Wema Bank, Nigeria’s most innovative bank and the forerunner of Africa’s first fully digital bank, ALAT, has partnered with the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs to launch the MOWA x SARA Accelerator Programme, an initiative aimed at providing 500,000 women in Nigeria with business management and vocational skills.
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This is done through the women-focused proposition SARA by Wema. SARA by Wema is a women-focused offering from Wema Bank that was created with the intention of advancing gender equality and inclusion by providing women with the specialized tools, chances, and support they need to succeed both personally and professionally.
Wema Bank continues to empower thousands of women in Nigeria through SARA, providing them with affordable access to free healthcare, networking opportunities, finance and financial support, and a host of other benefits tailored especially for women. Where appropriate, the bank partners with reputable brands and institutions to expand impact.
One of these collaborations, the recently launched MOWA x SARA Accelerator Program, is poised to improve the lives of women all throughout the nation. The MOWA x SARA Accelerator Program will span 36 states as well as the Federal Capital Territory throughout the course of its 24-month duration. Two days of soft skills and business management training will be followed by two days of vocational training. The focus will be on two areas: business management and vocational skills. There will be an assessment and evaluation session on the last day.
The curriculum will focus on three primary areas of vocational skills: food processing, fashion design, and hairdressing. Eight cohorts will be formed for the five-day in-person training session, with the first pilot phase taking place in Anambra and extending to Ekiti and Kano. With the help of this initiative for women’s empowerment and capacity building, more Nigerian women will be able to work, participate in the economy, and advance national development—all of which will help close the gender inclusion gap.
The executive director of retail and digital at Wema Bank, Tunde Mabawonku, expressed optimism about the program’s ability to enable women to prosper. She claims, “Our people, especially the women, need to be empowered, and this requires a highly strategic strategy given Nigeria’s constantly changing macroeconomic environment. At Wema Bank, we recognize this need as encapsulated in our mission statement, “Empowering lives through innovation,” and we take great care to customize our empowerment initiatives to meet the demands of our wide range of clientele. Our relationships, solutions, products, projects, and propositions—among which is SARA by Wema—all demonstrate this dedication.
We launched SARA in 2019 as a dedicated channel for reaching out to women across Nigeria, empowering them with special solutions catered to their needs even beyond banking, and giving them the support they need to maximize their potential because we saw the need for specialized solutions that help women thrive. This serves as the cornerstone of our relationship with SARA and the inspiration behind the MOWA x SARA Accelerator Program’s introduction. Our mission is to support women in navigating the difficult economic landscape by arming them with resources for productivity, success support, and self-employment skills.
“I urge any women who are eager to acquire a skill that could lead to earning a living to apply for the MOWA x SARA Accelerator Program. This initiative includes grants that we have set aside as well, making it a comprehensive package meant to assist these women in entering the workforce. We are strong proponents of inclusion, therefore we have designed this program so that women of all ages and from all across the nation can take part and benefit from it. I’d also like to take this occasion to extend an invitation to all women: come join the SARA Community, which is for women who want better.
As a SARA Woman, any woman can take use of the wide array of advantages that are anchored in the SARA, according to Mabawonku. “I believe that if we empower women and they start making money, a lot of prevalent challenges faced by women as a result of gender inequality may be averted,” stated Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, Minister of Women’s Affairs. This collaboration extends to Nigerian Women Affairs in addition to the Federal Ministry of Women’s Affairs. Involving the private sector is part of our plan to make sure that all programs aimed at empowering women are sustained.
Wema Bank is clearly ready to take off on this initiative, and we’re determined to work together to reach our goals. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing event for the MOWA x SARA Accelerator Program took place on Monday, September 30, 2024, at the Ministry of Women Affairs Office in Abuja.
