FG, Wema Bank partner to empower 500,000 women

Wema Bank has partnered with the Federal Government through the Ministry of Women Affairs to launch MOWA x SARA Accelerator Programme, an initiative aimed at empowering 500,000 women across Nigeria with vocational and business management skills.

SARA by Wema is Wema Bank’s women-focused proposition established with the goal of promoting gender inclusion and equality by empowering women with tailored resources, opportunities and solutions essential to enable them to thrive personally and professionally.

Through SARA, Wema Bank has empowered thousands of women in the country to access finance and market, networking opportunities, free healthcare and a host of other benefits curated specifically for women; partnering with reputable brands and institutions where ideal to proliferate impact.

The newly inaugurated MOWA x SARA Accelerator Programme is one of such partnerships positioned to transform the lives of women across the country.

MOWA x SARA Accelerator Programme is set to run for 24 months and will cover 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The focus will be on two areas: vocational skills and business management skills with a schedule encompassing two days of soft skills and business management skills, followed by two days of vocational training. The final day will be dedicated to an assessment and evaluation session.

For vocational skills, the programme will target three main aspects which include food processing, fashion designing and hairdressing. The five-day in-person training session will be organised into eight cohorts with the initial pilot phase starting in Anambra and spanning to Ekiti and Kano. This capacity-building and women empowerment programme will equip more Nigerian women to earn revenue, become economically active, contribute to national development and ultimately serve to further bridge the gap in gender inclusion.

Tunde Mabawonku, Wema Bank’s executive director of retail and digital, expressed confidence in the programme’s potential for empowering women to thrive.

According to her, “Nigeria’s ever-evolving macroeconomic landscape calls for an acutely intentional approach to providing tailored solutions and opportunities to empower our people, especially the women. At Wema Bank, we understand this need as captured in our mission of empowering lives through innovation and we are very intentional about tailoring our empowerment efforts to the needs of our diverse customer demographics”, she said.