By Dipo Olowookere
Every March 8, the world shuts down for women across the globe for the commemoration of the International Women’s Day (IWD).
This year, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, a financial institution known for placing premium value on women, joined the rest of the world to celebrate the female folks.
At its headquarters in Lagos, the lender marked International Women’s Day with the launch of its women’s proposition platform known as Alpher.
Alpher was unveiled as part of the bank’s annual celebrations to mark the global movement to accelerate gender parity across the world.
Alpher is a platform to ‘enable success’ and empower women across all segments of the Nigerian society through capacity building opportunities, networking platforms, scholarships and tailored financial services for women.
Union Bank also awarded 40 scholarships to women entrepreneurs to build their capacity through the Enterprise & Leadership Program (ELP) organised by China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in partnership with Leading Ladies Africa.
Chief Executive Officer of the financial institution, Mr Emeka Emuwa, members of the Board of Directors and employees were joined by customers and partners to celebrate women and support the push for gender parity.
The event also featured a panel discussion on Accelerating Parity; Challenging the Status Quo’. Panelists included Uchenna Agbo, Founder, TrustVas; Abisoye Ajayi-Akinfolarin, Founder, Pearls Africa Youth Foundation and CNN Hero; Francesca Uriri, Founder, Leading Ladies Africa and ZeeZee Ihe-Okuneye, marriage and relationship counsellor.
Speaking concerning the Alpher launch and IWD celebrations, Mr Emuwa said, “I am especially pleased that we are unveiling Union Bank’s proposition for women.
“We are excited about the platform we have developed to support and enable success for women across board. I personally believe that the world, especially Nigeria, would be a much better place if it is balanced and women have full agency to be all that they can be.”
In past years, Union Bank has used the IWD platform to highlight its commitment to women’s causes including the launch of its women community WeHub in 2016 and the live performance of the women’s advocacy play ‘Hear Word’ in 2018.
Modupe Gbadeyanka 
Aduragbemi Omiyale