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Access Bank reiterates commitment to women empowerment

By on November 25, 2014

Access Bank Plc has reiterated its commitment to deepening the interest of women entrepreneurs by increasing it’s lending to female owned small and medium enterprises in the country.
This declaration was made by the Group Managing Director of the bank, Mr. Herbert Wigwe recently at this year’s women entrepreneurship day held at Access Bank’s head office in Lagos.

He told the gathering that the bank recently secured a $30 million facility to support Women Empowerment Fund (WEF).
Wigwe said in furtherance of the bank’s commitment to women empowerment and the creation of WEF, the bank and Netherland Development Finance Corporation (FMO), have agreed on lending to women SME.
He said the line of credit would provide financial resources to women-owned SMEs in the country. The facility, he noted, would also be utilised in providing capacity building, debt capital, support to women-owned businesses and promote the bank’s financial goal of reaching the unbanked through provision of cheap funding.

While congratulating women for the Women of West Africa Enteprenuership (WOWE) day’s celebration, Wigwe told them that the bank truly value them and would continue to inspire them in playing pivotal roles in the country’s development. He said: “We would equip you with all the skills required to help you run your businesses. We are also building a training centre where female entrepreneurs would be trained.
“We would equip you with the needed skills and we are taking you more seriously than any other bank in the Chairman of Montgomery West Africa, Mr. John Adeleke, the organiser of the one-day event.”
On his  part, Adeleke urged participants to note that “nothing can be good as keeping a good home. The best job in the world is home making. Your role is greatly underestimated. You must network and offer upcoming women a helping hand to step up.”Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

One of the governorship aspirants seeking the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to contest the governorship election in Delta State, Chief O’tega Emenhor, has said what the party and people are looking for is one who can deliver good governance .
O’tega, who made the assertion while submitting his nomination form at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja last Friday, told THISDAY  that the people of the state are tired of empty promises of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and are ready to support APC in the 2015  elections.
“Well, it is PDP that has zoning, APC does not  have zoning in its arrangement.. People are tired of PDP. So even those people in Delta Naorth who are crying that their zone have not brought a governor, they are all coming to say that look, what we want first is good government before issue of zoning and they are ready to support APC to change the government in Delta State,” he said.
He said the people would like the issue of zoning to be kept aside for now and to  first of all achieve a change of government that will transform the state.
O’ tega who is the Chairman of Transcorp Hilton Hotels, Abuja said his approach would be comparable to that of Lagos and Rivers States in terms of embarking on rapid development of infrastructure and introduction of radical changes to the way things are done.
“Lets first of all have a government that work, that is the cry of everybody and I aalso come from Delta central that has a population when it comes to voting , so if PDP is picking somebody from Delta North, fine but at least I have some home advantage and added to that, the cry from both Delta North, Delta South  and Delta Central is that enough of bad government of 16 years.
“Delta is a very rich state by all standard, come to Delta and see the roads in Delta, come to Delta and see the medical care, come to Delta and see the unemployment, nothing and that is why you see kidnapping and so many crime happening in that state, it should not be, we have comparable states, look at Lagos, look at Rivers State, I mean you can see when a government is working, we want to bring government that will work in Delta State.”

With regards to the chances of the party in Delta, O’tega said APC was now well positioned at the national, state and grassroots levels to defeat the PDP in elections .
“We have now a very strong party, well structured to the grassroots  and we also learnt some lessons from that election and more than that, there is a grand swell of people who are tired of the inept rule of PDP for the past 16 years in Delta State. They want to throw them out and we are the vehicles they want to use,” he said.

 

[ThisDay]