To Handle Increased Stress, Build Your Resilience

Wherever you live or work, stress is on the rise. According to the International Labour Organization, workers in developed and developing countries are facing increasing strain at work. The onslaught of mounting stressors include global challenges, such as climate change, terrorism, and political turmoil – as well as personal and professional challenges, such as illnesses, job changes, and organizational restructuring.

How to Disagree with Someone More Powerful than You by Amy Gallo

Your boss proposes a new initiative you think won’t work. Your senior colleague outlines a project timeline you think is unrealistic. What do you say when you disagree with someone who has more power than you do? How do you decide whether it’s worth speaking up? And if you do, what exactly should you say?

What the Experts Say
It’s a natural human reaction to shy away from disagreeing with a superior. “Our bodies specialize in survival, so we have a natural bias to avoid situations that might harm us,” says Joseph Grenny, the coauthor of Crucial Conversations and the cofounder of VitalSmarts, a corporate training company. “The heart of the anxiety is that there will be negative implications,” adds Holly Weeks, the author of Failure to Communicate. We immediately think, “He’s not going to like me,” “She’s going to think I’m a pain,” or maybe even “I’ll get fired.” Although “it’s just plain easier to agree,” Weeks says that’s not always the right thing to do. Here’s how to disagree with someone more powerful than you.

How small businesses can maximise social media, Smoothie Case Study

Some social media web and apps include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, WhatsApp etc are unique and applicable in their own ways to small businesses. There are billions of people on social media web and apps every day and small businesses can take advantage of this.

Facebook and Instagram are photo and video-sharing social media applications used for networking and a platform for small to large businesses to engage customers and potential customers with photos and videos of their products and services.

CBN tasks MFBs on 64 new customers monthly

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed all Microfinance Banks (MFBs) operating in the country to acquire 64 new customers per month.

The directive follows the revised national financial inclusion target that aims at accelerating progress towards the achievement of 80 percent financial inclusion target by the year 2020.

In a letter to all microfinance banks on the revised national financial inclusion target, Tokunbo Martins, director, other financial intuitions supervision department, noted that the CBN held a stakeholders’ forum for all financial service providers in the six geo-political zones in the first and second quarters of 2019 which was attended by representatives of the MFBs. The objective of the forum was to expose stakeholders in the financial inclusion agenda.

Nigeria’s OneFi secures $5m debt facility for its Paylater mobile platformBy Daniel Mpala on 8 March, 2019

Lagos based finance company OneFi today announced that is has secured a $5-million debt facility from New York and Nairobi-based debt platform Lendable.

In a statement today (8 March), OneFi said the investment will be used to deploy more loans on its consumer facing mobile platform Paylater. The platform also helps users transfer money, recharge airtime and pay bills.

CBN sets N50m capital for Tier 2 microfinance banks

The Central Bank of Nigeria has introduced a Tier-based system for unit microfinance banks in the country.

The apex bank also adjusted the time frame given to the different categories of microfinance banks to recapitalise.

The different categories are the unit, state and national operators.

In a circular to all microfinance banks released on Monday on the ‘Review of minimum capital requirement for microfinance banks in Nigeria,’ the CBN reviewed a circular it had earlier issued to the microfinance banks on October 22, 2018.

The CBN stated that the Tier 2 unit microfinance banks must have a minimum capital of N50m, while Tier 1 would maintain the N200m minimum capital introduced for unit microfinance banks in October 2018.

Full Press release by CBN on SKYE Bank and Polaris

Gentlemen of the Press
1. You  will  recall  that  on  4th  July  2016,  we  took  a  regulatory  action  on Skye bank Nigeria PLC. Specifically, this action led to the resignation of the  Chairman,  all  Non-Executive  Directors  on  the  Board  as  well  as  the Managing  Director,  Deputy  Managing  Director,  and  the  two  longest-serving Executive Directors on the Management Team.

2. At  that  time  the  proactive  action  was  informed  by  unacceptable corporate  governance  lapses  as  well  as  the  persistent  failure  of  Skye Bank  PLC  to  meet  minimum  thresholds  in  critical  prudential  and adequacy ratios, which culminated in the bank’s permanent presence at the CBN Lending Window.

3. The  focus  of  the  action  then  was  to  save  depositors’  funds  and  to ensure   that   the   bank   continued   as   a   going   concern,   being   a systemically important bank. Part of our intention was also to stem the imminent job  losses  to  staff  if  a  liquidation  option  had  been  adopted.