Further solidifying its position as a gender equality and inclusion driven bank, Wema Bank, Nigeria’s most innovative bank and pioneer of Africa’s first fully digital bank, ALAT, has announced plans and unveiled the lineup of activities for its commemoration of the women’s month – March, 2025. Among the lineup of activities is the Wema Bank International Women’s Day (IWD) 2025 Event scheduled to hold on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, in Lagos, Nigeria.

With the global IWD 2025 theme “Accelerate Action”, the Wema Bank IWD 2025 Event will bring together key influential and prominent women from key industries in Nigeria to discuss the topic “Harnessing Innovation & Technology To Accelerate Financial Inclusion for Women,” highlighting the importance of leveraging innovation and technology to sustainably accelerate action towards promoting and enhancing financial inclusion for women.

Beyond the intriguing discussions, the Wema Bank IWD 2025 Event includes the Big Sister Project of the Wema Women Network where beneficiaries of the Bank’s women-focused mentorship programme will be recognised and spotlighted, as well as the HeForShe Awards where male employees of the Bank who have made outstanding strides in accelerating action towards women empowerment in the workspace, will be awarded as a means of encouraging more men to become pro-women; among other uniquely curated activities.

In recognition of the month of March as “women’s month”, Wema Bank’s remarkable lineup of activities for the month have been strategically curated with the goal of celebrating and rewarding women across Nigeria with exclusive experiences, financial rewards and practical support for personal and professional success. Among these activities are the Wema Bank 5 for 5 Promo Season 4 women’s month draw where 131 women from the Bank’s customer base will receive N11,000,000 in cash rewards, the Wema Women Network (WWN) outreach initiative for young female students at the secondary school level and many more.

Announcing the lineup of events and providing a deeper perspective into the Bank’s avid drive for women empowerment and inclusive impact, the MD/CEO, of Wema Bank, Mr. Moruf Oseni (FCIB), further highlighted the need for innovative and tech-driven solutions in accelerating action towards sustainable women empowerment. In his words, “In a world that is increasingly becoming digital, no conversation on sustainable development can be productive without giving consideration to how solutions in such regard will thrive and remain relevant as the world continues to evolve, As Nigeria’s oldest indigenous and leading innovative Bank, we are both deeply rooted in the advocacy for empowerment and remarkably forward thinking, so our mission of empowering lives is one that goes far beyond lip service”.

“We recognise the gap that exists in gender equality and as a pro-women bank, we have continued to develop new and more efficient ways to accelerate action for women empowerment. This is why we launched our women-focused proposition, SARA by Wema and this is why we are so intentional about making room for women in the spaces that matter and developing solutions that empower women to thrive in their personal and professional lives.

So, for IWD 2025, we are thinking beyond the now, as always, and looking far into the future to accelerate action for sustainable women empowerment by maximising technology and innovation to amplify impact. With this futuristic mindset, we successfully provided over N50 billion in finance, disbursed $2.4 million in collaboration with the Islamic Development Finance under the BRAVE Women project, and reached over 2million women through various skills development, business support, and market access programme—and these are just some of our numbers between 2019 and 2023. Imagine how much progress can be made in the global quest for women empowerment if more individuals and institutions begin to replicate the Wema approach. This is the vision that has kept us driven for 8 decades and these are some of the important discussions we will address at the Wema Bank International Women’s Day 2025 Event”.

International Women’s Day (IWD) is a globally acknowledged celebration commemorated annually on March 8 with the goal of celebrating women, raising awareness on the need for gender equality and steering action towards promoting women inclusion. Relentlessly promoting women empowerment beyond IWD, Wema Bank has demonstrated beyond words that it is fully committed to gender inclusion, consistently raising the bar and challenging other institutions to undertake the role of accelerators and generate positive impact for women empowerment.

As the Bank counts down to its 80th anniversary, the Wema Bank IWD 2025 Event and other activities the Bank has curated for the women’s month will further reinforce its position as a Bank with a deep-rooted drive for creating meaningful impact.