Three Startups, Accounteer, DIYLaw and Max.ng, have given top priority in Union Bank Startup Connect programme. Their engagement with Union Bank would be accelerated facilitated by CcHub. Details of the engagement have not yet been disclosed.
Seven other startups being considered for collaboration are Edves, Riby, Stutern, SureGifts, Lusy, Hotels.ng and Taja.
According to Femi Longe of CcHub in a blog post, “The startups selected had compelling offerings that provided value-add to the bank’s external stakeholders (customers) as well as internal stakeholders (employees)”
These ten startups emerged from the final pitch of the startup Connect which saw the bank’s Heads of Retail, Transformation, Corporate Strategy, Communications and Technology, senior managers from all other units and CEO’s office representatives in attendance. Each pitch lasted for 5 minutes followed by 10minutes of Q&A.
Detailing the process and the involvement of CcHub, Femi went on to add that the collaboration between Union Bank, a large corporate and startups was indeed a huge boost to the startup ecosystem. He listed the WINs;
- A WIN for the bank who can leverage the startups to provide a better service to its customers as a means of differentiation as well as to grow market share.
- A WIN for the startups who can rapidly grow their user base by tapping into the banks more than 3.7 million customers and locations in all 36 states and Abuja as well as accessing free publicity through the bank’s marketing war chest.
- A WIN for the bank’s customers and employees who access value-added services to meet their needs beyond financial interaction with the bank.
- A WIN for the Nigerian tech ecosystem as this goes to prove we are building value-based businesses capable of engaging with large corporates to meet the needs of Nigerian customers in a profitable way. This is a first step to creating our own unicorns.
- A WIN for the Nigerian economy as the result of this collaboration is bigger businesses that can contribute to GDP and the tex base of Nigerian sustainably
The next step is to midwife the integration process of the startups and the relevant parts of the Union Bank business.
The Startup Connect programme is a first of its kind business acceleration programme dedicated to matching technology-enabled startups from all over Nigeria with the Union Bank brand for mutually beneficial collaboration.
The programme was delivered through a three-staged approach which included:
- Select: Shortlisted startups were invited to a pitch event
- Develop/Accelerate: Over a 13 week period, selected startups worked with CcHUB and the bank’s staff, applying design thinking to create a usable proof-of-concept prototype that served a chosen segment of the bank’s customers or clients.
- Deploy/Invest: At the end of the 13 week period, the results were presented to the appropriate business units of the bank for deployment. Both parties will then decide to either share revenue or explore equity investment.
