Customers, shareholders and other critical stakeholders of Access Holdings will soon begin to enjoy the benefit of the five-year strategic growth plan of Access Holdings Plc.
In 2022, the management of the financial service provider designed a deliberate and structured progression of scaling, optimising, and sustaining the business.
In the past few years, the organisation has embarked on an aggressive expansion, especially in its banking segment, penetrating into other African markets with acquisition of other banks.
Access Holdings seems to have slowed its scaling pace and is now entering a crucial optimisation phase, expected to unlock significant value for stakeholders as it heads toward 2027.
In this optimisation phase, the focus of Access Holdings will shift to streamlining operations, deepening digital innovation, enhancing customer experience, and improving capital productivity.
A critical part of this phase is leveraging data and technology to improve access, reduce transaction costs, and accelerate financial inclusion, particularly for women, youth, and rural communities.
The strategic growth plan of the organisation also places financial inclusion and impact at the core of its growth agenda.
By expanding digital access and scaling low-cost delivery platforms, it aims to onboard millions of previously unbanked and underserved individuals and MSMEs across Africa into the formal financial system.
This is part of a broader strategy to enhance intra-Africa trade, empower smallholder businesses, and strengthen the value chain across key sectors including agriculture, commerce, and manufacturing.
“Our approach has always been clear: scale first through strategic expansion, then optimise through consolidation, synergy realisation, and operational efficiency.
“During the scale-up phase, a considerable amount of funding is required to drive investments in people, systems, infrastructure, and acquisitions.
“But as we move deeper into the optimisation phase, we will begin to see the full benefits manifest, especially in terms of profitability, capital efficiency, and shareholder returns,” the acting chief executive of Access Holdings, Mr Bolaji Agbede, said.
“We are confident that as we approach 2027, the full impact of our strategic moves will become evident. This is about growing bigger and becoming better, faster, and more resilient,” Mr Agbede expressed optimism.