In a move to empower women and promote gender equality, FirstBank of Nigeria Ltd. has intensified its commitment to helping women achieve economic success and break through barriers.
This was announced by Ismail Omamagbe, Head of Sustainability Media and External Relations at the FirstBank Group, during the “Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress” Women Empowerment Webinar organized in collaboration with United Nations Women on Wednesday in Lagos.
The virtual event underscored the pivotal role of women’s empowerment in driving societal progress, emphasizing the need for investment in education, healthcare, and economic opportunities as catalysts for gender equality and economic growth.
“The importance of this collaborative webinar stresses empowering women as vital for societal advancement, emphasizing investment in education, health and in economic opportunities, as catalysts for progress in areas that support our economic growth and gender equality,” Omamagbe stated.
According to Ismail, Firstbank’s dedication to women’s economic empowerment transcends merely offering financial products.
“The bank’s commitment to women’s economic empowerment has gone beyond simply offering financial products. It involved actively implementing programmes and initiatives that supported women,” he said, outlining the bank’s six-point diversity and inclusion strategy encompassing business rationale, senior leadership support, effective communication, employee engagement, accountability mechanism, and progress tracking.
Ismail further highlighted that diversity and inclusion remain a core pillar of the FirstBank Group’s sustainability strategic focus areas, alongside health, education, sustainable procurement, responsible lending, and climate performance.
As a signatory to the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), the bank has reinforced its commitment to empowering women among its employees, customers, and communities by integrating these principles into its operations and business philosophy.
During the event, the keynote speaker, Mrs. Mo Abudu, Chief Executive Officer of Ebonylife Media, shared her inspiring journey and urged women to invest in themselves and leverage available resources to accelerate progress and achieve their goals.
“You have to build yourself to be your own brand ambassador; if you can’t think of it, you can’t achieve it,” she advised.
Ms. Beatrice Eyong, Country Representative to UN Women Nigeria and ECOWAS, commended Firstbank for its commitment to gender diversity, with women holding top managerial positions within the bank.
“I congratulate Firstbank and other banks, including the private sector that is actually showing the way in terms of giving women access to decision-making positions. Statistics show that at least 20 per cent or even 22 per cent of top managerial positions are provided for women in the private sector especially in the banks, this is very good,” she said.
Eyong emphasized the importance of achieving gender parity for sustainable development, stating, “Until we have an equilibrium between the sexes, that is, we have 50 per cent men, and 50 per cent women benefiting, accessing, controlling, deciding, sitting on the table, we are not going to have sustainable development.”
