As part of its commitment to empowering young girls in Nigeria, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc has announced plans to partner with a non-profit organisation, the Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN) to organise the annual LEAD Camp, a week-long program designed to identify, convene and coach exceptional female students from across the country.
The mission of LEAD Camp is to inspire and empower young girls to become high-achieving women leaders. In order to achieve this mission, the participants are taken through series of activities including leadership workshops, panel sessions and media projects administered by HOD Consulting, a global leadership development company that serves Fortune 500 companies in the United States and Nigeria.
Speaking on the programme, Head, Citizenship and Sustainability, Union Bank, Ololade Awogbade, said that women were a huge part of the bedrock of any society and for that to be sustained in Nigeria, girls who have shown lot of brightness and promise need to be captured young and be impacted with the right leadership, empowerment and career skills.
“It’s a programme that we especially proud of and has almost become a flagship for us when it comes to women and the work we do within our community. We are primarily on women because when we talk about sustainability its one of the principle that as a bank we have taken to be core,” Awogbade said at the event.
The annual LEAD camp, a week-long programme is designed to nurture and empower young girls to become high-achieving women leaders while addressing Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 of gender equality and empowerment of women and girls.
The participating secondary school students would be engaged in a series of workshops and mentorship delivered by leading women from the private and public sectors, industries, non-profit initiatives in Nigeria and also HOD Consulting, a global leadership development company that serves Fortune 500 companies in the United States and Nigeria.
Executive Director of Junior Achievement, Simi Nwogugu, emphasized the impact created by LEAD Camp thus far and thanked Union Bank for their unwavering support and commitment to the cause.
“The LEAD Camp’s effect on the participants is phenomenal. The girls arrive on Sunday unsure of what to expect but leave the following Saturday as confident young women ready to change the world. We now have several LEAD Camp alumni doing amazing things from running businesses to running non-profit organizations to make the world a better place. On behalf of our stakeholders and Board of Directors, we wish to extend our sincere gratitude to Union Bank for continuing to partner with us to make this life-changing impact on our outstanding girls” Nwogugu said.
Also commenting on Union Bank’s continued support for the LEAD camp initiative, the Head of Corporate Communications and Marketing, Ogochukwu Ekezie-Ekaidem said; “Our partnership with Junior Achievement Nigeria through our sponsorship of LEAD camp aligns with our talent development efforts – one of our three Corporate Social Responsibility pillars at Union Bank. The program provides the opportunity for us to cultivate and encourage a strong leadership mentality in these young girls, preparing them to fill leadership positions in the future.”
The girls have the opportunity to engage in enlightening discussions with Union Bank employees and other leading women from the private and public sectors in Nigeria.
They also participate in conceptualisation and development sessions to discuss critical issues such as career, financial literacy, and health, including sexual reproductive health.
For the past 18 years, JAN has being organizing the event to nurture young girls in Nigeria on their journey to becoming successful women. This year will be no different as fifty girls are expected to be hosted at the camp from the 7th to 13th of July 2019, for the initiative sponsored by Union Bank.
DIPO OLADEHINDE
