Team Lead, Innovation Opportunity Management (IOM) at First Bank

First Bank of Nigeria Limited (FirstBank) is Nigeria’s largest financial services institution by total assets and gross earnings. With more than 10 million customer accounts, FirstBank has over 750 branches providing a comprehensive range of retail and corporate financial services. The Bank has international presence through its subsidiaries, FBN Bank (UK) Limited in London and Paris, FBNBank DRC, FBNBank Ghana, FBNBank Gambia, FBNBank Guinea, FBNBank Sierra-Leone and FBNBank Senegal, as well as its Representative Offices in Johannesburg, Beijing and Abu Dhabi.

Since its establishment in 1894, FirstBank has consistently built relationships with customers focusing on the fundamentals of good corporate governance, strong liquidity, 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.

The Bank has been named “The Best Bank Brand in Nigeria” four times in a row – 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 – by the globally renowned “The Banker Magazine” of the Financial Times Group; and “Most Innovative Bank in Africa” in the EMEA Finance African Banking Awards 2014. FirstBank’s brand purpose is to always put its customers, partners and all stakeholders at the heart of its business, even as it is poised to standardise customer experience and excellence in financial solutions across Sub Saharan Africa, in consonance with its brand vision “To be the partner of first choice in building your future”. Our brand promise is to always deliver the ultimate “gold standard” of value and excellence. This commitment is anchored on FirstBank’s inherent values of passion, partnership and people, to position our customers first in every respect.
Support the yearly review of the Bank’s innovation strategy and update in line with new market and organizational realities 
Engage with Business leaders, Group heads and external partners to identify innovation opportunities across all operating markets that align with the Bank’s strategic objectives 
Research and translate market trends, emerging technologies, and customer insights into value adding innovation initiatives across all operating markets 
Assess and prioritize potential innovation opportunities in line with approved evaluation criteria 
Coordinate cross functional teams in developing detailed business cases for identified innovation initiatives 
Coordinate the implementation of innovation initiatives across all operating markets through Innovation Champions to ensure adherence to approved implementation guidelines. 
Proactively manage changes in initiative scope, identify potential crisis/risks, and devise contingency plans to provide solutions and take corrective action 
Coordinate the network of external innovators (including FinTechs/Start-Ups, BigTechs) across all operating markets to ensure healthy pipeline of innovation opportunities for collaboration 
Support the execution of innovation ecosystem engagement program (podcast series, Fintech summits) across all operating markets that deepens the Bank’s engagement with external stakeholders
Coordinate partnership activities with Accelerator and Venture program operators across operating markets to identify ecosystem players (startups/Fintechs) that align with the Bank’s innovation priorities 
Review executed innovation initiatives against approved Business Case and prepare relevant reports / presentations for the Bank’s Innovation committee. 
Perform any other duties as assigned by Head, Enterprise innovation unit 
As part of the Bank’s Information Security requirements, maintain the security of all Information entrusted to the staff and comply with the principles and policies in the Information Security Handbook

JOB REQUIREMENTS

Minimum of Bachelor’s degree, with a minimum grade of 2.2 
Project Management certification will be an added advantage
Minimum of ten (10) years relevant working experience working in an innovative environment covering a range of multiple functional areas 
Experience with managing idea generation and management process 
Experience that spans across start-ups and large corporate environments with extensive network within the startup ecosystem 
Experience with Program Management or Project Management Office desirable 
Supervisory experience