In a monthlong social media campaign, GBA member in Nigeria Access Bank Plc is celebrating the third year of its W Initiative Women’s Market program, using the hashtag #Wis3.
The bank, part of a large pan-African network, first began exploring the Women’s Market in 2006 when they partnered with IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, to develop targeted products for women entrepreneurs. The W Initiative was designed to inspire, connect and empower women in Nigeria, with benefits including access to a variety of loan products and credit facilities, financial education through the online W Community, and health and family programs, among other services. W Initiative also offers SME support, including mentoring, capacity building and start-up promotion. More than 40 percent of the loan portfolio at Access Bank Nigeria now goes to women, and the success of the program in Nigeria led the bank to roll out the W Initiative to Access Bank outlets in Ghana and Rwanda.
As part of the celebration, Access Bank is giving away free professional headshot photoshoots to select W Community members who repost a celebratory #Wis3 social media post and include a valuable lesson they learned from another woman. Find out more on social media by visiting @thewcommunity profile pages on Twitter or Facebook.
