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FMDQ: Visa partners FBN, Foundation to support female entrepreneurs

By on November 18, 2014

Visa Incorporated, one of the global leaders in payments has announced a partnership with the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, First Bank Nigeria and the Youth for Technology Foundation (YTF).

The partnership is expected to provide women entrepreneurs in Nigeria with an innovative, mobile technology solution to promote financial inclusion in the country.

“This initiative is part of our strategy to help increase the financial awareness of more women in our society,” General Manager for Visa in West Africa, Ade Ashaye was quoted to have said in a statement.
Through this collaboration, a total of 2,500 women entrepreneurs are expected to become agents in the retail network of First Bank Nigeria.

These agents in turn would bring branchless banking and mobile financial services to at least 75,000 Nigerians living in rural and underserved communities.
Lack of access to financial services and capital is a significant barrier for women entrepreneurs in the country.
“Empowering women by bridging this gap will translate to the empowerment of the country as a whole as women tend to invest a significant proportion of what they earn back into their families’ health and education, making a lasting difference,” it added.
Under the arrangement, First Bank would provide the women with training on mobile banking products while Youth for Technology Foundation (YTF) would provide capacity-building entrepreneurship training to help them gain comprehensive knowledge and information on subjects that are core to their development as entrepreneurs.

“We believe access to financial services is essential for progress. Financial inclusion is a bridge that allows formerly isolated members of an economic system to join in and become contributing participants.
“Improving access to financial services and electronic payments is a critical building block to help more people improve their lives and lift themselves out of poverty.” Ashaye added.

He explained that Visa remains committed to expanding access to digital payments to emerging economies.
The payment company, he added, is constantly creating new partnership between financial institutions, merchants, governments and consumers to help expand access to appropriate, sustainable and secure financial services and education for everyone, everywhere.
Visa is a global digital payments network that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable electronic payments. It operates one of the world’s most advanced processing networks – VisaNet.

 

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