Sterling Bank, Afrigrants celebrate financial inclusion week with market women’s quick cash

AS the world celebrates Financial Inclusion Week, Sterling Bank Plc and Afrigrants Resources Limited have come up with an initiative called Market Women Quick Cash.

The initiative was designed to promote financial inclusion and empowerment especially among women micro entrepreneurs as well as facilitate a platform for them to build capacity for enhanced business growth.

It will be recalled that the Market Women’s Quick Cash was officially launched in Kaduna last week with the goal of reaching one million women in three years working through diverse collaborations and partnerships. The initiative will also build the confidence of the women at the micro level and position them to access more financial services and mentorship.

Ms. Ekiyor, in an interview with reporters in Lagos, noted that the initiative would empower women, promote gender-equity and improve household well-being; and further reduce the number of the un-banked in the country.

“Women are the most financially excluded in Nigeria. The situation is worse for petty traders, small-holder farmers and micro entrepreneurs. Afrigrants Resources designed Market Women’s Quick Cash as an innovative solution that addresses the three main factors that contribute to women’s financial exclusion; collateral requirements; financial illiteracy and distance of financial services. Therefore, the Market Women’s Quick Cash product aims to bridge the financing gap that currently exists in the micro-enterprise sector in Nigeria, particularly for women’s enterprises that predominantly operate in the informal sector.”

She added that the solution brings banking to women where they conduct business, socialize, and network.

It provides access to financing to women through a ‘single digit interest rate, zero collateral’ informal financing scheme that operates on limited bureaucracy with user-friendly ‘quick’ application processes. A revolving fund has been created to enable more women participate in the scheme.