Female Founders and Innovators Can Apply for Access Bank’s Womenpreneur Pitch-a-ton Program
Leading Nigerian retail bank Access Bank Plc has announced the second iteration of its Womenpreneur Pitch-a-ton program as part of its commitment to consistently provide financial and business skills to female entrepreneurs. The Womenpreneur Pitch-a-ton Africa 2020 Campaign aims to give female-owned enterprises in Africa access to funding. The campaign also provides top-notch business training, and mentoring opportunities. It has been created to provide a supportive atmosphere for female company owners to expand their enterprises.
The Womenpreneur Pitch-a-ton Africa 2020 will offer a financial grant of up to $5 million as well as a special program for building capacity geared on empowering female entrepreneurs. In conjunction with the IFC, the three-month curriculum includes pitching sessions and eight weeks of mini-MBA instruction.
Full-service commercial bank, Access Bank Plc, is present in Nigeria, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the United Kingdom with a network of over 600 branches and service locations. Institutional, Commercial, Retail Banking, Transaction Services, and Financial Markets are the Bank’s 5 business sectors, which it uses to serve its diverse markets. The Bank became a publicly traded company in 1998.
Access bank, which has over 800,000 shareholders and has had tremendous banking growth over the past 10 years, is owned by a number of Nigerian and international institutional investors. The mainstreaming of sustainable business practices into Access Bank’s operations is a key component of the bank’s strategy for continued expansion. The Bank aims to produce economically lucrative, ecologically sound, and socially relevant sustainable growth using platforms such as the Womenpreneur Pitch-a-ton program.
Eligibility Criteria and Benefits from Womenpreneur Pitch-a-ton
The Womenpreneur Pitch-a-ton Africa 2020 will offer a financial grant of up to $5 million as well as a special program for building capacity geared on empowering female entrepreneurs. In conjunction with the IFC, the three-month curriculum includes pitching sessions and eight weeks of mini-MBA instruction.
The fifty finalists will present their enterprises while incorporating lessons from the mini-MBA as part of the graduation requirements, and they will be eligible to receive grants worth up to $5 million.
Applicants must meet the following criteria:
- Must be a woman, aged18 years of age or older
- Must be a legal resident of Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya, Zambia, with extension to Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Gambia, or Congo
- Within the past one (1) year, applicant must not be an employee, contractor, officer, director or agent of any of the following:
- Access Bank Plc, or any parent, subsidiary, affiliated or related entity of any of the foregoing
- Any person or entity involved in the development, production, distribution or other exploitation of the Programme or any variation thereof
- Any known major sponsor of the Programme or its advertising agency
- Any person or entity supplying services or prizes to the Programme
- You may not be a candidate for public office and must agree not to become a candidate for public office from the date of the Audition Release until one (1) year after the initial broadcast of the last episode of the Programme in which you appear.
- You may not have been convicted of a felony
- You must voluntarily submit to a background check
A reputable panel of business professionals will review the 500 candidates who were chosen from this pool and shortlist fifty finalists after seeing their 60-second video pitches.
Application is open until August 13th, interested persons can click here to apply.