Access Bank bags award

Recognised for its innovative approach to banking women across the country, Access Bank Plc has received the Global Banking Alliance for Women Market Champion 2015 Award.

The Bank got the award alongside banks across the world that have implemented successful women market programs during the just concluded 14th Annual Summit of the Global Banking Alliance (GBA) for Women in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

In a statement made available to The Guardian, the bank said the award is coming on the heels of the one-year anniversary of the its W initiative, which was launched in Nigeria and subsequently in all its subsidiaries in Ghana, Rwanda and Zambia, adding that, W is the home for everything Access Bank offers to women.

Besides, the bank also restated that its W awards, which is the first of its kind in Nigeria seeks to recognize and celebrate Nigerian women, home and in the Diaspora who have impacted the economy and their immediate environment positively.

The Global Banking Alliance for Women is the leading international consortium of financial institutions and other organizations interested in building women’s wealth worldwide. GBA member institutions work in 135 countries to build innovative, comprehensive programs that provide women entrepreneurs with vital access to capital, markets, education and training. With the presence of Bankers, policymakers, multilateral and bilateral representatives, academics, and other stakeholders, the GBA Summit is the seminal and most comprehensive event for women’s financial inclusion in the world.

The Chief Executive Officer of GBA, Inez Murray who presented the award to the bank’s Group Head, Inclusive Banking, Ope Wemi-Jones commended the women program 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 to network and support one another as a community of practitioners.

Meanwhile, the statement said 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 organization, while, the W Amazon Award recognizes 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, ‘titled 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 ‘Power of 100’ book will be held in December 2015”, the statement said.