First Bank of Nigeria Limited has announced a new career employment models to accelerate career growth and development for staff members.
As part of the banks efforts to continuously integrate leadership into its culture and build a pool of talents and next generation leaders who will be groomed to steer the ship of its business expansion and continuous growth in Africa, the Bank has commenced an accelerated career Management programme.
The First Bank Management Associate Programme (FMAP), is a 24-month fast track comprehensive developmental programme targeted at young, dynamic, self-motivated and highly driven individuals who possess the right skill set and excellent leadership potential among Junior and entry-level cadre staff.
The programme will afford successful candidates the opportunity to be moved to middle management upon the successful completion of the 24 month period and become Management Associates irrespective of their grades at the point of entry. Cross country postings and secondment opportunities will be offered to such staff to provide them with global exposure and network.
In the same vein, the Bank has also kicked off the Senior Management Development Programme (SMDP). This is an intensive modular programme for a select group of senior to principal managers who are proven leaders in their respective functions and have been identified as central to the Bank’s succession plan.
This will result in a unique learning experience that fosters the professional, intellectual and personal development of this crop of emerging leaders. At the end of the programme, top performing delegates will be exposed to various leadership developmental opportunities such as executive coaching by renowned career and life coaches, strategic and executive job shadowing and handholding by Bank executives as well as prioritization for international assignments.
The career growth model is another lever targeted at capacity building for staff, coming on the heels of the Bank’s recent promotion of over 3000 staff as reward for excellent performance in delivering to the Bank’s goals and objectives, while some others were disengaged in line with global industry best practice in enhancing performance. According to the Group Head, Marketing and Corporate Communications, FirstBank, Folake Ani-Mumuney, the Bank, as a performance driven institution, is particularly keen on developing and retaining the best talent pool in the industry.
“FirstBank would continue to invest in capacity building for its employees to maintain a motivated workforce whilst building platforms where staff members can now benefit from accelerated career progression, as well as build leadership capabilities at an early stage of their career” she further stated.
FirstBank also implements the entry level graduate trainee programme where over 100 entry level graduates are regularly employed by the Bank and trained at FirstAcademy, FirstBank’s Corporate Academy which is also an affiliate of Global Association of Corporate Universities & Academics (G – ACUA), and the World Institute of Action Learning (WIAL), to support learning culture among the Bank’s staff whilst promoting competence development and knowledge management.