Participants at a High Tea event to inspire, connect and empower women, have hailed Access Bank for its continued commitment to women empowerment.
The conference curated for Access Bank under its flagship women initiative ‘W’, brought together reputable female thought leaders from various industries and professional fields including finance, entrepreneurship, academia, and technology to foster conversations around gender equality, technology, and innovation. Organized in partnership with The Fitzgerald and Curate Mktg, the event also provided opportunities for networking and mentorship.
Moderating the panel discussion on the topic the ‘Future is Women: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equity’, ace media personality, Kokui Selormey Hanson, guided the panel to offer insights on how women can take leading positions in society leveraging technology and innovation among other skills set.
The Executive Director for Retail and Digital Banking at Access Bank, Pearl Nkrumah, spoke on the importance of partnerships and collaboration to enable women owned businesses to thrive.
She said, women businesses must always focus on the bigger picture and learn to tell their stories using technology to access the best interventions from financial institutions. “Be proactive, deliberate, and intentional about telling your story for a favorable disposition to attract the needed funding for growth” she told the audience.
The CEO for the MasterCard Foundation Rosie Fynn speaking on soft skills women need to excel in male dominated sectors, highlighted resilience and excellent communication skills both written and oral. She encouraged women, especially the young ones, to build exceptional work ethics, explaining that investing in themselves, is critical to positioning women to attain equity.
Other panel members including Angela Mensah Poku, Director for Commercial and Digital Transformation at Vodafone and Audrey Swatson, the youngest Ghanaian female pilot, took turns in sharing key tips to help women to make meaningful impact in society. Among others, they touched on Emotional Intelligence, Mentorship, Access to information, Utilizing Innovation and Technology as critical success factors for women’s advancement.
Commissioner of Police (COP) Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, Executive Director of Economic and Organized Crime Office shared precious moments of her career life as the first highest female ranked police officer in Ghana, during the exciting fireside chat moderated by seasoned journalist and media personality, Naa Ashorkor Doku-Mensah.
COP Addo-Danquah stressed the importance of planning, relying on available support systems, time management, creating opportunities for others and depending on available talents as building blocks for her career advancement. “You cannot get to the top if you want to be in your comfort zone. You need to stand tall by doing more, by going the extra mile to get your work done properly.”
In her closing remarks, the Group Head of Retail Banking at Access Bank, Matilda Asante-Asiedu, acknowledged the significant role and contributions women make towards Ghana’s economy and was optimistic the connections and networks generated at the event will lead to fruitful relationships and partnerships. She explained that Access Bank has tailored lifestyle products and services to meet the needs of women.
“The High Tea event has brought together women from different facets of life, to connect, inspire, build new networks, and entrench existing ones to meet the needs of women. We are dedicated to supporting women as a bank because we believe women have great potential which can be beneficial to all when harnessed. We have put together solutions and propositions that cut across the various stages of women’s lives to support them, so they make more impactful contributions to their families, communities, and the nation at large.
The W Initiative inspires, connects, and empowers women to be resilient through four main propositions namely W in Business, W Quintessential, W in Tech and Maternal Health Support Scheme (MHSS). W is functional in eleven African countries where Access Bank is operational and remains the home of all that the bank offers women.
