Wema Bank has said that its targets for the credit facility agreement worth $50m from the ECOWAS Bank for investment and development are women and the agricultural sector.
The Managing Director of Wema Bank, Rufai Oseni, made the disclosure at the signing ceremony held in Lome, Togo.
“Banking without impact or value is nothing, which is why we continue to find new ways to positively impact the lives of our customers and our society. Our mission is to empower lives through innovation, and over the years, we have developed innovative ways to achieve it. With each solution, partnership, and initiative, we have evolved into a multifarious support system and enabler across different areas of the national ecosystem and through this partnership, more lives and businesses will be impacted nationwide,” Oseni stated.
Shedding light on the allocation strategy for the facility, the Wema bank boss said, “This credit facility is targeted for impact across two major areas—women and agriculture. Beyond creating women-specific solutions, we are critically acclaimed for supporting women and female businesses nationwide and now, we can take our impact to greater heights. It is a personal philosophy of mine that any society that fails to empower women is flying on one wing, so we will not leave anyone behind on this journey of positive impact. Food is another area that can make or break an economy; a country where the majority can feed comfortably has solved a chunk of its problems. With this facility, we will intensify our efforts and multiply our impact across these two sectors towards the creation of a better life for all.”
Speaking, the President/Chairman of the Board of Directors at ECOWAS, George Donkor,emphasised the importance of women’s empowerment and the need to continue providing actors in the agricultural sector with resources to enhance produce, add value to the ecosystem and increase trade returns for socio-economic growth and development.
Acknowledging Wema Bank’s role in driving the Nigerian economy, he further highlighted the impact of the credit facility on driving the Sustainable Development Goals.
“It also aligns with SDGs 5 and 2. SDG 2 talks about the fact that we should ensure food security in the subregions and of course the entire world, and SDG 5 talks about gender equality,” Donkor said
