Tokunbo Abiru, Group Managing Director/CEO of Skye Bank Plc. has extolled the role of women as change agents in the society, even as the bank joins the rest of the world to celebrate the 2017 International Women’s Day (IWD).
The IWD, marked every March 8, is a global day and an important opportunity to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women across the world as well as help to drive positive change for womenfolk.
Mr. Abiru praised the resilience of women, who according to him, have over the years, shown what great pillar of support they can be; This, he explains informed the decision of Skye Bank to evolve Skye Pearl; a women focused empowerment initiative.
Mr. Abiru affirmed that, “Skye Pearl Initiative supports the economic and financial growth of women through provision of platforms for gender empowerment; capacity development and networking opportunities for women”.
Members of the Skye Pearl community enjoy such benefits as; mentoring by key female industry leaders; partnerships with women organizations where women can meet with other peers to connect and share experiences; as well as access loans on concessionary terms. “Our partnership with Nigerian Employers Consultative Association (NECA’s) Network of Entrepreneurial Women (NNEW) has brought about enhanced capacity building for women and their businesses. We have trained over 25 women entrepreneurs on book keeping and budgeting, and our intention is to continue to support women in several spheres of life”.
He explained that Skye Bank is also drawing from the wealth of experience of accomplished women entrepreneurs who are members of its Skye Pearl community, to empower and build capacity of other women entrepreneurs. He noted that the initiative has recorded huge impact over time.
In addition to the Skye Pearl Initiative, Skye Bank has also within the last ten years provided free breast cancer screening support to over 15, 000 women across the country; as well as donated state-of-the-art cancer screening machines including LogiQ C2 and Mind Ray Ultra-Sound System to enhance quality diagnosis and clinical practices to C.O.PE Foundation, a partner NGO, which has increased the chances of early detection of breast cancer and significantly raised the survival chances of cancer patients.
The International Women’s Day (IWD), has been observed since the early 1900’s. The day marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity where individuals and/or organizations can take bold actions to help progress the gender cause across the world. The objective of the day is to help forge a better working world – a more inclusive, gender equal world where every person is encouraged to play a part in helping to drive better outcomes for women.
Skye Bank is listed on the Global List of Organisations supporting Women Empowerment Principles (WEP), an initiative under the auspices of United Nations (UN).
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