oday, Diamond is history, subsumed in Access Bank, and Uzoma has moved on to other things, being today, the proud founder of Sparkle, one of Nigeria’s emerging digital microfinance banks,
His father, who wanted his son to be in charge, prodded him on to take the role of managing director and CEO (of Diamond Bank), which he was evidently ill-equipped for. His poor decisions, not least an alleged attitude problem, coincided with dad’s bad investment choices, to deliver a fatal blow to the bank.
It is hardly in doubt that he played a role in the bank’s eventual collapse. Some of the bank’s erstwhile employees had alleged that he practically killed the morale of workers and had a nonchalant attitude to business.
However, while his attitude must have been a huge contributor, it was perhaps more of investment decisions by his father. A combination of bad leadership, poor risk management, the board’s lack of independence may have ultimately collapsed the bank.
In October last year, Sparkle raised $3.1 million funding to scale operations, and has continued to make a bit of steady progress in its stated pitch of providing financial, lifestyle and business support services to Nigerians.
“We’re quite different in a way because instead of separating financial services from lifestyle, we’ve tried to bring them together, especially as we’ve seen that more people are beginning to lead more digitally-led lives,” Uzoma had told TechCrunch in an interview.
“It means that we don’t see our customers from accounts, payments, deposits or credit perspectives, but from how can we help them do what they want to do at any particular time.”
The CEO appears to be doing a good job of his new venture. As at October last year, Sparkle had over 40,000 customers on the individual banking side and 2,000 businesses, and its $3.1 million raise had come on the back of the launch of Sparkle Business, aimed to acquire a different set of underserved users, notably small and medium businesses.
The launch, Uzoma had said, caught on well in its category, and has access to inventory and invoice management, tax advice, and payroll and employee management services.
Today, Sparkle Bank’s app has over a hundred thousand downloads on Google Play Store, and a significant number on Apple Store, which suggests growing usage.
However, the ghost of Diamond has reared its head again. A new Sparkle promotional video featuring Uzoma as the bank’s face has got analysts talking. The argument is that as one who “was responsible for Diamond Bank’s collapse,” it is unethical for him to emerge as the face of another financial institution less than four years after the bank failed.
