In
its bid to demonstrate increased commitment towards promoting financial
inclusion and women empowerment, Nigeria’s retail lender, Unity Bank Plc
has launched Yanga Account, a new retail product designed to deepen
beneficial impact on Micro Small and Medium Enterprises, MSMEs operated by
women in the mass market retail space.
As a product targeted to boost the Nigerian women
entrepreneurs, the initiative was intended to create Yanga Experience, from
promoting the business, capacity building to health insurance scheme for Yanga
Account holders.
A statement by the Bank said that the benefits for
signing up to Yanga Account are summed up as ‘The Yanga Experience’.
This means that as we target every woman in the mass-market retail space, the Yanga
account holders will enjoy many benefits including stress-free savings and
investment, access to the services of dedicated Sales Agents, Agency Banking
services close to the location of their businesses, special business seminar
and training on how to grow business, access to microloans, customized debit
cards and other bundled e-banking products.
Speaking at the launch of the product in Abuja on
Tuesday, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Unity Bank Plc, Mrs.
Tomi Somefun stated the “Yanga Account is being launched as a bold attempt to
directly cater to women and their respective businesses.”
The Unity Bank Boss, therefore, asserted that the
Account “is open to all market women in farming, fashion design, tailoring,
frozen food, pastry and baking, cosmetics, jewellery designs and making,
skincare, eateries and restaurants, etc. whether living in the communities or
cities.”
“Yanga Account is
conceived and designed for the financial literacy and empowerment of Nigerian
women. It is about making sure that our women who make up 55% of the
financially excluded Nigerians have access to basic and life-changing financial
services.”
Recent research by Enhancing Financial Innovation
& Access (EFInA) has shown that “Women need economic opportunities if
countries are to realize the full potential of their human capital. Financial
inclusion can benefit individuals, families, and businesses, supporting key
outcomes such as GDP growth”.
Speaking further, Somefun said: “The Yanga account
will also be incorporating an affordable Health insurance scheme not only as a
part of the product bouquet underpinning the Bank’s belief in health and
wellness which translate to wealth creation but also to drive insurance
penetration which is presently at 2% in Nigeria. We, therefore, believe that
this will provide essential ingredients to growing a business as well as adding
greater value for Yanga account holders.
“At Unity Bank, through products like Yanga
Account, we continue to align with the vision of the Central Bank of Nigerian and
the financial services ecosystem to provide needed support for Nigerian women
by enhancing access to wealth-creating opportunities in the financial services
sector”.
Also, speaking, Group Head, Retail, SME Banking and
E-Business, Unity Bank Plc, Mr. Funwa Akinmade said: “the
official launch of the Yanga Account is an extremely important step for us as a
Bank because it is one step that brings our services closer to Nigerian women
as Unity Bank makes the efforts to further expand its retail footprints in the
market.
“At Unity Bank Plc, we have devoted
the past few years to constantly innovating with banking solutions to enable us
to drive more financial inclusiveness in different market segments, but the
Yanga Account is introduced as a bold attempt to directly cater to women and
their respective businesses.
“Unity Yanga is a well-packaged banking product
that combines several services that most small businesses owned by women will
need to become profitable. We are optimistic that Nigerian women will embrace
the Yanga Account and leverage its full benefits to grow their
businesses.”
No comments:
Post a Comment