In its commitment to continuously provide financial and business skills to female entrepreneurs across the African continent, Access Bank Plc’s Womenpreneur Pitch-a-ton programme announced the winners for 2021 in Lagos, Nigeria on 7 December 2021.
Much to the delight of Access Bank South Africa, one of the newcomers to the growing African banking leader Access Bank Plc, our own Rotondwa Musitha, owner and founder of Trash Converters, took fifth prize in the campaign.
In a virtual ceremony Rotondwa was handed her prize – R19 000 and a brand new website. Access Bank SA’s Acting CEO, Chrisanthi Michaelides, who noted her pride in being part of an organisation dedicated to ensuring female entrepreneurs are given the opportunity to not only participate in economic inclusivity on the continent, but act as role models for the thousands of girls and young women who are inspired by the women who go before them.
Chrisanthi , in congratulating all the finalists and winners, says: “Access Bank is a strong believer in the empowerment of women, hence the Womenpreneur Pitch-A-Ton Programme, to enable women to step into the right leadership roles and, more specifically, assist in accelerating their goals on the African Continent”.
Launched in 2019, the Womenpreneur Pitch-A-Ton Africa was the first women-in-business support initiative of its kind offered by the Access Bank W-Initiative. In its maiden edition, the program provided financial grants worth N9-million (approximately R300 000) to the top five applicants, plus a free mini MBA certification for 50 women entrepreneurs in Nigeria.
Access Bank SA was included in Womenpreneur Pitch-A-Ton Africa for the first time in 2021, with South African businesswomen pitching with peers from Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, Zambia, Sierra-Leone, Gambia, Kenya, Mozambique and Congo.
“We hope to continue to participate in the annual event,” said Chrisanthi , “and to focus on creating contenders of the same high calibre we saw in the Womenpreneur Pitch-A-Ton Africa this year.”