By Babajide Komolafe
FirstBank has thrown its weight behind the Imo State Government’s One Kindred One Business Initiative (ÓKÓBÌ), a community-based entrepreneurship programme designed to stimulate job creation, expand financial inclusion and promote sustainable wealth creation through collective business ownership.
The bank said its support aligns with its commitment to empowering small and medium enterprises, deepening financial inclusion and driving long-term socio-economic development across Nigeria.
ÓKÓBÌ, conceived by Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, is built on traditional African values of communalism, kinship and collective responsibility. The initiative formalises groups of like-minded individuals into registered businesses, making them more resilient, easier to finance and better equipped to tackle poverty in rural and urban communities.
Launched in 2023, the initiative has registered over 600 businesses with about 20,000 members and is targeting the creation or support of 100,000 jobs within three years.
