{"id":18246,"date":"2025-11-02T18:27:39","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T18:27:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phmundial.com\/?p=18246"},"modified":"2025-11-02T18:27:39","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T18:27:39","slug":"firstbank-empowers-over-100-women-in-south-south","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deepstrataenergy.com\/phmundial\/2025\/11\/02\/firstbank-empowers-over-100-women-in-south-south\/","title":{"rendered":"FirstBank Empowers Over 100 Women In South South\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<div dir=\"auto\">Emma Sunday<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The FirstBank of Nigeria, as part of it&#8217;s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), has in partnership with Olyrose Care Foundation empowered\u00a0over 100 women from the South South region.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The women who were trained in various vocational skills were presented with business equipments such as; sewing machines, cooking items (pots, gas cylinders, frying pans, etc.) fully equipped make-up box with ring lights, and hair dressing equipments to support their newly acquired skills and businesses.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Presenting the items to the beneficiaries, Mrs Uchenna Onwudiwe, Group Head, Commercial Banking of FirstBank in South South III, Mrs. Uchenna Onwudiwe, said the initiative was part of activities marking the institution&#8217;s 2025 Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability Week.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Onwudiwe explained that the initiative was designed to equip the women with practical vocational skills that promotes self-reliance and economic empowerment.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">She added that the gesture is a testament of bank&#8217;s position as a socially responsible institution dedicated to economic empowerment, sustainable development, and inclusion.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">Describing the event as one that celebrates the strength, resilience, and entrepreneurial spirit of women in the society, she said, &#8220;Today&#8217;s event is not just an event, but a reaffirmation of our commitment to empowering women and fostering inclusive growth across Nigeria.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">&#8220;At FirstBank, we believe that women are central to nation-building. When you empower a woman, you empower a family, a community, and a generation. This belief underpins our deliberate investment in initiatives that enhance women&#8217;s access to finance, skills, and opportunities to thrive.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">&#8220;Through this empowerment programme, we are providing business equipment and tools to support women who aspire to start or strengthen their enterprises. We are here to ignite hope, stimulate growth, and unlock the potential that already exists within every woman present today.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">She explained that the initiative aligns with FirstBank&#8217;s flagship women-focused product tagged; &#8220;FirstGem,&#8221; designed to promote financial inclusion, independence, and literacy among women.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">&#8220;FirstGem is not just a savings product; it is a lifestyle platform that helps women build wealth, access financial education, and benefit from business advisory and networking opportunities. It is one of the many ways we continue to walk the talk in our commitment to women&#8217;s empowerment.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">&#8220;The theme for this year, &#8220;SPARK&#8230; A Way of Life,&#8221; challenges each of us to start performing acts of random kindness. Today&#8217;s empowerment effort is one such act &#8211; a collective expression of compassion and commitment to creating lasting change.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">&#8220;Over the years, our CR&amp;S Week has enabled us to touch lives in orphanages, schools, healthcare centres, and local communities across Nigeria and beyond. We have continued to champion social impact by empowering youth, supporting the vulnerable, protecting our environment, and driving inclusion through targeted interventions such as this.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">&#8220;As we empower these women today, we are not only giving tools but restoring hope, promoting dignity, and strengthening the economic fabric of our society.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">She advised the beneficiaries to focus on their businesses and ensure it grows to help them and their families. She used the medium to call on all stakeholders, government agencies, community leaders, and corporate partners to continue supporting initiatives that promote gender equality and women&#8217;s empowerment.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">David Ojukwu, Manager of Olyrose Care Foundation, said the beneficiaries were trained in skills such as; hair dressing, makeup and artistry, catering, fashion and designing, and cosmetics, etc.<\/div>\n<p>He reiterated the foundation&#8217;s commitment to lifting people from poverty and making them stand on their own and become entrepreneurs and independent in life. He <span style=\"color: #1c1e23; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, 'segoe ui', roboto, 'helvetica neue', 'noto sans', 'liberation sans', arial, sans-serif, 'apple color emoji', 'segoe ui emoji', 'segoe ui symbol', 'noto color emoji';\">commended FirstBank for the initiative, noting that their partnership with HolyRose Care Foundation was informed by their determination to impact the society through women empowerment. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;OlyRose Care Foundation\u00a0was primarily established to alleviate poverty, to make things better for people in our society.\u00a0And we&#8217;ve embarked on programs like this within and outside Rivers State over and over again,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">&#8220;This time around, we have looked at River State and we have discovered that there are a lot of things that women can do if they are properly empowered. And that has informed us to partner with First Bank and see how we can help, train and empower all of you here so that we can make life better for you and your households.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">He urged the women to make judicious use of the opportunity made available to them. &#8220;You have received the training. So, I advise and admonish us to, whatever you have been trained and you are now empowered, that you go into that trade and make life better for yourself and for your family.&#8221;<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Emma Sunday The FirstBank of Nigeria, as part of it&#8217;s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), has in partnership with Olyrose Care Foundation empowered\u00a0over 100 women from the South South region. The women who were trained in various vocational skills were presented with business equipments such as; sewing machines, cooking items (pots, gas cylinders, frying pans, etc.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,31,516],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","category-news","category-niger-delta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deepstrataenergy.com\/phmundial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deepstrataenergy.com\/phmundial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deepstrataenergy.com\/phmundial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deepstrataenergy.com\/phmundial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deepstrataenergy.com\/phmundial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/deepstrataenergy.com\/phmundial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deepstrataenergy.com\/phmundial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deepstrataenergy.com\/phmundial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deepstrataenergy.com\/phmundial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deepstrataenergy.com\/phmundial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}