BY Chisom Nwatu.
Access Bank has called on women entrepreneurs globally to apply for the 4th edition of its Womenpreneur Pitch-a-Ton Africa in continuation of its effort to empower female entrepreneurs with financial and business skills.
Abiodun Olubitan, group head, W Initiative, Access Bank Group, disclosed this at a media roundtable for the unveiling of Access Bank W Initiative: Pitch-a-Ton season 4 in Lagos at the weekend.
Olubitan noted that the competition is open to Nigerian business owners from age 18 to 55, whose businesses are legal and registered in Nigeria.
It will be an opportunity for female-owned businesses across Africa to access finance, world-class business training as well as mentoring, she said.
“This initiative was designed to create an enabling environment for female entrepreneurs to grow their businesses,” she said.
This year’s edition is slated to have 27 winners emerge with the top seven receiving financial grants of N5 million while the additional 20 will be given consolation prizes which would include free website development, free advertisement, and a mini MBA in collaboration with International Finance Corporation (IFC).
Olubitan said that the bank was expecting 40,000 applications as against 30,000 received last year and noted that 4,000 applications since it opened. She explained that those who had applied and were not lucky to be selected among the top 100 would be harvested into the W Community.
