More than 7,000 Nigerian students have benefited from the LAPO Microfinance Bank (LAPO MfB) Scholarship Scheme since it was established in 2008, as the financial institution continues to extend its impact beyond financial services to education and human-capital development.
The long-running intervention is bringing relief to families such as that of Osazuwa Divine Grace, a student of Standard High School, Benin, Edo State, whose mother, Rose Osazuwa, is a trader and longstanding LAPO MfB customer.
For Rose, the scholarship is providing practical support towards her daughter’s education at a time when meeting the cost of schooling remains a significant household responsibility.
“Although this is the second time she will be getting the money and the first one really helped a lot and that is the reason why I am asking so I can withdraw it for her school expenses. Indeed, it is a big relief. Thanks to LAPO,” she said.
The story of Divine Grace comes against a wider global shift in the understanding of financial inclusion — from simply expanding access to financial services to examining how that access can strengthen household resilience and enable people to invest in better futures.
The World Bank’s Global Findex, which tracks financial behaviour across economies worldwide, increasingly focuses on how people use financial services to save, borrow, make payments and manage financial risks. In that broader development context, education represents one of the most important investments households can make in building long-term opportunity.
For LAPO MfB, the scholarship scheme is one way of connecting these two objectives.
Established in 2008, the programme forms part of the institution’s broader commitment to improving lives. Its premise is that financial inclusion can have a multiplier effect when it helps families not only manage their immediate financial needs but also sustain investments in education and human capital.
Rose’s experience puts that proposition in simple terms. As a trader and LAPO MfB customer, her relationship with the institution began through financial services; the benefit now extends to her daughter’s education.
For Divine Grace, that means support towards staying in school. For her mother, it means relief from part of the financial pressure associated with education.
The cumulative impact of the intervention is reflected in LAPO MfB’s reported figures: more than 7,000 beneficiaries since inception and a reported multiplier effect of N656.5 million across the lives touched.
Beyond the numbers, however, the scheme points to a broader role for financial institutions in developing economies — using financial inclusion as a platform not only for economic participation, but also for creating the conditions in which families can invest in the next generation.
