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Tag: personal

  • Zoho One Introduces a Unified and Intelligent Platform Experience for Modern Workplaces

    Zoho One Introduces a Unified and Intelligent Platform Experience for Modern Workplaces

     Zoho Corporation, a global technology company has announced numerous enhancements to Zoho One, its all-in-one business software platform. The latest update introduces a reimagined user experience designed to make collaboration easier, improve security, and deliver deeper intelligence across all 50+ applications. With this release, Zoho One offers a more connected and context-aware environment for organisations of all sizes.

    “The Zoho One update reflects how work has evolved from using individual applications to operating within a unified platform,” said Kehinde Ogundare, Country Head, Zoho Nigeria. “Zoho One customers are not simply licensing apps; they are choosing a solution that allows Zoho to handle the technology while they focus on productivity. The enhancements announced today deliver a cohesive experience built on unified integrations, context, and data.”

    Since its launch in 2017, Zoho One has grown to support more than 75,000 organisations worldwide, with customers using an average of 22 applications within the suite. The platform’s extensive integrations, privacy-focused architecture, and consolidated technology stack ensure reliability and consistency for businesses looking to streamline operations.

    A Reimagined User Experience

    Zoho One’s new interface places context at the centre of the user journey and removes traditional boundaries between applications. Spaces now organise tools by purpose—such as Personal, Organisation, and Department-specific groups—enabling employees to access what they need without switching between apps. A centralised search bar spans the entire ecosystem, allowing users to find information or trigger workflows instantly.

    An enhanced Action Panel provides a full view of upcoming meetings, unread messages, pending tasks, and other key updates, helping employees remain informed regardless of which app they are using. The updated Dashboard consolidates data from Zoho and third-party apps into one central hub that can be customised using pre-existing or bespoke widgets.

    The platform also introduces Vani, a new visual-first collaboration space that supports brainstorming, planning, and creation through diagrams, whiteboards, mind maps, and integrated video calling.

    Native Integrations for Better Security and Efficiency

    Zoho One continues to strengthen its position as a unified business operating system by offering native integrations across Zoho’s suite and with third-party applications. This reduces external entry points and supports faster anomaly detection. With Zoho Directory included, administrators also gain a secure platform for managing workforce identity and access within the same unified system.

    A central integrations panel enables administrators to monitor and configure all connections. Foundational integrations bring application-specific portals—Zoho or third-party—into a single unified portal. Practical tasks such as domain verification and authentication can now be configured more easily.

    The new Smart Offboarding feature introduces outcome-based integrations, allowing organisations to transfer department ownership, manage employee device data, and determine data access rights within a single workflow, ensuring smooth transitions.

    Contextual Intelligence Powered by Zia

    Zia, Zoho’s AI assistant, is now accessible throughout Zoho One, providing unified intelligence that supports decision-making and improves productivity. Zia can aggregate and contextualise information from various platforms, including third-party systems such as Google Workspace, and present it as clear, actionable insight.

    Zia Hubs, the platform’s intelligent content management system, now has a dedicated space where contracts, meeting recordings, and other important assets are automatically organised. Through Zia Search, employees can quickly surface relevant information without navigating multiple locations.

    Ask Zia, available from the bottom toolbar, enables prompt-based searches across Zoho One, providing quick visibility into schedules, tasks, recent interactions, and other key details.

  • AMCON Transfers 34% Stake in Unity Bank to Providus, Strengthening Merger Deal

    AMCON Transfers 34% Stake in Unity Bank to Providus, Strengthening Merger Deal

    The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) on Thursday offloaded 34 per cent of its stake in Unity Bank Plc to Providus Bank.

    This has strengthened the business combination deal between Providus and Unity Bank.

    The 34 per cent total equity stake in Unity Bank was transacted through a crossed deal on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) to the preferred bidder, 24 hours ahead of their Court-Ordered Meeting to approve the scheme of merger.

    The transaction was completed involving four billion Unity Bank shares at N1.66 per share, amounting to over N6.5 billion in value.
    A total of three deals was carried out on Unity Bank shares on the Exchange on September 25, 2025.

    The ongoing business combination arrangement is a milestone for Providus Bank as it puts it in a comfortable position to beat the March 31, 2026, recapitalisation deadline that was placed by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

    Providus Bank began operations in June 2017. It is licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria to provide banking services to individuals and businesses. The bank has a strong IT infrastructure and digital channels which it deploys to provide exceptional service to our customers so they can achieve their objectives.

    Providus Bank is an innovative financial institution that provides personal, private, corporate, commercial and digital banking products and solutions.

    Its tailored financial services delivery includes: Business Advisory, Portfolio Management, Personalised Relationship Management, Fast-tracked Service delivery and Self-service solutions. Providus Bank competitive advantage in Private, Institutional, Business and Personal Banking is driven by the philosophy to create support and value for Institutions, Agencies, SMEs and HNIs.

