Access Bank Introduces the ‘W’ Initiative To Empower Women

  All over the world, women face challenges relating to equal opportunities and access to finances in particular. Globally, women face financial access barriers that prevent them from participating in the economy and from bettering and enhancing their lives. In light of this, Access Bank has unveiled the ‘W’ Initiative.  According to the bank, part of the privileges for women and their families under the initiative includes access to a comprehensive range of loan products and credit facilities; access to ‘W’ community with helpful advice on family and finance matters, home and family articles and details of special offers; access to a wide range of great discount, special offers and freebies on health, beauty and fitness. Other features include early savers club for children, access to maternal health support, family protection as well as access to seminars on family planning and parenting. The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Access Bank, Mr. Herbert Wigwe said the initiative would also support women owned SMEs. Developing countries such as Nigeria characterised as low income earners by the World Bank, value SMEs for several reasons. Wigwe bolstered this by stating that “If you look at SMEs today, they are controlled about 30 per cent by women and yet nobody pays attention to them. From my own experience when we started it in 2006, they had the lowest default rate.” “The second and most important thing is that by supporting women and the businesses that they do, it will lead to economic growth in this country. It is not a new initiative, it is something we started in 2006, but we are re-launching it properly and embedding it in our institution,” Wigwe explained. Wigwe said the initiative became imperative because a country grows by supporting its SMEs and that also if Nigeria must grow greatly, women must be supported. In addition, he noted that research in the past two years showed that women have far lower default ratio than men on loans repayment. He lamented that they have lower patronage by financial institutions than men. He added that women empowerment is entrenched in Access Bank to guarantee their liberation and equality. According to Wigwe, every staff member of Access Bank now understands and pays greater attention to women and their needs. With the initiative, he said women now have an online community with ‘W’ where they can reach out and connect.                   Women make up 40 per