EcobankPay, Terra Kulture Partner to promote African Cultural Heritage

BY: Sandra Ani

EcobankPay, the lifestyle digital payments and collections service of Ecobank Nigeria has formally unveiled its partnership with Terra Kulture following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the Terra Kulture Theatre in Lagos. The ceremony also featured the exclusive screening of “Queen Moremi: The Musical” which was supported by Ecobank Nigeria.

Speaking on the collaboration, Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akinwuntan stated that Ecobank is a pan African Bank which always seek to promote the African culture and heritage. This he said informed the relationship with Terra Kulture, an initiative that that will support the promotion of Nigeria’s cultural heritage on the global stage.

“For us it’s not just about banking but also about the pride of the African. We know that unless we project ourselves, the world won’t project us. It is normal for us to look for great institutions like Bolanle Austen-Peters Productions promoting our culture with world class standard. So when we had the opportunity of looking at what is being done here, it came naturally to us that we should work as partners to improve the quality of lifestyles of Nigerians. Our products interact with the lifestyle of Nigerians and we have picked EcobankPay as the flagship product for this collaboration. The platform is safe, secure, and reliable for payment with zero charges. So when people want to pay for shows while abroad, you will simply scan using Masterpass or Mvisa or any QR Code by the international brands to make the payment here. That also attracts foreign exchange for Nigeria. It means that wherever you are, and your family members, friends wish to come and enjoy at Terra Kulture, you can make payment using your mobile phone without stress. It’s about improving lifestyle and retaining the authenticity of our heritage,” Akinwuntan said.

On her part, Chief Executive Officer, Terra Kulture, Bolanle Austin-Peters explained that the partnership is a delight for the cultural brand which has suffered lack of corporate sponsorship since inception.

On her words: “This is exciting for us because what we do here is to promote Nigerian art and culture. We’ve done this as private initiative since 2004 and it has been like a lonely existence. In the past, people didn’t believe in what we do. Foreign culture dominated the scene. But things are beginning to shift. People are now appreciating our arts and culture.”

She added that “everywhere in the world, arts are supported by brands. From our humble initiative, we have hundreds of production houses that have sprung up from here. Most of the under 30s you see in movies and theatres today started from here because we opened our space to them. This facility receives over ten thousand audience during Christmas and Easter holidays. Ecobank coming to support us is a big deal. It’s huge because the art community in Nigeria is more or less begging corporate Nigeria to support us. Now we have an institution that supports us. We hope that the relationship will be symbiotic. We are willing to ensure that the Ecobank brand is projected positively.”

EcobankPay is an innovative payment solution that enhances transactions between merchants and their customers by eliminating the risk of payment rejection and also delivers immediate value and sales transparency for merchants. Ecobank Pay is built as a core part of Ecobank’s digital financial services ecosystem and will deliver unified and instant self-service across a range of interconnected payment solutions.