Access Bank’s flagship women empowerment programme, “W” Initiative has been adjudged the Outstanding Banking Initiative 2015 in the product and service category at the 3rd National Women in Finance Magazine Awards held in Accra.
The Bank received the distinguished award alongside women professionals who have demonstrated commitment and dedication to bring real change in the financial services sector and most importantly for being role models to upcoming women professionals.
The citation accompanying the award stated: ‘W Initiative, a respected thriving and growing women sensitive programme by a reputable Bank in Ghana which having been successfully rolled out features specially crafted and designed products/services, to meet specific needs, and which will in principle make significant contributions to end user clientele, women and general society.’
Welcoming guests to the awards ceremony, the Head of Brands and Communications at the National Women in Finance Awards, Nana. K. Obuam said “the main aim of this unique annual industry award scheme is to inspire, motivate and coach the current and next generation of women finance professionals to aspire to greater heights of individual and corporate excellence.
Launched in February 2014, the awards are the nation’s first time ever recognition of female finance professionals and is hosted by the quarterly National Women in Finance Magazine and seeks to bring important industry news and other relevant market information to these professionals.
Leading the delegation of Access Bank staff to receive the award, the President of the Access Women Network (AWN) and Group Head for Commercial Banking, Mrs. Joana Bannerman expressed the Bank’s appreciation to the award organisers for this special recognition. Speaking on the importance of the ‘W’ Initiative, the Head of Exclusive Banking with mandate over ‘W’, Mrs. Matilda Asante-Asiedu said “our quest as a Bank in rolling out the ‘W’ Initiative is to give every woman the platform they require to reach their full potential. This award is dedicated to the many women who believed in the Bank’s dream of creating a conducive environment for women to thrive.”
The Access Bank ‘W’ Initiative was launched in March 2015 and forms a key component of the Bank’s financial inclusion drive which makes available to women, specialised bundled products and services to support them in their quest at growing their businesses, improving their family wellbeing and general lifestyle goals.
The initiative also provides an online networking platform, the W community, which allows women of all ages to get connected, inspired and empowered. Through the W community, women are able to get access to seasoned mentors, helpful advice on family and financial matters, discounted services with partner vendors among others.
This is the second recognition the ‘W’ Initiative has received with the first being the Women’s Market Champion 2015 Award at the 14th Annual Summit of the Global Banking Alliance (GBA) for Women in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
