To assist more women entrepreneurs improve their businesses, Access Bank at the weekend said it earmarked N100 billion for them.
It also said N11b of the sum had been given to women through its “W Initiative” this year, highlighting the need for all biases against women to be broken.
These disclosures were made by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Herbert Nwigwe and Head, W Initiative, Abiodun Olubitan, at the Access Bank International Women’s Day (IWD) celebration held in Lagos.
Noting that the bank had over the years, supported women through soft loans including IVF loan because it was against the various hindrances women faced in accessing loans.
He said the bank had consistently kicked against the discrimination against women and had ensured that the female gender was well represented in its top management.
“For us in Access Bank, it is about 50-50, we have senior level staffs, more than 40 percent of them are women. Our W Initiative goes all the way to the grassroots. It is for the professional women, business woman, female youth corps member university women and all the way down to the grassroots.
“We also have a programme to help complete the family. A lot of time women who do not have a child are stigmatised, and at times the problem might sometimes be from the man” he added.
Olubitan said over N100b had been given out to women since it unveiled the W Initiative in 2014, for better financial inclusion for the woman.
