By Chinwendu Obienyi
First Bank Plc has said that it remains committed to supporting the contemporary woman’s financial services needs as well as providing them with access to resources and interactive workshops, advisory to ensure they make informed financial decisions and build wealth management competences.
This is even as the bank through its FirstGEM offering, rewarded five female entrepreneurs with N1.4 million. The FirstBank SME customers after given the opportunity to pitch their business ideas and judged by their originality, feasibility, presentation skill and sustainability include Educyclers who won N500,000, Garri Aladuke (N350,000) and First Rubies world (N150,000)seed fund to kick-start their businesses.
The product, FirstGem, is an account designed specifically to meet the needs of women, aged 18 years and above. Speaking during the bank’s annual First GEM conference 2021 which held virtually in Lagos recently, the Chairman, Board of Directors, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Mrs Ibukun Awosika, noted that women globally are at a disadvantage in the competitive world while adding that the theme; “Art of Negotiation” is aimed at helping women understand the entirety of the market, business, technology and value chain.
“No matter what the business world looks like, women should pay attention to the political issues, insecurity, global indices as this could make or mar their businesses. First Bank is trying to help with this and this is what we are bringing home. FirstGEM is the vehicle while First Bank is the institution. As an institution and firm believer in women entrepreneurship, we are committed to rewarding our women and adding value to building and development of the nation”, She said.
Also speaking, the Chief Executive Officer, First Bank of Nigeria Ltd & Subsidiaries, Dr Adesola Adeduntan, said, the bank’s FirstGem value proposition provides real solutions to challenges faced by female entrepreneurs and working professionals.
He revealed that First Bank is leveraging the Agent banking proposition to close the gender gap and tap into the rich and overlooked base of the pyramid customer segment (that is predominantly women) with the realization that failure to fully harness women’s productive potential represents a missed opportunity to drive accelerated global economic growth.
According to him, the FirstGem has been effective as the bank gave out loans amounting to N58 billion to over 81,000 female entrepreneurs and professionals.