Keystone Bank Unveils Product for Women Empowerment

President/Chairman of Council, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Mrs. ‘Debola Osibogun

Women participation in small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria has received an inspiring and creative boost from Keystone Bank Limited, as the bank recently unveiled the ‘Pink Network,’ an initiative for women entrepreneurs and professionals to share business ideas and interact.

Speaking during the premiere interactive session held in Lagos,the President/Chairman of Council, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Mrs. ‘Debola Osibogun said:  “Keystone Bank Limited has creatively set up this platform to cater for the dreams and aspirations of women SMEs and the professional working class women.”

While commending the bank, the CIBN President also said “This initiative, beyond supporting the Central Bank’s Financial Inclusion Policy, would also solve some of the challenges built around markets and infrastructure that SMEs face.”

In his remarks at the event, the Managing Director/CEO, Keystone Bank, Mr. Philip Ikeazor said the product offers opportunities of financing women ventures in “agriculture, technology, education, hospitality and tourism, media and entertainment, professional services and advisory. Once it is a small and medium scale venture, the possibilities are endless.”

According to Ikeazor, a lot has been written about women, from girls in their teens, to women in middle ages, from student entrepreneurs, to mom entrepreneurs, from women who quit their job to start a business, to women who were made redundant and so started a business,

“I strongly believe that the Pink Network can offer a platform for the success story that every woman entrepreneur needs to make an impact to family, friends and the community at large. We want that when you tell your success story as a creator, a businesswoman, an entrepreneur and that it is a PINK story.”

Keystone Bank’s Executive Director in charge of Operations and Technology, Mrs. Yvonne Isichei spoke about the motive behind starting the Pink Network: “We were inspired to build this platform for women from our vision of creating utmost value for our stakeholders and our mission of being the preferred partner.

Culled from: http://www.thisdaylive.com