simply implementing best practices, buying the latest machine, using the internet to communicate with your customers. There are lots of things that managers do, to actually keep making the company more productive and more efficient. All those things are a necessity, but they’re not strategy.
“Strategy is not about doing the same thing better. Strategy is about finding that different place for the organisation to deliver value.
“What makes it challenging, however is that, you have to do both of these things at the same time .You have to keep adopting best practices, but at the same time having real clarity about what is going to make you different in the marketplace”.
Speaking on the part of businesses craving to be number one or number two in the industry, Dr. Obi said that those are mere goals and aspirations but not strategy, he noted that strategy is the unique positioning that allows us to get to whatever goal we set for ourselves.
He called on businesses not to confuse strategy with goals, noting that the two cannot be mixed together.
He said, We cannot mix goals and strategy together, we have to separate them, we need to separate the goal we’re trying to achieve, and then the strategy is how we’re going to get there.
“Also, When we think about strategy, we also have to recognize that strategy is holistic. It’s not about any single action that you might want to take. It is not just one thing one steps. Strategy is not to go international, that’s not a strategy. Raising research and development is not a strategy. Strategy is holistic.
“It’s the whole set of choices that you make collectively in order to position the company for success, over time, in the marketplace.
“It’s not just, one step, it’s a set of steps. Strategy involves all the functions of the organisation. It includes marketing, production, finance, everything together to create that unique positioning, that’s what strategy is all about”, he added.
Nigeria’s Bank Verification Number (BVN) database expanded to 69.55 million as of July 5 2026 from 69.32 million in June 2026, according to latest data released by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS).
BVN is an 11-digit biometric identification system introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria and managed by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) to secure customer accounts and reduce fraud.
This means that BVN enrolments increased by 228,947 between June and July 5 this year.
With the BVN database standing at 67.8 million as of December 31, 2025, it also means that the database grew by 1.75 million between the end of last year and July 5, 2026.
Specifically, with less than 1.8 million BVN enrolments so far recorded for this year, it is looking highly unlikely that BVN registrations at the end of 2026 will come close to the 4.3 million total registrations recorded in 2025.
Analysts note that while the expansion in the BVN database last year was largely driven by the introduction of the NonResident Bank Verification Number (NRBVN) initiative, which enables Nigerians in the diaspora to do their BVN enrolment remotely, thereby removing physical barriers and boosting cross-border financial engagement, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in March this year, announced a revised BVN regulatory framework, that saw it introducing stricter controls on suspected fraudulent transactions, BVN enrollment, and data access within the banking system.
According to the regulator, the amendments to the BVN framework, which came into effect on May 1, 2026, were aimed at strengthening fraud monitoring, improving identity management within the financial system and safeguarding the integrity of banking transactions, by strengthening identity verification and ensuring that BVN registration aligns with legally recognised age thresholds.
Thus, under the revised BVN framework, the apex bank introduced a stricter age requirement for BVN enrolment, limiting registration to 18-year-old individuals and above.
Also, under the new framework, customers will only be allowed to change the phone number associated with their BVN once. The CBN further stated: “Under the new guidelines, financial institutions are required to establish and maintain a temporary watch-list for BVNs linked to suspected fraudulent transactions reported within the banking system.
“A BVN may remain on this temporary Watch-list for a maximum period of twentyfour (24) hours, during which the BVN owner shall be contacted to provide clarification regarding the identified transaction(s).”
Launched on February 14, 2014, by the CBN in collaboration with the Bankers’ Committee, the NIBSS, and the German firm Dermalog, the BVN scheme was designed to capture the biometrics of all bank customers and provide each with a unique 11-digit identification number that can be verified across the Nigerian banking industry.
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reaffirmed that the standard N100 banknote remains legal tender across the country, warning that its rejection by individuals, businesses and institutions violates the law.
The clarification follows reports that some members of the public have refused to accept the standard N100 note over concerns about its legal tender status following the introduction of the commemorative N100 banknote issued to mark Nigeria’s centenary.
In a statement signed by Mrs. Hakama Sidi-Ali, acting director of Corporate Communications, the apex bank stressed that “both the commemorative N100 banknote and the standard N100 banknote are valid legal tender and must be accepted for all transactions nationwide.”
The CBN explained that the commemorative N100 note was introduced to celebrate Nigeria’s centenary and did not replace the existing standard N100 banknote.
The CBN cautioned individuals, businesses, financial institutions and other economic agents against rejecting the standard N100 note, noting that such action contravenes the provisions of the CBN Act and undermines public confidence in the national currency.
It warned that appropriate enforcement measures would be taken against any person or organisation found violating the law.
The apex bank reaffirmed its commitment to protecting the integrity of the naira, maintaining confidence in all duly issued banknotes and ensuring the smooth circulation of currency across the country.
The CBN also urged members of the public to continue accepting and transacting with all banknotes legally issued by the Bank and advised anyone seeking further clarification to use its official communication channels.
FCMB Asset Management Limited (FCMBAM), the asset management arm of FCMB Group Plc, has received an upgrade to its national scale long-term and short-term issuer ratings of A(NG) and A1(NG), from A-(NG) and A2(NG), by GCR Ratings, a leading pan-African credit rating agency.
The outlook on the ratings remains stable, said the rating agency.
The upgrade is anchored on FCMBAM’s competitive resilience and financial discipline, alongside the strengthened credit profile of FCMB Group.
GCR highlighted FCMBAM’s decade-long track record of strong performance, well-established brand franchise, diversified product suite and robust distribution network as key drivers of its standalone strength.
These are further supported by consistent earnings growth and a disciplined, unleveraged balance sheet, it said.
According to GCR, FCMBAM’s competitive position is supported by “its relatively long track record, strong brand franchise, established product and geographical distribution network and cross-selling opportunities,” with the rating agency noting that FCMBAM ranks among the top five asset managers in Nigeria, with an estimated five per cent share of a fragmented market as of 31 December.
The Company’s financial performance underpinned the upgrade, with revenue growing by 30 per cent and operating cash flow increasing by 13 per cent, enabling the business to be fully funded without recourse to debt.
Liquidity strengthened further, with liquidity sources versus uses improving to 5x as of December 2025, from 3.6x a year earlier, while the EBITDA margin edged up to over 58 per cent.
Commenting on the upgrade, the Chief Executive Officer of FCMB Asset Management, James Ilori, said: “This upgrade is an important external validation of a strategy we have pursued with discipline over many years: building an investment franchise that performs reliably, governs itself rigorously, and earns trust in every market cycle. It speaks to the strength of our membership of FCMB Group and to a culture that holds itself to local and global standards of risk management and capital stewardship.
“As Nigeria’s asset management industry enters a new era of higher capital thresholds and rising investor expectations, we intend to lead from the front – ahead of regulatory timelines, ahead in digital transformation and ahead in the outcomes we deliver for the clients who trust us to assist them in achieving their investment objectives.”
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