Nigeria: Union Bank’s Alpher is Poised to Inspire Women

By Abdul Rahman Suagibu –

NEW AFRICA DAILY NEWS, Freetown, Sierra Leone- NIGERIA, Emeka Emuwa – Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Union Bank Plc, has pronounced that, gender equality and women empowerment are of the essence to the bank.

During the launching of Alpher,  the bank’s women banking proposition targeted at enhancing women for success, Emuwa stated, with our track record of supporting women, Alpher is a natural next step for us.

“Through Alpher, our focus is to empower women across all segments of the Nigerian society with tailored financial services, and other benefits that improve the quality of their lives.

At the launch, the Head of Retail Bank and Digital – Lola Cardoso re-emphasized the needful for women to demonstrate their best at achieving their dreams in order to live a fulfilled and impactful life. She also stated:

“We are pleased to introduce Alpher, our unique banking proposition developed to create an enabling environment for women as they pursue their dreams and aspirations,” Cardoso noted.

The launch event, themed ‘Take Your Best Shot’ featured special guests including the bank’s Board Chair, Beatrice Hamza Bassey, Chief Executive Officer, Emeka Emuwa and the Head of Retail Bank and Digital, Lola Cardoso, along with other Executives of the Bank. Alpher was revealed at the Bank’s 2019 International Women’s Day celebration, and has since then been developed into a fully-fledged proposition, set to change the face of banking for Nigerian women.

The Alpher platform provides tailored support for the individual woman, women-owned and women-led businesses. Women can benefit from a wide range of financial services, business and career development opportunities and lifestyle discounts.

Speakers at the launch included Hamza Bassey, Onyeche Tifase, Chief Executive Officer, Siemens Nigeria; Abisoye Ajayi-Akinfolarin, Founder, Pearls Africa Youth Foundation; Toyin Odulate, Founder Olori Cosmetics; and Bikiya Graham-Douglas, Founder, Beeta Universal Arts Foundation.

$200 million was recently secured in funding through a partnership with Atlas Mara Limited from Overseas Private Investment Corporation (“OPIC”), the U.S. government’s development finance institution. The funding is to accelerate investments in digitization, on-lending to small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs), and funding for women-led businesses.

Union Bank has a trending history of showing support to women businesses and enterprises. In 2019 to call back its commitment to women, the Bank awarded 40 scholarships to women entrepreneurs to build their capacity through the Enterprise & Leadership Program (ELP) organized by China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in partnership with Leading Ladies Africa.

The launch of Alpher is in conjunction with Union Bank’s long-standing commitment to improve enterprise and empower women, their businesses and careers.

For New Africa Daily News Abdul Rahman Suagibu Reports,  Africa Correspondent

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