AXA Mansard, a member of the AXA, the global leader in insurance and asset management in commemoration of the International Women’s Day said it partnered with the 5th SME100 Africa International Women’s Day Event.
The event held recently in Lagos with the theme ‘Each for Equal: Creating opportunities and navigating the challenges of the female economy’, was attended by over 400 delegates including business leaders from a variety of sectors, innovative start-ups, government, civil societies as well as students and researchers from institutions across the globe.
Commenting on the event, Chief Customer and Marketing Officer, AXA Mansard Insurance, Mrs Jumoke Odunlami, said AXA remains passionate about partnering with women across all groups, sectors, life stages and varying peculiar needs all over Nigeria to form a formidable network among the women while providing the needed support to enable them grow and help them live better lives.
“We at AXA Mansard are very proud to be a part of an event like this which highlights the part that women play in the development of any economy. Creating equal opportunities remains crucial in achieving gender parity, which is vital to the advancement of the businesses and the society. We thus must be deliberate in our thoughts and actions in creating more opportunities to foster gender equality,” she said.
Also speaking, Executive Director, SME100 Africa, Mr Charles Odii, said, “Men have 50 per cent more global wealth than women and run more than 86 per cent of businesses while only 23 per cent of women have access to credit in Africa, over 70 per cent of women are financially excluded. This is a market failure that must be addressed to ensure equal rights and equal access to finance.”