10 Women Win N17.5m Business Grants In Access Bank’s Womenprenuer Pitch-A-Ton Season 6 Competition  – Independent Newspaper Nigeria

 35 women in business, who took part in the 2024 Access Bank’s womenpreneur pitch-a-ton competition, a flagship program by Access Bank W, have received several prizes. 

In its sixth season, 120 women in business took part in the eight weeks of intensive training in conjunction with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group and were awarded a mini MBA certificate each for taking part in the program. 

They won prizes ranging from free website design and free promotional video, N500,000, N1 million, N2 million, N3 million, N4 million and N5 million in business grants. 

In all, a total of N17.5 million was given out by Access Bank at the ceremony and an additional N2.5 million for five other winners from the office of the Vice President through the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SMEs. 

10 women won free website designs for ten, 10 won free promotional video recordings, and consolation prizes of N500,000 each for five, while five others got N500,000 each, courtesy of the Senior Special Assistant to President on SMEs. 

The grand prize winner of N5 million was Simkay Foods. 

Launched in 2019, the Womenpreneur Pitch-a-ton program is the first women-in-business support initiative of its kind in the industry offered by Access Bank’s W Initiative. 

50 women took part in the maiden edition and they were provided free mini-MBA certification while business grants worth N9 million were given to the top 3 applicants. 

Subsequently, the program was extended to 10 other African countries where Access Bank’s W initiative has its presence and has since awarded the Mini-MBA training to 645 women entrepreneurs and provided over $175,000 in grants across Africa. 

The W Initiative is aimed at inspiring, connecting and empowering women while riding on the Access Bank’s vision to be the Bank of choice for women in the markets and communities being served. 

Speaking at the prize presentation ceremony of the competition held in Lagos, the Group Head W Initiative, Abiodun Olubitan, said: “This programme has been designed to create an enabling environment for female entrepreneurs to grow their businesses. 

“Access Bank has been a leading advocate for women’s economic empowerment in Africa, and this is the key motivation for the ‘W’ Initiative, which caters to the women’s economy, particularly in the areas of financing, capacity building and creating networking opportunities for women. 

“We have been on this journey for six years; when we started, it was a set of 50 women that we graduated, and we were proud of the outcome of the programme, the impact it created, and what these women started doing when they left their academy. 

“We have been on this journey, and we are very proud to say that we already have over 513 women in the alumni of the Womenpreneur Academy.” 

Speaking on the procedure, Olupitan said: “This set started in June; it was narrowed down to about 30,000 plus, narrowed down to the top 500 and further narrowed down to the top 120 women. Today, we are graduating 113 women who have completed the program.” 

Head of Office, Nigeria, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Christian Mulamula, noted that “it is an honour to recognize the entrepreneurs who have undertaken the eight-week program that was developed in partnership with the IFC to unlock opportunities for women entrepreneurs. 

He stated, “Today we stand here in a sense of pride and accomplishment knowing that each of you is more equipped to achieve success, acknowledging the hard work, dedication and resilience that each participant has shown throughout the programme. 

“As entrepreneurs, we know that knowledge is not just a tool for personal growth. It is also a gateway to opening new paths for business development and access to finance. 

“The skills and strategies that you have learned in this program are now in your hands. They will help you navigate challenges, make smarter decisions, and seize new opportunities.” 

The overall winner, Rejoice Usim of Simkay Foods expressed gratitude to Access Bank, saying that this achievement will enable the company to onboard more farmers on our database platform. 

She stated that this would ensure that post-harvest losses would be eradicated, saying that “right now, we only work with two communities in Zaria and Kaduna, but now, we will be taking our programme or services to 19 northern states.”