Deborah Moses, a graduate trainee at United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA), has described her interaction with the UBA chairman Tony Elumelu as a long-cherished dream.

Ms Moses attracted the attention of the bank’s Chairman, Tony Elumelu, after she shared observations and ideas on how the lender could address recurring problems faced by its customers.

Ms Moses made the observations on Thursday during a question-and-answer session at UBA’s Graduate Management Accelerated Programme (GMAP), where she spoke about her experience during her on-the-job training (OJT).

She told Mr Elumelu, who is finishing his tenure as the bank’s chairman in August, that many UBA customers repeatedly encounter similar problems but often do not know the documentation required to resolve them before visiting a branch.

According to her, this often leaves customers having to return home to obtain the required documents before their complaints can be addressed, creating frustration and discouraging some from returning to the bank.

“During my OJT, I observed that our customers all have repetitive problems. They will come back for the same complaints, and then most of them do not know the required documentation that they need to bring so that their problems would be attended to smoothly.

“Mostly, they will realize that the customer service will now tell them, so you need this and you need that. Please, can you go back and bring it? And they’ll be like, I don’t have time. I cannot come back to this bank again. That’s a very big problem,” she said.

Ms Moses therefore suggested that the financial institution introduce a “UBA journey guide” for customers during onboarding, containing information on the documents and steps required for different banking-related complaints and requests.

“So I want to suggest, how about we have a UBA journey guide for our customers during onboarding, when they are registering with us. We give them maybe a PDF that contains what you need to do at a particular time,” the graduate trainee said.

She explained that the guide could be available in both digital and hard-copy formats, particularly to accommodate customers who are less comfortable with digital products.

The guide, she said, could cover issues such as changing a phone number and the documents customers need to bring to the bank to ensure prompt and smooth responses to their requests.

“And we can also have it in hard copy for some of our customers who do not really like the digital product.

“This way, they are informed of what they need to bring to the bank. They don’t always have to come and go back or have to come,” she said.

Ms Moses, an agricultural economics and extension graduate, also proposed that the lender create a department responsible for capturing customers’ experiences in real time across its branches.

She said such a system would enable the bank to track the number of customers visiting its branches, those attended to and those who were not, while identifying recurring complaints.

“At the end of the day, we know this number of people came to the bank; these people were attended to, and these were not, at the branch level. Daily reports, in a way, will help us know the recurring problems, the ones that are the highest, and then we will know how to solve them and reduce inflow,” she said.

Reacting to Ms Moses’ suggestions, the UBA chairman, Mr Elumelu, invited the graduate trainee to the podium, extolled her ideas and exchanged a handshake with her.

“If we hand over to people like you in UBA, we will be safe,” Mr Elumelu said, expressing his enthusiasm to continue monitoring her career at the bank.

Meanwhile, in a Facebook post on Friday, Ms Moses said the moment reinforced her belief that ideas, initiative and the courage to speak up can create an impact, regardless of where one is in their career journey.

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“I always imagined the day I’d shake hands with the outgoing Chairman. Yesterday, I got more than a handshake; I got a hug, encouragement, and his recommendation.

“During my GMAP OJT, by the Grace of God, I identified a problem, suggested a solution, and dared to speak up. He loved the idea.

“That moment reminded me that ideas matter, initiative matters, and your voice can create impact; regardless of where you are in your journey,” Ms Moses added.

The UBA graduate trainee previously worked as a Human Resources Assistant at Bank of Agriculture (BOA) after graduating in 2023. She also worked with NEAT Microcredit before joining the UBA internship programme.

As Harvard Business School seeks to expand its reach, it’s leaning on AI avatars to provide individual feedback.

These avatars were created by a startup called HeyGen and are included in the eight-week, $699 HBS Foundry bootcamp for entrepreneurs. The program offers live sessions with instructors every week, but the AI avatars are the ones providing feedback during practice pitches and board meetings.

New York Times reporter Sarah Kessler actually tried this out herself by pitching an AI-generated copy of Flybridge Capital co-founder Jeff Bussgang. Apparently, both the real Bussgang and his simulacra were unimpressed by her plan to build “Uber for bananas,” but Kessler said the virtual version offered a noticeably frozen smile during her pitch.

Project director Katharina Rings said she initially envisioned the AI component as something closer to a chatbot. However, after HBS released a trial version, students said they wanted a more guided experience.

And while some college students haven’t been shy about expressing their negative feelings towards AI, Foundry participants told Kessler they like the avatars. As for Bussgang, he acknowledged his digital copy is a little “creepy,” but he said, “My students love it.”