KEY POINTS

• FirstBank has backed Imo State’s OKOBI community entrepreneurship initiative.
• The scheme has registered over 600 businesses with about 20,000 members since 2023.
• It targets the creation or support of 100,000 jobs within three years.

FirstBank has thrown its weight behind the Imo State Government’s One Kindred One Business Initiative, a community-based entrepreneurship programme designed to stimulate job creation, expand financial inclusion and promote sustainable wealth through collective business ownership. According to the bank, the support aligns with its commitment to empowering small and medium enterprises and driving long-term socio-economic development.

A model rooted in community

OKOBI, conceived by Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, draws on traditional African values of communalism, kinship and collective responsibility. The initiative formalizes groups of like-minded individuals into registered businesses, which makes them more resilient, easier to finance and better placed to tackle poverty in rural and urban communities.

Since its launch in 2023, the programme has registered over 600 businesses with about 20,000 members, and it targets the creation or support of 100,000 jobs within three years. Speaking on the partnership, the Chief Executive Officer of FirstBank Group, Olusegun Alebiosu, said peer accountability drives sustainable enterprise growth. “The ÓKÓBÌ initiative exemplifies this by transforming existing social capital into tangible economic value for communities,” he said.

Banking on shared wealth

Moreover, Alebiosu said the bank’s involvement goes beyond conventional lending. “By supporting these collectively owned businesses, we are helping to stimulate economic empowerment at scale, creating a self-sustaining ecosystem where wealth creation is inclusive, participatory and widely shared,” he said. Furthermore, he tied the move to FirstBank’s wider goals of enabling SMEs, deepening financial inclusion and advancing development across Nigeria.

Also commenting, the Chief Economic Adviser to the Imo State Government, Professor Kenneth Amaeshi, described OKOBI as a viable solution to unemployment and informality. According to him, the programme had recorded remarkable success within a short period.

Consequently, Amaeshi urged more corporate organizations to adopt and support the model. He stressed that it empowers people to become business owners, strengthens group enterprises and promotes sustainable economic development. Ultimately, both partners framed the scheme as a template for inclusive growth, where banks and government convert community ties into formal businesses, jobs and shared prosperity, rather than leaving citizens stuck in the informal economy.