First Bank of Nigeria Ltd has partnered with the Eloy Foundation to empower female business owners across the country.
The partnership, which gave birth to Eloy Foundation Business Shower, will see female entrepreneurs get support on their journey to building sustainable businesses.
The support from FirstBank will be carried out through the FirstGem loan scheme designed for female-owned or partnered MSMEs and its SMEConnect initiative.
The partnership focuses on key sectors of the economy and designed to have female entrepreneurs exposed to essential business skills like training, networking and the Eloy Foundation Business Toolkit, a compilation of business survival skills nuggets. The business shower will avail businesses a platform to pitch their ideas to win seed grants and join the Eloy Foundation Sustainable Empowerment Programme 2022. Participants will also be able to access the FirstGem single digit loan, where eligible.
The Eloy Foundation Business Shower will hold in five locations across the country. Kicking off in Lagos on June 23, the train moves to Port Harcourt on June 25, then Abuja on June 30. Kano and Abia will host female business owners on July 2 and 7 respectively.
According to Tewa Onasanya, founder of the Eloy Awards Foundation, “It is not just enough to talk about empowering business owners, it is very important to sustain empowerment by providing guidance towards their business progress and giving them access to different resources to help them continue to thrive. MSMEs are the backbone of any nation and there is a great need to sustain this chain of the economy. It is on this common ground that FirstBank has partnered with the ELOY Team to contribute meaningfully in empowering women to achieve fulfilment in their chosen business endeavours.“
Speaking on the partnership, FirstBank’s head of communications Folake An-Mumuney said, “We commend ELOY Foundation for their efforts on this initiative as the continued strengthening and inclusiveness of female driven business endeavours is essential to the growth of the national economy. We are happy to partner with ELOY Foundation on its Business Shower. Together, we will drive the entrepreneurial viability of participants and expose them to business nuggets that will take their business to the next level.”
Registration is currently ongoing for the business shower here.
Female business owners are encouraged to send in their business pitch video and business plan for a spot on the Eloy Foundation Sustainable Empowerment Programme and a chance to win a grant for their business.
