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Keystone Bank Women's Economic Empowerment

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On the 5th of July 2021, the Keystone Bank Economic Empowerment Committee was inaugurated by the EXCO of Keystone Bank.

We were given a 3point mandate with which to ensure that our Bank showed exemplary leadership with best practices on gender parity in the workplace and also to showcase our brand as supporting women in the society.

OUR MANDATE is

  • To deliberate and proffer sustainable solutions to Women’s Economic Empowerment issues as it pertains to Keystone bank’s business activities and operations,

  1. Drive initiatives and create gender friendly policies for internal and external customersand

  1. Design the best intervention programs for Women.

We hit the ground running with these and began various projects. Our first project was the mental health matters.

Our choice of mental health as a beginning point was data inspired.

Nigeria ranks 15 globally in the number of suicides per year with over 54million of its population dealing with mental health issues with little or no help. A sizable percentage of the 54million are women.

Our program which held virtually on 13th August and 26th November 2021, was insightful about individual mental health issues affecting women; it taught them how to manage and prioritize their mental health, and provided guide on seeking timely help for mental health issues.

The feedback, so far, has been impressive.

Our second project was a visit to Iyaloja General of Lagos state.

In a bid to spearhead our commitment to women empowerment and for women to be more financially included, we took our initiative to the streets, we took it to the market- we took it to the average woman. Hence our meeting with FolashadeTinubu-Ojo, the Iyaloja General of Lagos state.

Our discussions centered onhow tofinanciallyinclude women by:

  • Providing suitable banking products, partnerships and access to grants for business growth.

  • Capacity building and development with relevant skills required for their personal and business growth

  • Provide marketing opportunities and access to market for business expansion.

  • Partnering to execute financial literacy workshops to upscale the women’s finance knowledge, boost their self-image and ultimately elevate their status towards becoming more independent women and mothers.

In the Iyaloja we found a listening ear and an eager partner for our project. It is a relationship we intend to harness for our mass market as well.

Third Project

Data has been the fulcrum of all our projects, and for our third project we decided to shine the spotlight inwards in order to generate relevant data on how the Bank was perceived by its employees on women empowerment- its strengths and areas of improvements.

To this end, a surveywas carried out to feel the pulse of the female staff of the Bank and these are the highlights:

Survey Outcome

  • The bank’s respect for women was ranked high by91%of our respondents. 71%of female respondents expressed willingness to stay and aspire to executive levels underlining the common knowledge that the Bank’s rewards systemis not gender based.
  • A further 87% of the group acknowledged that female staff were are able to air their professional and personal views in the workplace freely without fear of repercussions.
  • About, 63% of the women, rated the bank highly on both work life balance and its HMO coverage.
  • Some areas of improvement were also highlighted and discussions have commenced resolution of some of the identified concerns.

These are:

Other reviews

  • Provision of crechefor Nursing mothers to be closer to their children while at work.
  • Postpartum Care and awareness for women
  • More mentoring Programs for Women
  • Broader HMO coverage. Particularly concerning Infantsof Unmarried Mothers.
  • More Team Bonding activities in the Work Place, which I believe our colleagues in HR are already working on.

Actually, every one of the concerns raised by our respondents is being treated on its merit and value it portends to the Bank’s employees and by extension, the Bank.

We were able to achieve so much in just over 5months of 2021 because of the outstanding support we received from you, the EXCO, the management and all staff members.

In 2022, we aim to challenge ourselves to greater feats, and this is our outlook.

2022 OUTLOOK

  • Empowering women in Lagos State by giving grants to 100 market women across 57 LCDA in Lagos State.
  • Supporting female farmers with inputs e.g fertilizer soya beans and rice farming in Adamawa and Cross River states.
  • Adopt a woman Initiative
  • Skill acquisition programs for underserved individuals across Nigeria.
  • Personal financial planning seminar ( Internal)
  • Enrollment of identified women on suitable health insurance plans
All of these programs/initiatives will bear the Bank’s brand and further the strategic drive of the Bank towards increasing its mass market share.