Date: 2021-02-05

The First Lady of Kwara State, Mrs Olufolake Abdulrazaq, has commended Leadway Assurance Company Limited for upskilling the state's Micro, Small and Medium-scale Enterprises on financial inclusion, security, and risk management.

This was disclosed in a statement on Thursday titled 'Kwara State first lady commends Leadway Assurance on MSMEs financial inclusion advocacy'.

The statement said the initiative, which was in partnership with the Ajike Foundation, leveraged the know-how and legacy of Leadway Assurance's market leadership and its 50 years' experience in the sector to build the capacity of artisans, farmers, market women and other small business groups on deploying financial dexterity for their enterprise.

It stated that the first lady, who spoke virtually at the event, said, "As the world is struggling to fight off the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses are witnessing unprecedented slowdowns and shutdowns.

"This, no doubt, is affecting the stability of small and medium scale enterprises. Businesses are struggling to survive due to the decline in the production volumes and harsh market conditions.

"The partnership with Leadway Assurance is an outstanding and unequivocal demonstration of our commitment to acquiring world-class knowledge for the MSMEs by learning from proven market leaders in financial security, risk management and business sustenance.

"Thank you to Leadway Assurance for putting this auspicious event together and I commend the Ajike People Support Centre for supporting this laudable initiative," Abdulrazaq said.

Also commenting, the Executive Director, General Business, Leadway Assurance, Ms Adetola Adegbayi, said, "We have always taken financial inclusion for small business owners as a priority at Leadway Assurance.

? "We are convinced that financial education is critical to building business successes through smarter enterprise decision, wealth creation, risk identification, management, and protection. No matter how small your business is, there is a need to register with an insurance company."