White-crust Investment Group, a financial services provider, has set a target of reaching 200,000 residents of Kano State with financial inclusion and economic empowerment services within one year.
The Chief Executive Officer of the group, Mr Kingsley Clements-Eremionkhale, disclosed this on Tuesday during the inauguration of the company’s branch office in Kano.
He said the initiative was designed to expand access to financial services for residents who were either excluded from or had limited access to mainstream financial institutions.
According to him, the company will provide lending, investment and financial literacy services to civil servants, paramilitary personnel, artisans, traders, business owners and other residents.
> “We will sell our services in terms of investment and loans to a minimum of 200,000 potential customers in one year.
> “We intend to empower them through financial literacy training because education and knowledge are also very important in empowerment,” he said.
Clements-Eremionkhale said the company conducted a needs assessment before establishing its presence in Kano and subsequently tailored its products to reflect the state’s cultural and religious diversity.
He added that Whitecrust had recruited local employees who could communicate in indigenous languages to improve service delivery and gain a better understanding of residents’ needs.
The CEO said the company planned to extend its lending services beyond civil servants to small and medium-sized enterprises, artisans, market men and women.
He explained that its investment products would serve micro, small and high-net-worth investors, while Islamic finance products specifically designed for the Kano market would also be introduced.
According to him, experts trained and certified in Islamic banking and finance were already working on the products.
On employment generation, Clements-Eremionkhale said the company had recruited 13 workers in Kano and planned to employ 10 additional staff.
“We feel that it is important to be in Kano because of the population and also to contribute our quota in terms of economic value to the people of Kano and tax payments,” he said.
He disclosed that the group’s microfinance subsidiary was developing corporate social responsibility initiatives for market men and women, including access to discounted Health Maintenance Organisation policies linked to selected investment products.
Clements-Eremionkhale said Whitecrust had operated for five years and that the Kano branch was its 10th, attributing the expansion to the company’s desire to create lasting impact rather than focus solely on profitability.
> “We came into this market with a legacy mindset. We want to leave a legacy. We want to empower people and create employment,” he said.
He added that the group had digitalised its loan and investment processes through its mobile application, enabling entrepreneurs to access its services more conveniently and support the growth of their businesses.
The CEO further disclosed that the group’s long-term ambition was to obtain a commercial banking licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria within the next 10 years.
> “Automatically, the moment we have a commercial bank licence, this branch becomes a commercial bank branch,” he said.
He also disclosed that the group had acquired a stake in a microfinance bank, adding that documentation for its proposed name change and relocation had been submitted to the CBN for approval.
