Connectnigeria Articles

During the just concluded 14th annual summit of the Global Banking Alliance (GBA) for Women in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Access Bank bagged the Women’s Market Champion 2015 award alongside banks across the world which had implemented successful women market programmes. Access Bank Plc. received the Global Banking Alliance for Women Market Champion 2015 award in recognition of its innovative approach to banking for women across the shores of the country. This award is coming on the heels of the one-year anniversary of the bank’s W initiative which was launched in Nigeria and subsequently in the bank’s subsidiaries in Ghana, Rwanda and Zambia. W is the home for everything Access Bank offers to women. GBA chief executive officer, Inez Murray, who presented the award to Ope Wemi-Jones, Group Head, Inclusive Banking, Access Bank Plc, commended the women programme at Access Bank and reiterated that the summit was designed to deepen the sharing of know-how among GBA member banks as well as create the opportunity for networking and supporting one another as a community of practitioners. On a similar note, nominations are ongoing for the four W Awards categories via the designated website, www.thewawards.com, and the SMS short code, 30812. The awards categories were drawn from the cardinal principles of the bank’s W Initiative. The first category is the ‘W Entrepreneur’ of the Year (W in Business) Award. This award recognizes a female entrepreneur who has shown immense growth in her business. Accordingly, she must be fully engaged and active in the day-to-day running and decision making in the business. The second category is the ‘W Young Professional’ of the Year Award. This award is for women between 25 and 35 years who are making significant contributions in their chosen professions in any organisation and have a drive to reach the peak of their careers. The third and fourth categories are ‘W Seasoned Professional’ of the Year and ‘W Amazon’ of the Year Awards. The award for the seasoned professional will go to a woman who has seen it all and who has done great things in any organisation, while the W Amazon Award recognises family women who have impacted societal growth and development. In addition, the bank is also putting together a compilation of 100 women who have helped shape Nigeria. This book, entitled The Power of 100, will be available in libraries, airports, etc., to educate everyone on what these great women have done and are doing to develop Nigeria. The W awards presentation and the launch of the book, The Power of 100, will be held in December 2015.