Wema Bank through its female proposition, Sara by Wema will mark this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD) with a webinar on Friday, March 12, 2021.
The 90 minutes’ event themed “challenge today for an equal tomorrow” will have key industry experts and leading female corporate policy influencers in the Nigerian financial, investment, talent development and management ecosystem as panellists.
The webinar aims at speaking to women on challenging societal norms to reach their full potential in entrepreneurship, the workplace, or personal lives.
Folake Sanu, the executive director, business support, Wema Bank, will host the webinar, while, Chika Adun, the team lead, business process re-engineering, Wema Bank will moderate.
Commenting on the importance of the webinar, Funmilayo Falola, head, brands, and marketing communications,
Wema Bank reiterated the institution’s belief in female empowerment and equity.
“At Wema Bank, gender sensitivity and diversity are second to none, it is at the heart of our operations,” she said.
Falola further said, with the 2021 IWD celebration, we are poised to entrench the importance of equity across the board as a sustainable voice for women to rise above every known challenge to the pinnacle of career excellence. This year’s webinar is part of a week-long social media and online engagement with Wema Bank’s customers to share contemporary knowledge, deepening technology and financial inclusion for their business growth whilst growing the nation’s GDP.
The bank also plans to use the webinar platform to launch its new gender loan offering for female business owners.
Our proposition, SARA, is a testimony that affirms Wema Bank’s commitment towards the development of women and girls, said Abiola Nejo, head, gender banking.
The African Music Awards (AFRIMA), an innovative awards platform that rewards excellence in the African music industry has advocated for better payment plans for women in the Nigerian culture industry.
This comes in solidarity with the United Nations International Women’s Day 2021(IWD 2021) themed as “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 World” and the offshoot #ChoosetoChallenge campaign on March 8, 2021.
IWD 2021 turns the spotlight on the tremendous efforts by women and girls around the world in creating and sustaining the fight against COVID-19, their roles in shaping an equal future in the recovery from the pandemic while highlighting the underlying structural gender gaps that still exist.
“At the very inception of the African music industry culture, women had always been at the forefront. However, we are grossly underpaid and underrepresented. In order to break barriers, women are creating their own paths in the industry by starting their own companies and taking on more executive roles,” said Hadja Kobele Keita, the music executive and member of the International Jury of AFRIMA for the Diaspora in North Africa, while delivering her opening remarks.
She also added that what gives hope for the future of women, particularly in the African music industry, is the fact that organisations like AFRIMA are committed to pushing the agenda of empowering women in a society that tries to suppress their creativity.
Similarly, Mike Dada, the president and executive producer, AFRIMA, reaffirmed the commitment of the awards to being a contributor to sustainable conversations that push for an integrated and peaceful continent, socio-economic growth for all Africans, gender parity, and ending violence against women.
“The IWD 2021 #ChoosetoChallenge campaign is complementary to one of our awards objectives of retelling the story of Africa from the perspective of our unique cultural heritage and creativity. AFRIMA emphasises the importance of fair representation and women constitute an integral and important part of that. The fight for equality is our fight, and everyone’s fight,” Dada further added.
COVID-19 struck the world in December 2019 and distorted the dynamics of human relations. The pandemic revealed the institutional gaps in society and amplified the need to create systems, safe spaces and opportunities for women, and also brought to fore the increasing importance of women representation in decision-making processes across all levels.
– Businessday