Wema Bank to share growth strategies for tech start-ups, SMEs at October webinar

By Rosemary Iwuala

Wema Bank Plc has announced that the next edition of its quarterly webinar, aimed at assisting Small and Medium-scale Enterprise (SME) and early-stage start-up segments of its customer base, will hold on Friday, 21 October.

In a statement, Arthur Nkemeh, head of SME Banking at Wema Bank, said the webinar, themed “From Start-up to Unicorn: Strategies for Sustainably Scaling a Tech Company in Nigeria”, will focus on the strategies that start-ups and SMEs in the tech space in Nigeria can adopt to develop the capacity needed to withstand the challenges facing the tech industry around the world.

“We have seen many tech companies in Nigeria and around the world struggle to raise funds, lay off their employees and slash their workers’ salaries in recent times. We want to utilize this webinar to share insights with the tech start-up and SME community in Nigeria on the strategies that they can adopt to navigate these challenges and build structures that will ensure that they will continue to grow,” Nkemeh said.

He further said that the October webinar will address some of the biggest challenges facing the tech start-ups and tech-enabled SMEs in the country – such as managerial capacity, talent acquisition and retention, access to credit and partnerships, among others – and find the right path to profitability.

Nkemeh informed that Ashim Egunjobi, managing partner of Octerra Capital; Oluwole Oyeniran, enterprise technology and performance leader and TMT leader for Deloitte in West Africa; and Eyitayo Ogunmola, founder and CEO of Utiva, have been confirmed as guest speakers at the webinar. He noted that Wema Bank’s quarterly SME Webinar series, which is aimed at facilitating the growth of the SME and early-stage startup sectors in Nigeria, is borne out of the bank’s understanding of the role these sectors play in the Nigerian economy and the immense potentials that they hold.