Union Bank partners LEAP Africa to support youth empowerment

Union Bank Plc is partnering LEAP Africa to promote youth entrepreneurship development and job creation in the country.Speaking in Lagos, recently the Founder, LEAP Africa, a youth-focused entrepreneurship training organisation, Ndidi Onwuneli, said the organization is partnering the bank because of its belief in economic and technological transformation of the African continent.

According to her, LEAP Africa’s focus on youth development is born out of its conviction that youth entrepreneurship development offers a way out of the stagnation and poverty ravaging the continent.

Onwuneli spoke at a news conference announcing the second batch of youths to undergo one-year training on leadership, accountability, professionalism and entrepreneurship by the organisation.

She said: “Actually, our partnership with Union Bank started a few years ago and so we are delighted about Union Bank’s continued commitment towards supporting entrepreneurship and employment drive in Nigeria.

“We started with the conviction that Nigeria needs a new generation and core dynamics that can transform our continent. We actually started with two focused areas: youth and entrepreneurship from day one because we recognised how important it is to create wealth as a way out of poverty in this country.”The LEAP Africa founder recalled that its partnership with Union Bank commenced in 2015.

While describing youths as national assets, Onwuneli said: “We identified young people who had ideas on how they could transform the society and sustain the idea that would make a difference in the lives of people.

“We were delighted in Union Bank joining us in this effort. Our hope is that these young people will be catalysts; we believe we can transform Nigeria.”

According to the Head, Corporate Communications, Union Bank, Ogochukwu Ekezie-Ekaidem, the bank is delighted to partner the organisation, adding that its vision is in line with that of the bank.

She said: “One of the things we did at the start of our transformation was to define who we want to be as a corporate citizen and the different pillars that we want to support in the society. The youth segment is actually one of the areas that we support as part of the bank’s corporate social responsibility strategy.

“So, for us, this programme is in line from our youth empowerment point of view. As a bank, we have all agreed that we want to be a catalyst for social change, we want to be a bank that responds to social problem and issues.”