Monday, March 16, 2020 / 09:15 AM /Firstbank

First Bank of Nigeria Limited is takingsteps to ensure that women and women-led businesses are empowered. The bankhas, through its FirstGem; FirstMonie and First Women Network empowered andbrought several unbanked women into the financial system. This it proved duringthis year's International Women's Day (IWD) celebration, writes COLLINS NWEZE.

Empowering women through improved access to finance andsocial support are crucial in achieving the desired growth for the economy.This is the belief of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, even as it maintained thatinvesting in women's economic empowerment sets a direct path towards genderequality, poverty eradication and inclusive economic growth.

It acknowledges the enormous contributions made by women,whether as business women, farmers, entrepreneurs or employees, or by doingunpaid care work at home.

This it demonstrated during this year's InternationalWomen's Day (IWD), a worldwide event that celebrates women's achievements - from the political to the social. It is also a day that stakeholders in Nigeriaand in the Diaspora canvassed gender equality in society and workplace.

The event brings together governments, women'sorganisations, corporations and charities for purposes of development andinclusion.

According to the World Bank, women empowerment is theprocess that creates power in individuals over their own lives, society and intheir communities.

Women's empowerment is all about equipping and allowingthem to make life-determining decisions through the different problems insociety.

Also, empowering women by granting them access to vastopportunities and information will not only lead to personal development forthem but also the development of the communities and societies they operate in.

First Bank is, therefore, supporting women's economicempowerment through FirstGem, which gives them economic voice and bring manyunbanked women to the financial system.

The bank has advanced N58 billion loans to over 81,000women-led businesses and interests. Besides, 44,356 women (corporate andindividual, including members of staff of the bank) currently own and operatethe FirstGem account with a seating balance of N2.4 billion.

Also, the Agent Banking platform – which the bank leads inthe industry - has promoted not just the financial inclusion of women but alsoindependence as there are many women among its Agent Banking. Data showed thatthere are 38,185 male banking agents, and 11,762 female banking agents.

First Bank Managing Director/CEO Adesola Kazeem Adeduntan,said women-led businesses constitute a large part of the banks' balance sheetsand stream of income, even as he added that the bank will continue to givepriority to issues that affect women.

He said the bank is also in tune with the NigerianSustainable Banking Principles (NSBP) which requires that companies promotegender equality in workplace.

To support the NSBP project and give women voice in theworkplace, FirstBank boss said women remain some of the best workforces andalways make great impact in establishments.

FirstBank believes that women needed to be economicallyempowered. Unless social concerns such as gender disparity and women economicempowerment are addressed, economic and environmental goals and overallsustainable development will be difficult to achieve.

Adeduntan said the introduction of FirstGem, afemale-focused product by the bank has contributed to the development of theNigerian economy.

Speaking at the FirstGem third anniversary conference heldin Lagos, the bank chief said he was delighted that FirstGem is promotingsavings culture, financial literacy, loan management, wealth creation andhealthy lifestyle for women.

Adeduntan said the product has a wide array of advisory,health and current awareness services for the discerning woman.

He said: "On October 28, 2016 we launched thiswomen-centric account, designed specifically to meet the financial needs ofboth corporate and entrepreneurial women. This product, apart from being anaccount dedicated solely to women, is lifestyle-enhancing.

"It provides a total lifestyle support for discerningwomen to enable them to meet their economic needs and aspirations. It goeswithout saying that economic stability does impact overall stability ofindividuals, institutions, communities and nations.

"With FirstGem, therefore, our long-term focus is onnational economic development. I believe that with the indices we have so far,FirstGem is on the right performance track."

In sports, the Female Basketball team, Elephant Girls,have, over the years, dominated the Women Basketball League of the NigeriaBasketball Federation, representing Nigeria in the International BasketballFederation (FIBA) Africa Women's Champions.

According to FirstBank, Corporate Responsibility andSustainability (CR&S) involves meeting the needs of our stakeholders nowand in the future. Our CR&S approach is three-pronged: citizenship,stakeholder management and impact management.

"Citizenship and stakeholder management involves puttinginto consideration the needs of stakeholders in making decisions, while impactmanagement is basically about minimising our negative impacts and increasingour positive impacts on society.

"FirstBank prides itself in being an equal opportunityemployer and have integrated diversity and inclusion policies and awarenessinto its practices.

The bank said its efforts at engendering diversity in theworkplace include having in place a policy that encourages inclusion. Thegroup's diversity and inclusion objective is to be a recognised industry leaderin workforce diversity and leverage diversity for the growth of the group andthe success of the customers and communities we serve. We have a male: femaleratio of 61:39 across the workforce," he said.

Also, the bank's Board and Senior Management Teams haveconsistently supported women development by deliberately designing a dedicatedplatform called FirstGem to drive financial inclusion and all-round developmentof women.

The bank's CR&S approach is designed to deliver valuein a structured way in the areas of education, health and welfare; financialinclusion; responsible lending and procurement.

Inclusivity ties in with our people empowerment goal whichincludes improving the lives of our stakeholders through the bank's agenda ofnation-building by empowering women and girls to access the opportunities andsocietal benefits to grow and advance societal and economic benefits. The bankis committed to promoting diversity, inclusion through our products, servicesand programmes.

RelatedNews

1.       AdesolaAdeduntan, CEO, Firstbank - How to Do Well by Doing Good

2.      Firstbank CEOJoins Global Industry Leaders at the Annual Fintech and Insuretech Summit,Bulgaria

3.      Firstbanktakes its SMEs Business Clinic to Port-Harcourt and Abuja

4.      FirstbankWins Best Mobile Banking App And Fastest Growing Retail Bank Awards

5.      FirstbankEnhances the Educational Sector, Supports Schools with Over 10 Billion NairaLoan

6.      FirstbankPartners with Africa Fashion Week, Nigeria; Promotes Growth of Small Businesses
Fifth ChukkerCommends Firstbank's Commitment to Patrons Cup

7.      FirstbankAnnounces the Appointment of Alhaji Ado Yakubu Wanka as Non-executive Director

8.     Winners of2019 Firstbank Sponsored National Company of the Year