Business
Unemployment: A/Ibom To Encourage Entrepreneurial Culture Among Youths
The Akwa Ibom State Government has pledged to encourage entrepreneurial culture in the state, as part of efforts to check unemployment among its youths.
The Commissioner for Finance,Mr. Akan Okon made the pledge when representatives of Bank of Industry (BOI) visited him in Uyo on Monday.
The commissioner said that the pledge stemmed from the government’s belief that entrepreneurship remained an essential ingredient for rapid and sustained economic growth.
‘’Akwa Ibom is blessed with abundant human and natural resources and if properly harnessed, would turn the state into economic giant.
‘’With the infrastructure already in place and a business-friendly environment, unemployed youths would be encouraged to take advantage of the multiple income streams that abounds for entrepreneurial ventures and self reliance.
‘’The state government has initiated policies and programmes geared toward job creation, one of which is industrialisation,’’ he said.
Okon said government would also partner relevant agencies to provide soft loans to drive the micro, small and medium scale enterprises.
He also urged BOI to assist by becoming a veritable partner and value added agent in the state’s entrepreneurial initiative.
Earlier, Mr Sunkanmi Oriyomi, one of the zonal representatives of BOI, said they were in Akwa Ibom to see how to establish business ties with the government.
Oriyomi enumerated the core mandate of BOI to include the provision of financial assistance for large, medium and small ventures.
He called for collaboration between the state governments and BOI to develop and grow profitable businesses across the nation.
Oriyomi also described Akwa Ibom as a veritable terrain populated with people of enterprising dispositions.
He said that plans were underway to establish a branch of BOI in Uyo.
Cornerstone of Financial Services
A survey of more than 1 000 global finance leaders undertaken by digital payment network Ripple shows that 72% of respondents believe they need to offer a digital asset solution to remain competitive.
According to Ripple, leaders from the banking, fintech, corporate and asset management sector have made it clear that the “digital asset revolution is happening now”.
“Digital assets are quickly becoming a cornerstone of financial services, underpinned by progressive regulation, growing interest from Tier-1 banks, a steady consumer shift from banks to fintech providers, and booming stablecoin adoption,” Ripple says.
The survey was conducted in early 2026 and the findings released in March.
Stablecoin Boon or Bane?
Ripple has experienced significant success in the stablecoin sector since launching its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in 2024.
With a market cap of $1.56 billion, it is considered a major regulated player in the market.
No doubt the platform was pleased to learn through its own survey that financial leaders were most bullish about stablecoins.
Roughly three-quarters of respondents believed they could boost cash-flow efficiency and unlock trapped working capital.
Ripple noted that finance leaders were thinking about stablecoins as more than “just a new way to execute payments”; instead, they viewed them as effective tools for treasury management.
In March 2026, Ripple began testing a new trade finance model built around RLUSD in a bid to increase the speed of cross-border payments.
The pilot initiative, developed alongside supply chain finance company Unloq [https://unloq.com], is running on the XRP Ledger inside a testing framework developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Asian city-state is one of the platform’s biggest growth markets.
The idea behind the project is to see whether stablecoin-based settlement can streamline trade finance, too often hampered by reliance on intermediaries and slow reconciliation.
The only potential drawback is that if the initiative takes off, the Ripple to USD price could be negatively affected.
Ripple has always championed its native XRP token as a bridge asset, the “middleman” in the process of a financial institution turning dollars in the US into pounds in the UK, for example.
Ripple converts dollars into XRP and then back into pounds.
If RLUSD can do exactly the same thing, questions will be asked about XRP’s relevance.
That is a bridge Ripple will have to cross if it gets to that point.
Tokenisation Partners
Another interesting finding from Ripple’s survey is that most banks and asset managers are seeking tokenisation partners to help execute their strategies.
Some 89% of respondents said digital asset storage and custody were top priority. “Token servicing/lifecycle management also ranks highly for banks at 82%, while asset managers place greater emphasis on primary distribution at 80%,” Ripple found.
The survey also revealed that just more than half of fintechs and financial institutions want an infrastructure provider that can offer a “one-stop-shop solution”. This rose to 71% among corporate financial leaders.
Ripple attributes this to institutions and firms wanting uncomplicated, cohesive systems.
Infrastructure Rules
In its final analysis, Ripple says companies across the board are looking for partners and solutions that are “secure, compliant, battle-tested and that enable growth and execution”.
“The message is clear: infrastructure decisions made today will shape competitive positioning tomorrow.”
No surprise that this is precisely where Ripple is placing much of its focus.
