Access Bank to empower 120 female entrepreneurs

Access Bank’s ‘W’ Initiative has announced the launch of season six of its annual Womenpreneur Pitch-A-Ton programme.

The programme which was launched in Lagos on Monday is targeting the provision of support and training for 120 female entrepreneurs.

The Group Head of Women Banking of Access Bank, Abiodun Olubitan, said, “Some years back we conducted a survey on why female-owned startup businesses fail within the first five years of existence and we found out that it was due to a knowledge gap, which needed to be bridged by providing resources to these women to help their businesses thrive.”

She noted that that birthed the Womenpreneur Programme, one of the largest business growth platforms for women in Africa across the bank’s operational footprint.

She explained that the programme was a female-focused campaign that sought to provide quality training to business owners through an International Finance Corporation-certified mini-MBA and grants to select winners.

“The programme has been running for the past five years, this is the sixth year, and from previous seasons, we have received impressive and positive testimonials from participants about how the program has helped them improve their businesses and how they have applied the training received to grow their businesses,” she added.

According to the bank, the Pitch-a-ton training will reward 10 winners with the sum of N17.5m in business grants while 20 other business owners will get business support.

Team Lead, Women Banking, Oyindamola Oyebola, added that so far, the programme had produced 645 mini-MBA winners across six geo-political zones in Nigeria and 10 other African countries, 65 grant winners, and 40 other consolation prize winners since inception.

The Womenpreneur Pitch-a-Ton is designed to support female entrepreneurs who have been running their businesses for at least one year, have at least 50 per cent ownership or controlling rights to the business and fall between the ages of 18 to 55.

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