AXA Mansard Empowers Female Business Owners

Friday, March 12, 2021 / 12:20PM/ AXA Mansard / Header Image Credit: AXA Mansard

AXAMansard, a member of AXA, the global leader in insurance and asset managementas part of its plans to foster women empowerment and capacity building hascollaborated with SME 100 Africa to empower one female business owner at the2021 International Women's Day Conference.

Theconference which held on Thursday March 4, 2020 was themed 'Choose to Challenge: Achievingan Equal Future in a COVID-19 World'. It held in a hybrid (both virtualand physical) format and featured sessions from various successful femalebusiness owners such as Mrs. Funke Bucknor-Obruthe, the CEO of Zapphire EventsLimited and Fade Ogunro the CEO of Bookings Africa. It also featured afinancial literacy session facilitated by AXA Mansard's investment officer,Nneoma Mere.

Thehighlight of the session was the business pitch session where femaleentrepreneurs presented their pitches and keenly competed for a prize of OneMillion Naira (N1,000,000) towardstheir businesses. GreenHill Recycling Limited founded by Mrs. Mariam Lawani - asocial enterprise that provides sustainable solutions to the waste managementcrisis in Nigeria through recycling and upcycling emerged as thewinner of the prize.

Commentingabout the pitch competition, the ChiefCustomer and Marketing Officer at AXA Mansard, Mrs. Olajumoke Odunlaminoted that "The pitch session was a thrilling and impactful experience for me.I am very privileged to have been a part of this session and to have seen thegreat things that women are doing in business. Women are the force for change,and we must continue to strive to ensure that we are visible and relentless."

MrsOdunlami concluded by saying that "AXA is committed to gender equality throughimplementation of gender initiatives as well as sound and inclusive policies,processes and culture across the organisation. We believe that women are thekey to progress as they are a vital force for growth and development around theworld. We encourage women to take advantage of our SHE for Shield initiativewhich is tailored towards empowering women. Every business owner who has made apitch here is a winner as they are all doing fantastic things with theirbusinesses. I congratulate the winner of the prize money, Mrs. Lawani whosecompany is targeted at sustainability. We at AXA are strong advocates ofsustainability and this is also reflected in our targets and policies.

AXAMansard was incorporated in 1989 as a private limited liability company and isregistered as a composite company with the National Insurance Commission ofNigeria (NAICOM). The Company offers life and non-life insurance products andservices to individuals and institutions across Nigeria whilst also offeringasset/investment management services and health insurance solutions through itstwo subsidiaries - AXA Mansard Investments Limited and AXA Mansard HealthLimited respectively. AXA Mansard was listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange inNovember 2009.