Immediate former Managing Director of Fidelity Bank, Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo
Managing Director of Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr Nnamdi Okonkwo, weekend in Lagos flagged off a strategic scheme tagged ‘Give them Wings’, saying the initiative is designed to empower Nigerian youth.
Giving emphasis on the initiative Saturday at Fidelity Bank appreciation party on the theme; ‘Give them Wings’; Okonkwo recalled that “In 32 years, Fidelity Bank has been going from strength to strength and we realised each customer has 38 other choices so we thank you for choosing us.
“We themed this party ‘Give them Wings’ because a lot of people have aspirations, a lot of people have gone to school but there is no job.
“We also complained that there is crime and the youths cannot be usefully engaged and so we needed to bridge the gap.
“Fidelity bank then decided that aside the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) we have in hand, we created Youth Empowerment Academy (YEA).
“This is to train young people who would have been terrorising me and you. We give them opportunity to be useful and become independent,” he said.
Okonkwo while talking about the criteria for selection said that the bank looked for talents that people would ordinarily not support and went for them.
“Look at Tim Godfrey, a gospel artist, we felt it was not fair for such persons to lose opportunity because he was not singing secular music and we supported him,” he said.
The Fidelity Bank chief averred that the retail banking giant is gender sensitive being the only bank with the greatest number of women on the board with three female executive directors.
In his remarks at the Live TV Show monitored in Lagos, The bank’s Chairman, Ernest Ebi, emphasised the importance of the Youth Empowerment Academy, which he described as a way of making beneficiaries financially independent.
He revealed that “Fidelity Bank is making the youths turn their passion into pay cheque through empowerment programmes which includes training in fashion, make-up, farming, catering and more.”
Business Hilights reports that the Show, hosted by television personality, Ebuka Obi-Uchendu and veteran actress Kate Henshaw, saw the presence of Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Obafemi Hamzat, Minister for Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and Alhaji Nasiru Yusuf-Gawuna, Deputy Governor of Kano State.
