CBN, EDC partnered to strengthen cooperative society as economic tool for development

L-R: Managing Director, GEN Nigeria, Dr Olawale Anifowose; President, CBN Staff Multi-purpose Cooperative Society Limited, Nkechinyere Ofili; Founder, Pro-Serve Integrated Services Ltd, Kenechukwu Nwankwo; Director, Enterprise Development Centre, Dr Nneka Okekearu; General Manager, CBN Staff Multi-purpose Cooperative Society Limited, Pius Obianyor; during the signing of the Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) between CBN Staff Multi-purpose Cooperative Society Limited, Pro-Serve Integrated Services Ltd and Enterprise Development Center (EDC) held at EDC Head office in Ajah Lagos Yesterday.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Staff Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society Limited has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Enterprise Development Centre of Pan-Atlantic University and Pro-Serve Integrated Services Limited to strengthen the cooperative as an economic tool for national development.

The MoU, which was signed at the EDC head office in Ajah Lagos yesterday was witnessed by the Managing Director, GEN Nigeria, Dr Olawale Anifowose; President, CBN Staff Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society Limited, Nkechinyere Ofili; Founder, Pro-Serve Integrated Services Ltd, Kenechukwu Nwankwo; Director, Enterprise Development Centre, Dr Nneka Okekearu; and General Manager, CBN Staff Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society Limited, Pius Obianyor.

According to the parties, the partnership is brokered by lead consultant Pro-Serve Integrated Service Limited. The firm is the business transformation consultant of the CBN cooperative.

Speaking on the importance of the partnership, CEO/Lead Consultant, Pro-Serve Integrated Services, Kenechukwu Nwankwo said, “This partnership brings to bear the potential of using cooperatives as an economic tool for national development. The CBN Cooperative will serve as a pilot to showcase the potential of a cooperative and what it can achieve for the economy.,” he added.

Currently, he stated that “CBN Cooperative Society has about 12,000 members nationwide, and we hope that the partnership with EDC will bring about structured processes in business and corporate governance as well as project management within the cooperative space.”

According to Nwankwo “The partnership will transform the cooperative into an institution that has medium and long term strategy, which are hinged on integrity and transparent process. It will also ensure that there are consistent strategic reviews measured by Key Performance Index (KPI) and it will also ensure that the right people with the capacity and competence are running the institutions,” he stated.

Speaking on behalf of EDC, Director, EDC of Pan-Atlantic University, Dr Nneka Okekearu applauded the partnership and described it as historic. She stressed on the importance of the partnership between EDC and CBN Cooperative to make cooperative management successful.

She said, “So, through these collaborations, over the next two years, we will be helping the cooperative to strengthen their capacity, assist them to institutionalize structures and policies and to ensure that eventually, they are very sustainable.”

“It is a very exciting deal because more often than not many cooperative societies are left to run anyhow but we can see that the CBN Cooperative is thinking differently and our hope is that as we do this today other cooperatives out there will see the need to restructure their operations”.

The President of CBN Staff Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society Limited, Nkechinyere Ofili said, “We are an old organization. We have been in existence for over 45 years however, in the business landscape things have changed and we know that if we continue to do things the way we used to do things there is a possibility we may become dinosaurs in the business space.”

So, what we are doing right now is to re-invent the organization. We are giving it a clear structure and trying to set in place a lot of policies and procedures so that the organization can be alive for another 45 years and beyond.”

“The partnership will afford our members the opportunity to come to EDC for training at a discounted rate, and another beautiful thing is once there is a change of leadership the newly elected officials will come here for one week training on corporate governance and sustainability practice,” She said.

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