As part of activities to mark this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD) and strengthen gender inclusion, Wema Bank has lined up events in Lagos, Nigeria’s economic hub, to further strengthen financial inclusion for women.
The IWD is marked annually on August 8 to celebrate women and recognise their contributions to the world, promote gender inclusion and respect their rights.
As part of this event, Wema Bank will host the 2025 Event on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, in Lagos, Nigeria. The event, themed “Harnessing innovation & technology to accelerate financial inclusion for women,” will bring together influential women from various industries to discuss the importance of leveraging innovation and technology to promote financial inclusion for women.
The event will also feature the Big Sister Project of the Wema Women Network, which recognises beneficiaries of the bank’s women-focused mentorship program. Additionally, the HeForShe Awards will be presented to male employees who have made significant contributions to women empowerment in the workspace.
Throughout the month of March, Wema Bank has curated various activities to celebrate and reward women across Nigeria. These include the Wema Bank 5 for 5 Promo Season 4 women’s month draw, where 131 women will receive N11,000,000 in cash rewards, and the Wema Women Network (WWN) outreach initiative for young female students.
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Commenting on the bank’s commitment to women empowerment, Moruf Oseni, managing director/CEO, stated:
“In a world that is increasingly becoming digital, no conversation on sustainable development can be productive without giving consideration to how solutions in such regard will thrive and remain relevant as the world continues to evolve, As Nigeria’s oldest indigenous and leading innovative Bank, we are both deeply rooted in the advocacy for empowerment and remarkably forward thinking, so our mission of empowering lives is one that goes far beyond lip service”.
“We recognise the gap that exists in gender equality and as a pro-women bank, we have continued to develop new and more efficient ways to accelerate action for women empowerment. This is why we launched our women-focused proposition, SARA by Wema and this is why we are so intentional about making room for women in the spaces that matter and developing solutions that empower women to thrive in their personal and professional lives.
“So, for IWD 2025, we are thinking beyond the now, as always, and looking far into the future to accelerate action for sustainable women empowerment by maximising technology and innovation to amplify impact. With this futuristic mindset, we successfully provided over N50 billion in finance, disbursed $2.4 million in collaboration with the Islamic Development Finance under the BRAVE Women project, and reached over 2 million women through various skills development, business support, and market access programme—and these are just some of our numbers between 2019 and 2023,” Oseni said.