    Its business development strategy also focuses on developing expertise and collaborating to improve the non-oil (emerging) sector of the Nigerian Economy, which includes but not limited to Agriculture, Mining, Hospitality, E-commerce, and Art & Entertainment.

    Providus Bank believes that the New World of Fast, Smart, Personal, and Borderless banking relationship is here. We are therefore inspired by our Future Forward Banking ethos to make life (at work and leisure) more exciting for our partners with the use of cutting-edge technology that delivers best-in-class customer satisfaction.

    In less than 10 years, Providus Bank has emerged as one of the fastest growing financial institutions in the country.

    Through this merger, Providus aims to transform from a niche player into a national bank, leveraging Unity Bank’s over 211-branch network spread across all 36 states and the FCT.

    The move aligns with Providus’ broader strategy to deepen its retail presence and diversify its customer base.
    Additionally, Providus Bank would significantly benefit from scale in retail banking as it would expand its footprint from a largely digital operation to a full-fledged national player.

    It also brings in a strong SME lending pipeline, especially in agriculture, mining, ecommerce, hospitality, and entertainment sectors, which both banks already support.

    Providus plans to integrate its technology stack into Unity Bank’s branch network, enhancing service delivery and cost efficiency.
    The bank believes the combined entity will unlock new value across its retail, SME, and digital channels.

    At the court order meeting, Unity Bank shareholders will decide whether to approve a cash consideration of N3.18 per share or opt for a share swap under which every 17 Unity Bank shares convert into 18 shares in the enlarged Providus Bank.

    If approved, Unity Bank’s assets, liabilities, intellectual property, and ongoing legal matters will be transferred to Providus. Unity Bank will be dissolved, with Providus continuing as the surviving entity.

    The meeting is expected to pave the way for regulatory sign-offs from the CBN and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), both of which had already approved the merger in August 2024.

  • FG launches Policy Documents to reduce Suicide, Mental Health Prevalence

    FG launches Policy Documents to reduce Suicide, Mental Health Prevalence

    *Inaugurates National Technical Working Group to speed up implementation of policies

    *To train 120,000 frontline health workers

    As UN Deputy Secretary-General decries rising cases of suicide in Nigeria

    The Federal Government has launched the National Mental Health Policy 2023 and National Suicide Prevention Strategic Framework 2023–2030. At the same event, the National Mental Health Technical Working Group, charged with the responsibility of reducing the prevalence of suicide and mental health conditions in the country, was inaugurated.

    The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate launched the documents during a Ministerial Round Table on Mental Health in Abuja with the theme, “Achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) for Mental Health in Nigeria”.

    The Honourable Minister said, “The National Council on Health approved these documents. The laws have been upgraded to mainstream mental health and prioritize it, make it have different levels and bring all stakeholders together to have better quality preventive, curative and rehabilitative interventions to improve their mental health and wellbeing, which is consistent with the administration” ‘s policy priorities,” he added.

    Meanwhile, the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, Amina Mohammed, has decried the rising cases of suicide in Nigeria and the world in general and stressed the need to stop stigmatization and discrimination while encouraging those affected to seek mental health support.

    Mohammed lamented that more than 700,000 people end their own lives every year globally, noting that the tragedy has a devastating impact on families, friends and relatives.

    She said, ‘Mental health conditions and suicide is unfortunately on the rise in Nigeria and around the world. We must raise mental health conversations; open dialogue is crucial to stop stigma and foster understanding.

    “Encouraging open discussions can create a supportive environment for those suffering in silence. Effective leadership is also crucial for communities to contribute by considering their local needs and priorities to develop community-based services for mental health and suicide prevention.”

    Mohammed observed that mental health is a fundamental human right and is crucial to personal, community and social well-being, adding that by launching the National Suicide Prevention Strategic Framework and the National Mental Health Policy, Nigeria is leading an action and committing to a health care system.

    Also speaking, the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, noted that the stigma and discrimination around suicide and mental health are significant contributors to people not seeking the health services they need.

    Tedros, who commended Nigeria’s response to mental health despite the humanitarian emergency in the North East in the past ten years, added that Nigeria’s National Suicide Prevention Strategic Framework represents significant steps in reducing stigma and suicide rates by training health workers in mental health and suicide prevention and integrate mental health services into the Primary Health Care programmes.

    The WHO Chief stressed the need to translate policies to deliver concrete benefits for the people, communities and countries, adding that WHO remains committed to supporting Nigeria to ensure better mental health for all Nigerians because there is no health without mental health.

    On her part, the founder of Wellbeing Foundation Africa, Mrs. Toyin Saraki, stressed the need to prioritize interventions in mental health to achieve the SDG Goal 3 target.

    A psychiatrist and keynote speaker, Lateef Sheikh, noted that Nigeria had less than 300 practising psychiatrists to cater for the mental health needs of the huge population.

