Team Manager of Women banking for access bank, Ada Udechukwu and coordinator for the W academy, Funmbi Coker on TVC’s chat-fest show, Your View, revealed how the merger of Diamond and Access Bank will strengthen the support for women.
“It’s importance that corporate organisations to get involved in Women economic empowerment. Access Bank started on the journey since 2006 as the first Financial Institution in Nigeria to have a gender lens on their market.” Ada Udechukwu told the ladies of Your View.
“8 years down the line, they realized that women’s market is not just a niche, from research, it is more than the size of the China economy. It is the new untapped market. It now includes and focuses not just on women in business, but also includes young professionals,” Ada added.
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Accesss bank merging with Diamond bank according to Ada is a marriage in heaven – The Diamond woman initiative which supported women in the past made it quite easy to integrate in the W initiative.
The W initiative – The W and Family, W Professional, The W in business (Women in business)
Funmi Coker breaking down the W initiative down said; “We have the W and family. One of our very good product that we really think all women should known about is the maternal health service support. It’s a bespoke financing product that assist women to access finance to meet their health needs. Like woman having issues with fertility treatments, IVF treatments….”Coker noted that women can access funds for such treatments at a 14% discount rate.
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The initiative is designed to address the lack of access to entrepreneurial skills, finance, networking and management skills, which are the key barriers to women’s economic inclusion.
The objective is to provide a discounted and practical capacity building programme that would expose female business owners to the nation’s economic reality as well as help them simplify processes and sharpen the requisite skills needed to grow their businesses.
Speaking about funding women in business, Ada said women can access up to 20 million naira loan without collateral.
“One of the products we have – ‘W Power loan’ provides discounted financing for women in business to access funds at a discounted interest rate, to grow their business and expand. For women in business that want to access 20 Million naira for instance, they can access that without collateral. All they need is a guarantor to sign up for them, demonstrating confidence in their business.”
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