Access Bank Opens 2024 Womenpreneur Pitch-a-ton Application, Set To Dole Out N17.5m To Winners
Access Bank has opened applications for its 2024 Womenpreneur Pitch-a-ton, a training programme for women entrepreneurs. It also said that it will reward 10 winners with N17.5 million in business grants.
According to the bank, the application process began on June 24, 2024, and will run until August 9, 2024. The Womenpreneur Pitch-a-ton training programme spans three months and includes an eight-week mini-MBA training program conducted in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
The bank said that participants will have the opportunity to showcase their businesses in pitching sessions to a prestigious Pan-African jury during this period. The top finalists will present their business ideas, incorporating the knowledge gained from the mini-MBA program, and stand a chance to win financial grants and other consolation prizes.
Speaking at the launch of Womenprenuer Pitch-a-Ton season six, yesterday in Lagos, Abiodun Olubitan, the Group Head of Women Banking of Access Bank said, “Some years back we conducted a survey on why female-owned startup businesses fail within the first five years of existence and we found out that it was due to a knowledge gap which needed to be bridged by providing resources to these women to help their businesses thrive.”
She noted that this birthed the Womenpreneur Programme and the programme is one of the largest business growth platforms for women in Africa, explaining that the programme is a female-focused campaign that seeks to provide quality training to business owners through an IFC-certified mini-MBA as well as grants to select winners.
According to Olubitan, the main objective of the programme is to help women with the requisite knowledge to grow their businesses. The programme has been running for the past five years, this is the sixth year running and from previous seasons, we have received impressive and positive testimonials from participants about how the program has helped them improve their businesses and how they have applied the training received to grow their businesses.