• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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First Bank partners group to promote female-owned businesses

First Bank, SMEDAN partner to offer SMEs financial, other support

The ELOY Foundation has, in partnership with First Bank, introduced the ELOY Foundation Business Shower program. The program is created to support female entrepreneurs on their journey to building sustainable businesses.

The Business Shower will offer businesses a platform to pitch their ideas to win seed grants and join the ELOY Foundation Sustainable Empowerment Programme 2022. Participants will also be able to access the FirstGem single-digit loan, where eligible.

The partnership is designed to have female entrepreneurs exposed to essential business skills like training, networking, and the ELOY Foundation Business Toolkit, a compilation of business survival skills nuggets.

Speaking on the partnership, Group Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications, FirstBank, Folake An-Mumuney expressed happiness in partnership with ELOY Foundation on its Business Shower, “together, we will drive the entrepreneurial viability of participants and expose them to business nuggets that will take their business to the next level.”

The support from FirstBank will be carried out through the FirstGem loan scheme designed for female-owned or partnered MSMEs and its SMEConnect initiative.

Read also: Citibank extends N4bn social finance to Babban Gona

“We commend ELOY Foundation for their efforts on this initiative as the continued strengthening and inclusiveness of female-driven business endeavors is essential to the growth of the national economy,” An-Mumuney said.

Female business owners are encouraged to send in their business pitch video and business plan for a spot on the ELOY Foundation Sustainable Empowerment Program and a chance to win a grant for their business.

Registration is currently ongoing for the ELOY Business Shower via the link below.

ELOY Business Shower Registration

The ELOY Foundation Business Shower will hold in five locations across the country. Kicking off in Lagos on June 23, 2022, the train moves to Port Harcourt on June 25, 2022.

Abuja on June 30, 2022, while Kano and Abia will host female business owners on July 2 and July 7 respectively.

“It is not just enough to talk about empowering business owners, it is very important to sustain empowerment by providing guidance towards their business progress and giving them access to different resources to help them continue to thrive,” said Tewa Onasanya, founder of the ELOY Awards Foundation.

The ELOY Awards Foundation Business Showers will offer an avenue to sustain women’s empowerment by providing entrepreneurial training and mentorship from experienced businessmen and women, arming participants with tools and information to help them grow their businesses.