East African Business Week (Kampala)
Aggrey Nshekanabo
19 January 2009
Kampala — Ecobank has opened shop in Kampala with an ambitious plan of covering the whole country sooner having started with six branches up and running.
The bank with deep roots in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region has positioned itself as an African bank for Africans by Africans. It has over 600 branches in 25 countries and Uganda now becomes the 26th country where the bank has set foot.
In an exclusive interview, Ms. Judith Owembabazi, the bank's head of Brand and Communication said Ecobank has no strategy for Africa but Africa is its strategy.
"We are a pan-African bank with a pan-African outlook and Africa is our strategy. We chose Uganda because it is in Africa. The bank is run by Africans for Africans with world-class practices," she said.
The bank sprouted from Togo about twenty years ago in 1988 and in that period it has set base in 25 countries including Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi.
The plan is to spread to Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Southern Sudan within the next one year as a means of serving the Great Lakes region.
The bank was an initiative of the West African chambers of commerce as a means of finding strength in unity and economic control through a banking institution to raise funds for economic recovery.
Prominent personalities and institutions in West Africa jumped on the novel idea and formed Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) as a holding company with capital in excess of US$100 million and became the first banking group in West Africa.
Over 1,000 individuals raised about US$32m and the rest came from the ECOWAS Fund with headquarters in Lome, Togo in 1988.
In just five years of existence, Ecobank had opened shop in Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Benin and Ghana and by 1998; the bank had spread its wings to Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea, Liberia, Niger and Senegal.
According to Mr. Dele Alabi, Ecobank Uganda Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, the decision for the bank to serve beyond the ECOWAS region was taken in 2001 and it went full blast to serve the whole African continent in 2006.
"The Ecobank Group has proved that amidst an economic crisis like the one that bedeviled West Africa, the best idea can be born and is spreading as a shining symbol of Africa's renaissance." Dele said.
The bank's information technology (IT) continent wide is managed and controlled by a one-service centre in Accra, Ghana, the first of its kind in Africa using state of the art technology.
Owembabazi said: "The centre is a sign of Ecobank's commitment to new technology and customer accounts are opened and processed centrally in any of the countries. The Accra centre is a business processing centre for all the group's affiliates such as the telecoms networks."
She said the centre offers a one-platform rate for anyone transacting with Ecobank in any of its branches continent wide.
The bank comes with the traditional services in banking for corporates, retail, investment and trade financing. However, it has come with point-of-sale kiosks for retail banking so as to bank the unbanked that are left out by high street banks.
"We are aware that there is a vacuum to fill and for this reason, we have come with customised services for everyone. We are not a high street bank but a people's bank with regional banking centres and outdoor sales kiosks in malls and busy streets and surbubs with a one-bank concept across Africa," she stressed.
Louis Arinaitwe, the Head of Consumer Finance said Ecobank will try as much as possible to minimise risks but with practical repayment schedules for borrowers to make it easy to do business.
He emphasised the bank will also do mortgage financing, leasing and trade financing to help exporters and importers do business.
"We may also lend without collateral security depending on the market analysis report of our customers. For example if someone is a contracted supplier or buyer of tradables or is on cash flow basis, we give them a loan." Arinaitwe said.
The bank has started with six branches at Parliament Avenue as the main branch; Bombo Road at Shoal House; in Mukono; Ndeeba and Kikuubo. Plans are underway to open branches in Wandegeya, Katwe and Lugogo at Game Stores and later cover major towns in the country.
The board of Ecobank is headed by David Twahirwa. Other board members are Charles Mbire, Ms. Robinah Shonubi, Albert Essien and Dele Alabi who is also the MD/CEO.
Alabi is a first class Accounting graduate with an MBA specialising in finance and banking with over 21 years of experience.
He joined Ecobank in 1993, rising to his current station as MD Ecobank Uganda.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 East African Business Week. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
