Ecobank Kenya has today kicked off a Graduate Trainee and Management programme aimed at enhancing human resource development to stay ahead of the curve of the dynamic banking sector.The capacity development initiative which will eventually be rolled out in the East African region will see Ecobank Kenya recruit over 50 graduates from Kenyan universities for a 12 month management training drill.
“Our strategic goal is to equip graduates with the requisite competencies required to excel in a highly competitive financial services sector and effectively balance between efficiency and stability,” said Ehouman Kassi, the Ecobank Kenya Managing Director.
The success of any organization, Mr Kassi said, is primarily hinged on recruiting, developing, managing the best human capital and formulating an incentive mechanism for retention and career progression.
Ecobank operates the largest network in Africa with a footprint in 35 countries. The Bank is committed to expanding its operations further “to deliver competitively priced, innovative solutions for the African continent,” he said.
“We prize youthful passionate and talented professionals with the skills, experience and mind-sets to operate across different markets and cultures within and beyond the African continent,” he added.
The bank has been on an expansion streak and has grown its branch network to 29, with Mr Kassi hinting that the optimum operating capacity would be 40 to 50 branches countrywide. The programme is part of its new strategic plan to bolster its operations in Kenya and the East Africa Region.
“We have significantly grown our balance sheet, revenues and branch network and its only rational that we ratchet up our human resource capacity in readiness for growth,” said Mr Kassi. He added that the bank is currently building its capacity in a rapidly changing era where banking services are greatly influenced by internet and mobile banking.
“These changes will continuously push banks into new horizons that bring forth both opportunities and threats that we need to mitigate. Traditionally, financial have had a multi-generational workforce with the older segment forming the majority of the workforce,” said Mr Kassi.
He said there is a need to balance the demands of the experienced older workforce with that of the tech-savvy younger workforce using recognized management principles.
“Efforts to grow banking institutions and strengthen their stability must be backed by effective institutional governance oversight– a role which quality of human resource has direct contribution,” he explained.
Mr Kassi observed that though the 2008 global financial crisis was partly due to lax regulatory structures coupled with an the ever changing macroeconomic environment and a complex financial and economic global landscape, banks also needed to be cautious of their structures, management and staffing.
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