    Sheikh, therefore, recommended the implementation of government instruments like policies, strategic plans and legislation to address mental health challenges in the country.

    He stressed the need for an integrated and comprehensive care package, mental health financing, data mining and finance to address mental health in the country.

    Earlier, the Director of Public Health in the Federal Ministry of Health, Chukwuka Anyaike, said that those plans had been concluded to train 120,000 frontline health workers in primary healthcare centres (PHCs) nationwide.

    Anyaike stated that in line with the government’s agenda for the sector, being the first point of call, the PHCs in every ward across the country, the government is determined to make them serve their primary purpose.

    “For all the diseases that form the component of primary healthcare, we are going to develop an integrated training protocol for the healthcare workers at the primary healthcare centre so that any health personnel at the PHC should be able to handle mental health, tuberculosis, malaria, HIV, viral hepatitis and diarrhoea. You know all the diseases entities that had to do immunization protecting women of reproductive age and children.”

  • Feature: How Customers’ Increased Trust in FirstBank’s *894# USSD Banking can boost the Financial Inclusion Drive

    The path to financial inclusion holds different marketplace barriers and opportunities in different countries, but the push continues because of proof that an increase in economic activities among the financially vulnerable can reawaken a comatose economy. For Nigeria, the last three years have seen significant growth of the financial inclusion rate from 56.8% in 2016 to 63.2% in 2018. FirstBank’s *894# USSD banking service is playing a key role in it.

    FirstBank’s *894# USSD banking initiative is already averaging about 99 million transactions monthly, with a naira worth of (N’m) 370,543 on these transactions. This figure includes the undergraduate doing a mobile airtime recharge; the trader receiving a mobile payment from a customer; the IT person hurriedly buying a data bundle to keep business afloat; the anxious father paying his daughter’s hospital bills for treatment to commence, and the busy worker in Lagos transferring money to his parents in the village since he cannot get to a banking hall.

    This is just a rough sampling of the financial transactions that amounted to over N3.6 trillion in transaction value on the *894# USSD banking service in 2020. There is practically no financial emergency that the USSD service does not come in.

    The problems that the *894# USSD service from First Bank of Nigeria Limited is solving is the only justification for the rapid traction it has gained since it was introduced in 2015. It is easy to see Nigerians trust and confidence in the USSD system, with the Bank rapidly growing from 9.5 million customers on the USSD feature to 12.26 million customers within the last year. Over 1.02 million of the figure, are customers who registered in the first 6 months of 2021.

    The first and perhaps the most attractive feature of USSD banking has got to be that it can be done from any kind of phone and without any form of internet connectivity. Although smartphones are getting more common, there is still a high poverty rate and many financially vulnerable people who cannot access internet banking. The internet penetration in Nigeria is still below the ideal, so users have to deal with poor internet connections in some areas.

    That is why this kind of banking service that can be accessed without internet connectivity is ideal for the financial inclusion drive. The *894# USSD feature can be used across the four major GSM network operators in the country, meaning there is no added demand on the users.

    Getting started on the service is as easy as dialling *894*0#, and creating a pin. With that done, you can do airtime and data purchase for yourself and other parties, transfer funds to other accounts, make a BVN enquiry, check your account balance and get a mini statement.

    For non-customers, this feature allows you to open a bank account in a couple of minutes without having to visit the banking hall. You can open a bank account, receive your account number immediately and start transactions on it right away. The claims of “instant banking, anytime, anywhere” can’t get more real than this.

    There is even an added security step, requesting a second-factor authentication (2FA) for transfers above N20,000 as a way to secure customers from being ripped off their funds. There is a cumulative maximum daily transfer limit of N100,000 to both FirstBank and other banks accounts.

    How does FirstBank USSD improve the lives of Nigerians?

    For one, the data being generated through this service is sufficient to help the bank understand its current and prospective customers and develop products that suit them.

    Traders and small businesses can also get a Merchant ID which customers can use to make payments for products and services. This of course is better than having to send one’s account details to countless customers, even without knowing whether or not they are ready to make their purchase.

    To ensure customers can meet emergency needs before month-end, the Bank’s FirstAdvance service is at their fingertips. FirstAdvance is a digital lending solution designed to offer convenient and easy access to cash for payroll customers awaiting payment of their salaries.

    Offered through the Bank’s USSD Banking service and leading banking app product, FirstMobile, customers are exposed to a range of loan offerings which put them at an edge in meeting immediate financial needs. To initiate the service through the USSD banking service, the customer is to dial – USSD CODE-*894*11# or *894#. The service is open to customers with a salary account domiciled with the Bank and have received salaries for the last 6 months at the least.

    There are much more about FirstBank’s *894# USSD banking that puts customers at a distinct advantage in carrying out their daily personal, financial and business activities; meeting unforeseen emergencies, and carrying out a wide range of transactions – with so much fun and convenience – irrespective of where they are in the country.

    Culled from NairaMetrics