Sterling Bank Reaffirms Commitment to Women Businesses with OneWoman

Sterling Bank has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting women-owned businesses through its women-focused initiative, OneWoman, as it convened a high-level gathering of entrepreneurs, development finance institutions, and key stakeholders at the Funding Her Future Breakfast Dialogue held in Lagos.

Speaking at the event, the Managing Director and Chief Executive of Sterling Bank, Abubakar Suleiman, said the dialogue was designed to drive practical outcomes and collective action among stakeholders.
Suleiman who was represented by the Chief Growth Officer, Edward Ogunmekan, described the forum as a convergence of finance, enterprise, inclusion, and sustainable economic growth, centred on expanding access to meaningful and scalable financing for women-led businesses.

He noted that the bank’s commitment is rooted in the belief that sustainable prosperity is achieved by supporting viable ideas, people, and sectors, a philosophy that informed the creation of the OneWoman initiative.

Stressing the need tp expand access to meaningful finance for women-led businesses in a way that is scalable, sustainable, and commercially sound, he explained that the conversation reflects a long-standing conviction at Sterling that real prosperity is built by backing people, ideas, and sectors with strong potential. This belief, he noted, is what gave rise to the OneWoman initiative.

According to him, OneWoman was created to support women through three key pillars which are capital, capacity, and community. He added that while access to finance is critical, it is only one part of the equation.

“Women-led businesses need the right support systems, the right networks, and the right ecosystem to grow with confidence and scale with resilience,” he said.

Also speaking, the Head of the OneWoman initiative, Ezinne Nwokafor, underscored the urgency of addressing the financing gap faced by women in Nigeria, noting that a large proportion remain excluded from formal credit systems.

She noted that a significant majority of Nigerian women remain excluded from formal credit, with only a small percentage able to access structured financing. Despite improvements in financial inclusion, women continue to face systemic barriers that limit their ability to secure funding.

Nwokafor pointed out that women account for a substantial share of micro, small, and medium enterprises and contribute meaningfully to the economy, yet face a financing gap estimated at $42 billion dollars annually according to the International Finance Corporation.

She also referenced data showing that more than half of women led businesses identify access to finance as a major constraint, while rejection rates for loan applications remain significantly higher for women than for men.

According to her, these challenges are often linked to structural issues such as gaps in asset ownership, social norms, and limited access to financial data and visibility.

Despite these barriers, she emphasised that the opportunity is significant. “Sterling’s OneWoman initiative is positioned to bridge this gap by combining financial solutions, mentorship, capacity building, and community support for women across different stages of their journey,” she said.

She added that in 2025 alone, the initiative gave out N43.9 billion loans to 2,450 female entrepreneurs, trained 6,000 of them, served about 380,000 women across three sectors of career women, women in business and freshers and their vision 2030 is to give out N500 billion loans to one million women across their three sectors.

Also speaking, Divisional Head of Commercial Banking, Akporee Idenedo, reaffirmed the bank’s commitment to addressing the concerns raised during the dialogue. He stressed that building skills and strengthening capacity will remain essential to creating a sustainable ecosystem for women entrepreneurs.

The event brought together voices across sectors to deliberate on strategies for unlocking more inclusive and effective financing pathways for women-led enterprises in Nigeria, with participants emphasising the need to move beyond access to capital and address broader structural challenges limiting women’s economic participation.