Innovate, Innovate, Innovate: The Future Depends Upon You

innovate

Zenith Bank was built on innovation. In each step we took from the first days to today innovation–keeping our eye to the future–has been a critical part of who we are. As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, many of the obstacles that we faced in the way of infrastructure resulted in opportunities that allowed us not only to innovate and transform a business but a nation.

At the root of this innovation are a passion and interest regarding technology and the importance we felt it would play early. When technology flourished elsewhere, Nigeria struggled to use basic telecommunications. Through several efforts of trial and error, and our fair share of luck, Zenith found itself leveraging wireless capability.

We saw the nation rapidly digitizing and understood the need to implement the necessary technology quickly. We were committed to this and understood the vision we were following. All processes of the bank were converted to digital forms and computerized, making it easier to transact with customers, transmit transactions, retrieve data, and make reports to regulators. Word quickly spread that a customer could go into one Zenith branch to make a transaction, such as a deposit, then drive to his local branch and find the new balance already reflected.

Now, at last, the path was set not just for Zenith customers, but for all Nigerians to take advantage of the enormous potential of the internet. Nigeria was, and still is, a country of tremendous possibility and unlimited opportunities, with a large population of young, educated men and women ready to embrace technology. They couldn’t do so without a way to connect them through technology.

They couldn’t do so unless some way was found to connect them as people with the technology. We started to offer seminars and workshops to do exactly that, continuing the American CTO (computer technology office) program—the technology-driven awareness program offered by the United States Embassy. We invited people to our bank branches or to larger lecture halls by enticing them with the chance to witness internet services for themselves and experience how freely they could download virtually anything.

You see, the need for technology undoubtedly helped our business, but more than that it provided an opportunity for progress that the people of Nigeria needed in order to not only benefit from our services but from the world at large.

Learn more about how Zenith’s vision for innovation transformed a nation and leverage those principles for your next event by visiting, JimOvia.com

 

Share

jim ovia author headshot

Chairman and Founder, Zenith Bank

Ovia is a philanthropist and chairman of the Jim Ovia Foundation. To date, over 1,500 students have been provided with university scholarships. The Jim Ovia Foundation also established the James…

Learn More

Find out if you qualify to be a Forbes Books author.