AFF Partners Access Bank On Digital Academy For Women

Posted by Eric Ojo Banking & Finance, Featured, Latest Headlines Tuesday, September 7th, 2021

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Africa Fintech Foundry (AFF) has announced its partnership with Access Bank’s ‘W’ Initiative to jointly establish a digital academy solely for women.

The establishment of the female digital school which is aimed at fostering tech diversity, will educate over 500 women to become technology gurus over the next three to five years.

AFF is an Access Bank initiative that aims to nurture, fund and accelerate the growth of Fintech startups in Africa through its mentorship and accelerator programme, fast-tracking their growth and maturity to deliver relevant solutions to the market, providing greater access to financial services to the financially excluded across the continent.

Access Bank ‘W’ Initiative is a one-stop center which encompasses all women empowerment programmes and policies of the bank. Established in July 2014, the initiative is aimed at accelerating a new and stronger wave of hitherto scanty entrepreneurs in Nigeria.

The female-centric digital academy which is open to women between the age of 18 and 35 years, will train and prepare the next generation of technology professionals for the job market, providing them with skills, jobs, internships, mentoring and financial assistance for those in need.

For a modest cost of N25,000 and a 50 percent discount, the 3-month programme offers a wide range of inspiring tech courses such as Mobile Development, Front-end Web Development, Back-end Web Development, Python for Data Science and Machine Learning. Applications for the academy have commenced since September 4th and will be open till October 17th.

Head of AFF, Daniel Awe said the academy allows each participant to choose a module of their choice, equipping them with all the features they would need to assimilate its content fully.

“We are going as far as providing funding, internships and access to top tech Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Managing Directors (MDs) to serve as mentors to the participants”, he said.

Awe also noted that the AFF is dedicated to promoting inclusion and diversity in the technology sector. This, according to him, is why they are consistently championing causes that encourage gender diversity and equip women to penetrate the tech sector successfully.

While stressing the need for diversity and female participation in the tech industry, the Group Head/Coordinator of ‘W’ Initiative at Access Bank, Ayona Trimnell noted that the tech sector has long been known as a male-dominated field.

“Given the critical role that technological innovation plays in varying sectors of the economy, the persistent underrepresentation of women in technology poses a significant economic problem if not addressed. This initiative not only helps combat this gross imbalance but is also particularly timely as the world continues to move towards a digital future”, she further explained