Wema Bank Launches MOWA-SARA Accelerator Programme

…Companions with Federal Ministry of Girls Affairs to empower 500,000 girls.

Via its women-focused proposition, SARA by Wema, Wema Bank, Nigeria’s most progressive financial institution and pioneer of Africa’s first absolutely digital financial institution, ALAT, has partnered with the Federal Ministry of Girls Affairs to launch MOWA x SARA Accelerator Programme, an initiative aimed toward empowering 500,000 girls throughout Nigeria with vocational and enterprise administration abilities.

SARA by Wema is Wema Bank’s women-focused proposition established with the aim of selling gender inclusion and equality by empowering girls with tailor-made assets, alternatives and options important to allow them thrive personally and professionally. Via SARA, Wema Bank continues to empower hundreds of girls throughout Nigeria with entry to finance and monetary help, entry to market, networking alternatives, inexpensive to free healthcare and a bunch of different advantages curated particularly for ladies; partnering with respected manufacturers and establishments the place best to proliferate affect. The newly inaugurated MOWA x SARA Accelerator Programme is one in every of these such partnerships which is positioned to rework the lives of girls throughout the nation for one of the best.

MOWA x SARA Accelerator Programme is about to run for twenty-four months and can cowl 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The main target will probably be on two areas: vocational abilities and enterprise administration abilities with a schedule encompassing two days of sentimental abilities and enterprise administration abilities, adopted by two days of vocational coaching. The ultimate day will probably be devoted to an evaluation and analysis session. For vocational abilities, the programme will goal three essential facets which embody meals processing, trend designing and hairdressing. The 5 day in-person coaching session will probably be organised into eight cohorts with the preliminary pilot part beginning in Anambra and spaning to Ekiti and Kano. This capability constructing and ladies empowerment programme will equip extra Nigerian girls to earn income, develop into economically energetic, contribute to nationwide growth and can in the end serve to additional bridge the hole in gender inclusion.

Tunde Mabawonku, Wema Bank’s Government Director of Retail and Digital, expressed confidence within the programme’s potential for empowering girls to thrive. In response to her, “Nigeria’s ever-evolving macroeconomic panorama requires an acutely intentional method to offering tailor-made options and alternatives to empower our folks, particularly the ladies. At Wema Bank, we perceive this want as captured in our mission of empowering lives by means of innovation and we’re very intentional about tailoring our empowerment efforts to the wants of our numerous buyer demographics. This dedication is obvious in our options, partnerships, merchandise, initiatives, and propositions; one in every of which is SARA by Wema. Recognising the necessity for tailor-made options that assist girls thrive, we launched SARA in 2019 as a devoted avenue for reaching out to girls throughout Nigeria, empowering them with distinctive options tailor-made to their wants even past banking, and offering them with the help they should maximise their potential. That is the premise of our work by means of SARA, and that is what has knowledgeable the launch of MOWA x SARA Accelerator Programme. Our aim is to assist girls navigate the difficult financial terrain by offering them with abilities for self-employment, assets for productiveness and help for fulfillment”.

“I encourage each lady on the market who’s prepared to study a talent with potential for revenue technology, to register for the MOWA x SARA Accelerator Programme. We even have grants reserved for this programme so it’s a complete package deal designed to assist these girls develop into economically energetic. Inclusion runs deep for us so we’ve got curated this programme such that girls of varied ages from any a part of the nation can take part and reap the advantages of this programme. To each lady on the market, I additionally take this chance to ask you to hitch the SARA Group, our group for ladies who need higher. There are such a lot of alternatives rooted within the SARA and each lady can faucet into this intensive vary of advantages as a SARA Girl”, Mabawonku stated.

The Minister for Girls Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, added, “I imagine that if we empower the ladies and so they begin getting cash, a number of prevalent challenges confronted by girls because of gender inequality could also be averted. This partnership is past the Federal Ministry of Girls Affair, it extends to the Nigerian Girls Affairs. Our aim is to make sure the sustainability of all girls empowerment initiatives, which is why we’re bringing within the non-public sector. On this undertaking, Wema Bank is evidently able to fly and we’re dedicated to flying collectively to attain our targets”.

MOWA x SARA Accelerator Programme was launched at a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) signing ceremony which held on Monday, September 30, 2024 on the Ministry of Girls Affairs Workplace in Abuja.