Access Bank Plc, in partnership with She Leads Africa, has concluded the first phase of #SheMeansBusiness, a Facebook programme aimed at empowering female SMEs on how to leverage digital platforms to drive growth in their businesses.
The training, aimed at scaling up the skills of small business owners to take advantage of the captive market on social media platforms in Nigeria and beyond, kicked off in June and has held in Abuja, Lagos, Enugu and Ibadan with over 500 female business owners in attendance.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja during the start of the training series, the lender’s Executive Director, Retail banking, Victor Etuokwu, said:
“As one of the fastest growing retail banks in the country, Access Bank is always at the forefront of leveraging technology to drive emerging businesses. The idea behind this partnership and empowerment programme is to give our SME customers an opportunity to expand their access to market and increase their visibility to potential customers. There are over two billion people on Facebook globally and over 65 billion WhatsApp messages exchanged globally on a daily basis. With the right knowledge, our customers can showcase their products to large audiences as well as get leads that will take their businesses forward.”
Etuokwuadded: “We intend to actualise our promise as the largest retail bank in Africa to provide not just financial services but also non-financial services which we provide knowing that when our customers succeed, it will trickle down to us.”
During an interview with Chigozie Onyeocha, the Regional and Sales Director of Lagos Mainland at Access Bank, it was learnt that the bank has strong interest in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
According to Onyeocha, Access Bank believes that if SMEs are well supported, the country’s economy will benefit in return.