‘Apex Trust is bringing banking to the poor’
Toyin Olalemi, Managing Director, Apex Trust Microfinance Bank Limited, in this interview with SULAIMON OLANREWAJU, says the bank aims to leverage on its technical strenght to bring banking to the poor, among other industry issues. Excerpts:
Toyin Olalemi, MD,
Apex Trust Microfinance Bank
What is the vision behind Apex Trust
Microfinanace Bank?
Our vision is to provide a robust microfinance support for the market people, the traders and other economically active poor, who are ready to improve on the level of their present investment but are being hampered by finance. Those whom their accessibility to finance is very little.
How do you intend to go about this?
We have set up business lines that meet the target of the people. We want to look at the butchers, for instance, and design products that suit them, those selling pepper, and other things and come out with products that meet their expectations and as well raise the level of their investment. For people who are salary earners, we want to eliminate the sufferings they encounter, especially at the middle of the month, in payment of their children’s school fees and others. It is our desire to aid in the economic development of our people generally.
But these are the same submission of other microfinance operators in the market. What special values have you come to add to the industry?
We are coming into the market with a special touch. The special touch is that it is professionals that are handling every department in our organisation. Apex Trust Microfinance Bank is an organisation blessed with well trained personalities on the board of directors and the staff generally. Not only that, we have technocrats, people who are real business practitioners and who know what people require.So, this is the edge which we have over others, and which will help us reach out to the targeted economically active poor.
How soon should we expect Apex Trust Microfinance Bank in the market?
By the grace of God, we are going to start full scale operations by the middle of March 2008.
Is your organisation a unit or state microfinance organisation?
Apex Trust is a unit microfinance bank located in the business district of Dugbe, in Ibadan
What informed the choice of that location?
We have carefully selected the place because that is the commercial nerve centre of the city. All around us, you find people who are the real target, the traders, kiosks, all around. From there, we hope to extend our tentacles to other areas in the town with large concentration of market men and women.
Don’t you think that the comercial banks will be a threat to your activities, especially that they are also into financing of small scale entrepreneurs?
With the way we have configured our operations, the commercial banks will only complement our efforts. Moreso, we are more positioned to provide services that will meet the yearnings of the small and medium entrepreneurs, we are closer to the people and our structure are all favoured towards them.
Do you think the coming of the microfinance banks will impact positively on the economy of the country?
Definitely. The global trend now is that people want to see the real impact of a nation’s economic development and growth on the lives of the ordinary people. Indices on the Nigerian economy, for instance, have been revealing increased growth on the economy, but the ordinary man is not feeling the impact. This is mainly because the universal banks do not have the time and the resources to take care of the lower segment of the economy.
Unfortunately, this is where we have between 65 and 70 per cent of our working population, the people who need money but whose accessibility to funds is vey remote.
Again, the commercial banks will be more interested in financing the large scale businesses because they need to recoup their enormous capital investment, especially, with their recent recapitaliastion. Those businesses that will generate such returns are definitely not in the small scale sector.
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