Gender Leader Awards: Access Bank Bags Award for Women Empowerment, Gender Equality

Retail giant, Access Bank, has been recognized with the best Company Leadership in Gender Diversity Award; Family-Friendly Workplace Excellence Award, and Gender Equality Champion Award at the Gender Leader Awards (GLA) which held in Lagos, recently. The Bank also received a special recognition for its efforts in advancing Women Empowerment and Leadership.

The Awards, organised by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), aimed to promote action toward enhancing gender equality and mainstreaming increased opportunities for women in leadership, employment, and entrepreneurship in the Nigerian private sector.

We are grateful for this recognition and dedicate the award to our customers, particularly the women, who rely on us to provide the right support to scale their businesses and improve their quality of life through initiatives that go beyond banking, remarked Roosevelt Ogbonna, GMD/CEO Access Bank.

As we champion gender equality through Nigeria2Equal, we recognise other private sector organisations that have demonstrated exceptional performance in advancing gender-focused initiatives. Indeed, these awards speak volumes about the accomplishments of our partnership with IFC, and celebrate the remarkable strides NGX listed companies have made towards realizing a gender-equal society. Access Bank will continue to champion this agenda through the W Initiative with a view to ensure our collective visions are realized, Ogbonna continued.

Being implemented under the Nigeria2Equal (N2E) program, the GLA is also designed to recognise and celebrate private sector companies leading the way in gender equality performance.

Speaking on the awards, IFC Senior Country Manager for Nigeria, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, Kalim M. Shah, affirmed that

The Awards highlight the inspiring commitment of CEOs and other business leaders to building a more inclusive workplace where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

IFC is proud to partner with NGX on the Nigeria2Equal program and on this important award, which underscores IFC’s ongoing commitment to equal opportunities for both men and women in Nigeria’s private sector, he added.

On his part, the Chief Executive of NGX, Temi Popoola, said,

“The awards epitomise our collective commitment to fostering a diverse, inclusive, and equitable private sector ecosystem in Nigeria”.

Over the years, Access Bank has provided sustainable tools for women to access true financial inclusion and growth. In 2022, the lender disbursed N40.5 billion to over 64,845 women SMEs. The Group Head of Women Banking at Access Bank, Abiodun Olubitan, recently confirmed the Bank will look to scale this figure to about N100 billion by the end of 2023.

The hybrid event featured, captains of industries, capital market regulators, policymakers, and investors among others.