Access Bank shows commitment in bolstering women’s economic empowerment
…Winners emerge in Women preneur Pitch-a-ton Africa
Since 2006, Access Bank has continued to work towards a world in which women are inspired, connected, and empowered and this is evidenced in its recent graduation of 50 women entrepreneurs across Africa.
From advancing norms and standards, to expanding women’s leadership and participation, bolstering women’s economic empowerment, and ending violence against women and girls as the bank has continued to register solid gains together with its partners.
“Through our threepronged women market programme which serves the workplace, marketplace and the community, we are joining forces to ignite a global movement for gender equity, women’s economic empowerment and the human rights of women and girls,” Victor Etuokwu, executive director, retail banking, Access Bank said.
The Women Banking Team in 2019, launched the first Womenpreneur Pitch-a-ton Program with financial grants of up to N9 million and business support to 50 womenled small and medium scale enterprises in Nigeria. These Womenpreneur have since become ambassadors of Access Bank following the immense impact of the program in their businesses.
The 2020 edition however, expanded to reach women-inbusiness from Nigeria, Ghana,
Zambia, Rwanda, Gambia, Sierra Leone & Congo and about 40,000 promising women-inbusiness applied.
The top 50 women-inbusiness were carefully selected from the pool following a comprehensive virtual selection process and they proceeded to attend an 8-week Mini MBA program developed in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group..
Equipped with requisite skills, the top 50 women were put through an 8week Mini MBA program and they pitched their businesses for a final selection of the top 5 winners who were rewarded with financial grants of N5 million,n2 million, N1 million, N750,000 and N500,000 respectively.
The Womenpreneur Pitcha-ton Africa is one of the flagship programs under the W Initiative and with over 40,000 applications this year, “selecting the best was all focused on and we achieved it,” said Etuokwu.