Monday, 22 November 2021. Lagos
For 11 years, Nigeria’s premier and leading financial inclusion services provider, First Bank of
Nigeria Limited has partnered with Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN) to host its annual flagship
event; the National Company of the Year competition (NCOY), which convenes winners of the
JA Company Regional Competitions across Nigeria to compete for the National Company of the
Year Award.
This year, the event will bring together outstanding ‘student business teams’ across Nigeria to
compete for prizes and an opportunity to represent the country at the national competition – JA
African Company of the Year Competition (ACOY). The 2021 edition of the NCOY competition
will be held virtually via Zoom meetings at 10am on Saturday, 27 th November 2021. Interested
participants are to register via the link https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEtd-
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The competition themed ‘Innovation with Grit' will have 12 teams from 12 schools pitch their
innovations to a team of 5 guests judges. The represented schools at the competition include:
The Seer company from Alvana High School; Sonic Informatics company from Heritage Global
Academy; Nexus Queens company from Queens School; JA Stars from Theological College of
Northern Nigeria (TCNN); Amazing Amazon Students from Government Girls’ Secondary
School, Abaji; KereTerra Company from Secondary School Etoi, Uyo and The Exploit thinkers
from Taidob College.
Other teams competing include: Mystic Global Company from Rosa Mystica High School,
Agulu; PetraMech Tech from Petra Schools; The Amazing Inventors from Government
Secondary School Tudun Wada; Blue crystal company from Methodist Girls school and the
Artisans from Igbobi College.
Judges at the event include: Oludolapo Adigun, Group Head, Retail Banking Lagos & West First
Bank of Nigeria Limited; Chidimma Juliana Okparah, Project Management Consultant (PMIEF);
Sheila Ojei, Head of Communications Jobberman; Gbenga Sesan, Executive Director of
Paradigm Initiative and Simbo Olatoregun, Policy Programs Manager for Facebook in Africa. In
attendance also is the Honourable Commissioner for Education Lagos State, Mrs. Folashade
Adefisayo as a Special Guest.
The 2021 National Company of the Year Program will also feature SPARK Competition. SPARK
as an initiative of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, is an acronym for Start Performing Acts of
Random Kindness. SPARK reiterates the Bank’s commitment to institutionalise kindness in
Nigeria by encouraging and amplifying a culture of kindness.
The SPARK competition will feature 15 finalist schools across Nigeria, whose CSR projects
align with the Bank’s Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability pillars of Education, Welfare
and Health, Financial inclusion and Responsible Lending and Procurement.
Speaking on the event, the Group Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications, Folake Ani-
Mumuney said “FirstBank’s partnership under its Future First initiative with JA Nigeria Company
programme has positively impacted over 100,000 people in different locations across the
country in preparing and teaching them how to generate wealth, effectively manage it and how
to apply entrepreneurial thinking to the workplace. Our commitment to fostering entrepreneurial
development amongst youths is mainly the driving force behind our support of the National
Company of the Year (NCOY) and Africa Company of the Year (ACOY) competitions in past 11
years”.
According to the Executive Director, JAN, ‘’the National Company of the Year Company
competition provides our students with a platform to show how innovative they are while
displaying their dexterity and grit especially as it relates to creating sustainable business
solutions to problems in their immediate community. The students have learned critical skills
during the implementation of the Company Programme and we are proud to celebrate them as
they compete in the National competition. I would like to specially appreciate FirstBank Nigeria
for their continued support and belief in the boundless potential of young Nigerians’’.
About FirstBank
First Bank of Nigeria Limited (FirstBank) is the premier Bank in West Africa and the leading
financial inclusion services provider in Nigeria for over 127 years.
With over 750 business locations and over 130,620 Banking Agents spread across 99% of the
774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria, FirstBank provides a comprehensive range of retail
and corporate financial services to serve its over 30 million customers. The Bank has an
international presence through its subsidiaries, FBNBank (UK) Limited in London and Paris,
FBNBank in the Republic of Congo, Ghana, The Gambia, Guinea, Sierra-Leone and Senegal,
as well as a Representative Office in Beijing.
The Bank has been handy at promoting digital payment in the country and has issued over
10million cards, the first bank to achieve such a milestone in the country. FirstBank’s cashless
transaction drive extends to having more than 10million people on its USSD Quick Banking
service through the nationally renowned *894# Banking code and over 4.5 million people on
FirstMobile platform.
Since its establishment in 1894, FirstBank has consistently built relationships with customers
focusing on the fundamentals of good corporate governance, strong liquidity, optimised risk
management and leadership. Over the years, the Bank has led the financing of private
investment in infrastructure development in the Nigerian economy by playing key roles in the
Federal Government’s privatisation and commercialisation schemes. With its global reach,
FirstBank provides prospective investors wishing to explore the vast business opportunities that
are available in Nigeria, an internationally competitive world-class brand and a credible financial
partner.
FirstBank has been named “Most Valuable Bank Brand in Nigeria” six times in a row (2011 –
2016) by the globally renowned “The Banker Magazine” of the Financial Times Group; “Best
Retail Bank in Nigeria” for seven consecutive years (2011 – 2017) by the Asian Banker
International Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards and “Best Bank in Nigeria” by
Global Finance for 15 years. Our brand purpose is always to put customers, partners and
stakeholders at the heart of our business, even as we standardise customer experience and
excellence in financial solutions across sub-Saharan Africa, in consonance with our brand vision
“To be the partner of the first choice in building your future”. Our brand promise is always to
deliver the ultimate “gold standard” of value and excellence. This commitment is anchored on
our inherent values of passion, partnership and people, to position You First in every respect.
Folake Ani-Mumuney
Group Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications
www.firstbanknigeria.com
