Access Bank’s ‘W’ Initiative has launched the sixth season of its annual Womenpreneur Pitch-A-Ton program in Lagos, targeting the provision of support and training for 120 female entrepreneurs.
The Group Head of Women Banking at Access Bank, Abiodun Olubitan, highlighted the motivation behind the initiative, stating, “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.”
Olubitan explained that this insight led to the creation of the Womenpreneur Programme, which has become one of the largest business growth platforms for women in Africa, across the bank’s operational footprint. The program offers a female-focused campaign that provides quality training through an International Finance Corporation-certified mini-MBA and grants to select winners.
“The program 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,” Olubitan added.
According to Access Bank, the Pitch-a-Ton training will reward 10 winners with a total of N17.5 million in business grants, while 20 other business owners will receive business support.
Team Lead, Women Banking, Oyindamola Oyebola, noted that the program has 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 its 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 percent ownership or controlling rights to the business, and fall between the age
