A call has gone to organisations operating across all sectors in the country to create opportunities that empower women to fulfill their full potential for the good of society.

The call was made by CEO of Digital Jewels, Adedoyin Odunfa while speaking as a Guest Speaker at the Webinar organised by Polaris Bank Limited themed: Advancing Women Empowerment through the Adoption of Technological Innovation and Digital Education to mark the 2023 International Women’s Day which held in Lagos last week.

Focusing on the IWD 2023 theme: #EmbraceEquity, Odunfa while addressing gender imbalance in the workplace, cited statistics that show that women make up only 46 percent of the workplace and less than 25 percent of them end up in leadership positions.

She pointed out the need to address gender imbalance and prevailing conscious and unconscious biases against women. She also emphasized the need to intentionally empower women with technological innovation rather than just pay lip service to it.

According to Odunfa, one of the ways to create these opportunities is to have more women in the workplace to develop products and services that empower women. She also highlighted the need to intentionally target women for instance, in the design of financial services and products to make them more accessible, affordable, and relevant.

To achieve this, Odunfa called for improved financial literacy and investment in education, as well as training for gender parity in the workplace and marketplace. This sentiment was echoed by two other Panelists at the webinar: Chinyelu Chikwendu, a Director with Vatebra TechHub and Ededayo Durosinmi-Etti, CEO of Herconomy.

Also contributing at the session as a Panelist, Dr. (Mrs.) Amina Sambo-Magaji, an AI specialist, Researcher and Tech policy maker, emphasized the need for collaboration and a system approach to promote gender equality in the digital space.

Dr. Sambo-Magaji, a distinguished Humphrey Fellow, who doubles as a Director at National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) also called for measures to promote women’s participation in all aspects of digital, including technological innovation, and digital governance.

She emphasised the need for policies that actively promote gender equality and empower women to be partners, consumers, and creators of technology and innovation.

Earlier, Polaris Bank’s Group Head, Customer Experience Management & Sustainability, Bukola Oluyadi spoke on why the Bank organised the Webinar.

“The goal of this event is to address the various challenges faced by Women in diverse professions, identify skill gaps needed to be addressed, and how technology, innovation, and digital education can be leveraged to empower the woman so that Gender equity can be felt more in our economy.”

According to Oluyadi, “Polaris Bank is committed to Women Empowerment, and consciously raising awareness on gender equity and ensure that no woman is financially excluded, or is disadvantaged in any way. In her words: “Only 30 percent of commercial banks in Nigeria have over 30 percent female representation on their board and Polaris Bank is one of such banks. The Bank is also supporting women-led businesses with single-digit interest loans in celebrating IWD 2023 and women’s month. The Bank is also driving women empowerment internally by inaugurating its Women’s Network this month”, she disclosed.

Polaris Bank is a future-determining Bank redefining banking products and services that meet the needs of individuals and businesses. The Bank was adjudged Digital Bank of the Year in 2021 and 2022.

The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been drawn to a story published in The Nation newspaper of Monday, March 13, 2023 edition, alleging that the Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele has launched a “fresh plot against President-elect.”

The aforementioned story went further to allege that the Governor has made certain amount of money available to a political aspirant ahead of March 18, 2023 gubernatorial poll.

We wish to inform members of the public that this story is completely false and malicious as the Governor does not know and has never met or even spoke with Mr. Gbadebo Rhodes Vivour either in person or through proxy.

We wish to reiterate that the CBN Governor does not take part in Politics and therefore urge anyone with contrary information to prove the Governor wrong should provide such facts.

As such the Governor and team at the CBN should be allowed to focus on their assigned job with a view to achieving statutory mandates of the Bank.

Isa Abdulmumin

Acting Director

Corporate Communications

CBN

Ecobank Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) has said its workplace is free of bias and gender-based discriminations.

Speaking on the anniversary of International Women’s Day (IWD), Head, Human Resources, Ecobank Nigeria, Adekunle Adewuyi, stated that the bank as a responsible organization, has in place structures for ensuring all women can reach their full potentials and have equal opportunities to men in advancing their careers and achieve promotion in the bank.

Only recently, Ecobank Group, the leading pan-African bank won the highly coveted Best Place to Work in Africa 2022 Award from the Best Place to Work organisation. The Award honours organisations that exhibit the highest standards of excellence in Human Resources (HR) practices and employees’ experience.

According to him, “Female staff are holding strategic leadership and management positions in the organization. We are committed to creating a society and workplace that is free of bias and gender-based discrimination. As part of our IWD 2023 celebrations, we will be organising health screening for our female staff in four different locations including Lagos, Ibadan, Abuja and Port Harcourt. We will also host a Health Talk for female employees, who as at today constitute 51 percent of our workforce.” he stated.

Adewuyi further stated that the choice of this year’s theme #EmbraceEquity was apt, adding that while celebrating women and girls championing transformative technology and digital education, IWD 2023 will also address the impact of the digital gender gap in widening economic and social inequalities.

“It is the responsibility of all of us to make transformative technology and digital education inclusive. At Ecobank, our digital solutions aim to respond to the needs of all our clients, including women and women entrepreneurs. The Ecobank Foundation has partnered with organisations – such as UN Women and the Global Partnership for Education – that leverage on digitalisation to address the gender gap.”

IWD is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 as a focal point in the women’s rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against women.

As part of initiatives to mark International Women’s Day, IWD 2023, Nigerian lender, Unity Bank Plc has announced the launch of Unity Bank Women Network to foster greater inclusion, equity, and opportunities designed to promote gender empowerment.

While announcing the commencement of the initiative in Lagos, the Managing Director of Unity Bank Plc, Mrs. Tomi Somefun said, as women, “we must also do our part to create a more equitable society that empowers women, drives them to do more, entrust them with responsibilities, and celebrate their achievements every step of the way”.

Unity Bank Women’s Network is conceptualised as a gender advocacy platform to enable the Bank to target and champion initiatives to promote networking and relationships beginning with females within the institution, providing mentorship opportunities and advocacy on social and other relevant issues such as gender equality, parenting, financial education, and leadership.

While naming the Bank’s Chief Compliance Officer, Mrs. Patricia Ahunanya as the Co-ordinator of the Women Network, Somefun added: “I believe this Network will promote more visibility, inclusion, and collaboration amongst women within our organisation”.

Speaking further on this year’s IWD theme, #EmbraceEquity, Somefun said the day provides another opportunity to reflect on the ongoing advocacy for gender equality, adding, “as women, we must always take the time to think about the role we play in creating a sustainable future through our contribution to the success of our organisations, homes, businesses, and the entire society, and evaluate our level of impact and influence”.

She, therefore, pledged that as an institution, “Unity Bank will continue to create an enabling and equitable environment that focuses on empowering its female workforce by creating an atmosphere in which women can thrive irrespective of culture, background, and education.”

While speaking on the launch of the Unity Bank Women Network, Mrs. Patricia said that after creating impact with many collaborative initiatives to empower women, it is very significant that the Bank is at last domesticating a viable project initiative to further co-create and drive impact.

To demonstrate commitment to gender inclusion, Unity Bank is one of the financial institutions in Nigeria that has up to three female representatives on its Board and has over the years celebrated the IWD with socially impactful initiatives aimed at empowering women and creating an enabling environment for the female gender to thrive.

In the 2022 edition, the Bank collaborated with ALTSchool Africa to empower female software engineers, a strategic initiative aimed at empowering the female gender to participate actively in the burgeoning technology sector.

In a similar vein, the Bank also partnered with the National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, NASME to roll out an engagement programme for women entrepreneurs in commemoration of the IWD in March 2022.