By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The sum of N11 million has been won by at least 131 women in the 5 for 5 promo of Wema Bank Plc at a highly anticipated women’s month draw held on Friday, March 21, 2025, in Aba, Nigeria.

Among the winners were Ogechukwu Patience Ani from Aba, Vanessa Chiamaka Ogbonna from Lagos and Mubarakaht Abisola Alowonle from Bodija, Ibadan, all of whom won N1 million.

Others included eight individual domiciliary account holders who won N250,000 each, 40 women who won 100,000 each and 80 who won N25,000 each.

The women’s month draw closed out excellently, financially empowering Nigerian women from across the country as the women’s month draws to an end.

“Wema Bank was founded on the precept of empowerment. Since 1945, we have carried on this legacy, promoting financial inclusion for the indigenous people of Nigeria and empowering our people with the resources they need to thrive. But for us, this journey has not been a one size fits all,” the chief executive of Wema Bank, Mr Moruf Oseni, stated.

“In recognition of the gap that exists in gender equality, we have been intentional about creating tailored opportunities for women through our women-focused proposition, SARA by Wema, and our vast range of customised solutions and initiatives designed for women.

“We have simply leveraged the 5 for 5 Promo as one more way of supporting our women this women’s month. For us, it’s all about impact, and we are delighted to have put smiles on the faces of Nigerian women from all across the country. That is the joy for us,” he added.

“To the 131 women who emerged winners, I say hearty congratulations to you, and I take this opportunity to also thank you for choosing Wema Bank and continuing to trust our services. We do not take it for granted.

“For 80 years, we have pulled all stops to deliver the best quality of impactful banking to the people of Nigeria, and I boldly reaffirm that we will never relent in providing a rewarding, fulfilling and empowering banking experience for every customer of Wema Bank,” Mr Oseni concluded.

Introduced in 2021, the 5 for 5 promo is Wema Bank’s dedicated avenue for rewarding its customers for their active loyalty to the brand, its products, and its offerings.

For 3 seasons, the lender has disbursed over N150 million to 2,378 Nigerians across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria, returning bigger than ever for season 4 with a N135 million cash prize.

Since the season kicked off in October 2024, Wema Bank has disbursed over N50 million to its customers across daily, weekly and monthly draws.

For the 5th monthly draw in March, the bank took a thoughtful step, disbursing the total N11 million cash prize to an all-women pool of winners.

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Some business owners into exportation in Nigeria recently gathered in for a 5-day intensive program focused on equipping entrepreneurs with the skills and knowledge needed to explore international market opportunities and strengthen their capacity to thrive in the export sector.

Fidelity Bank Plc organised the training in collaboration with the Lagos Business School (LBS) under the Export Management Programme (EMP 18).

The initiative provided an opportunity for participants to scale and acquire relevant expertise to succeed in the non-oil export business.

Facilitated by key industry experts in the exports space, EMP 18 took participants through several sessions focused on critical areas in global trade such as Export Finance Instruments, Export Documentation, and Accessibility of Export Markets, amongst others.

A key feature of the training was a facility tour of one of Nigeria’s busiest Export Processing Terminals (EPT) located in Ikorodu, Lagos state. The full-day visit, which was anchored by officials of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), gave participants a first-hand feel of the necessary procedure and requirements for securing regulatory approval for exporting from Nigeria.

One of the participants, Mr Patrick Ulayi Awu-Patricks, the chief executive of Alliance & Frontier Limited, commended Fidelity Bank for its leadership in deploying capacity-building initiatives in the non-oil exports sector.

In a discussion with journalists, he stated that EMP 18 provided invaluable exposure to the opportunities in the export business, noting, “There are lots of non-oil export opportunities, and entrepreneurs must be able to identify and capitalize on these to play effectively in the international trade space. This course has given me insights into the power of data, which is essential for strategic decision-making.”

Also, the Divisional Head of Export and Agriculture at Fidelity Bank, Mr Isaiah Ndukwe, said, “At Fidelity Bank, our strategy to enhance non-oil exports is guided by the significant opportunities it offers to our customers and the national economy. This is why we offer a comprehensive suite of financial, advisory, and market-access solutions for businesses aiming to engage in international trade.

“Our market-access initiative, EMP, launched in 2016, has trained over 1,600 entrepreneurs. Today, we completed the 18th cohort with high-calibre participants and a 150 per cent oversubscription. This indicates a promising future for Nigeria’s non-oil exports.”

By Adedapo Adesanya

One of Nigeria’s shining fintechs, Paystack, has forayed into the personal banking space with the launch of Zap.

The firm is betting on making transfers easy and faster as it makes a shift into consumers after primarily serving businesses.

“Zap is a consumer app for instant, secure payments through bank transfers. Built on the same trusted infrastructure that powers millions of transactions daily,” the company tweeted on X.

According to the chief executive of the firm, Mr Shola Akinlade, during the launch on Monday, the product allows users to send money to any Nigerian bank account within 10 – 30 seconds.

Customers can fund their Zap account by linking their Nigerian bank accounts to Zap using Paystack’s direct debit infrastructure or depositing money directly into a Paystack-Titan account.

According to him, transfers have become a feature of daily life and delays can be frustrating.

So the new app will be solely focusing on transfers and for now, won’t include other services like airtime and data recharge or electricity token payments.

Business Post gathered that the company is banking on its relationship with Titan Trust to make it possible for Zap to hold deposits.

However, the app is limited to only commercial bank accounts which can be linked through Paystack Vault. So account numbers like like OPay, PalmPay, and Moniepoint are excluded from the list of supported institutions.

Users can also link debit or credit cards from any country to Zap.

Customers can only send or deposit money on the app after completing know-your-customer (KYC) checks. Tier-1 users, who verify with only their Bank Verification Number (BVN), can send up to N50,000 daily and maintain a maximum balance of N200,000.

For Tier-2 users, who must provide a selfie, physical address, and National Identification Number (NIN), the limits rise to N200,000 daily and N500,000 maximum balance. Tier-3 users can send up to N5 million daily and hold up to N100 million in their accounts after verifying their address.

In a product test, our correspondent tested the service and found that users can only be onboarded using an invitation code, which has been considered a method of making it effective to spread the app.

Although it has a very fast transfer mechanism, users question whether it will be able to offer proper incentives like its older and previously established competitors.