Underwriter empowers 200 female-owned SMEs with digital skills

AXA Mansard, a member of AXA, the global leader in insurance and asset management, has empowered 200 female-managed Small and Medium Enterprises with financial literacy and digital business skills.

In a statement, it disclosed that, in collaboration with SME 100 Africa, a two-day training was held recently in Lagos as part of AXA’s lined-up programmes to commemorate this year’s International Women’s Day.

The Head of Marketing of AXA Mansard, Olusesan Ogunyooye, said, “The training aims to empower female SME owners with skills to improve business output and position them for the increasing economic opportunities available in an increasingly digital marketplace.”

Ogunyooye noted that the move was in line with AXA Mansard’s sustainability agenda, explaining that the company was convinced that support for women through its inclusive protection programmes was pivotal to its purpose of acting for human progress by protecting what matters and its mission of moving from being a payer to a partner.

He furthered that focusing on digital skills is important because the company realises the importance of digital skills to the growth of the SME sector in Nigeria and wants to ensure that women are empowered enough to be a consequential part of that growth.

“It is almost trite to say that SMEs are the engine for economic growth, especially in developing countries like Nigeria, where over 45 million adults are business owners. What needs to be continually discussed is how Nigeria is going to unlock that potential for economic development and how much of that potential will be unlocked by women and for women.

“For us at AXA Mansard, we are aware that digital will play a major role in unlocking these current opportunities and Nigeria’s economic future. So, to ensure that women are equally represented in unlocking these future potentials, that is why we have collaborated with SME 100 Africa to support them in developing the required skills,” he enunciated.

According to Ogunyooye, the firm’s choice of digital and financial literacy skills is deliberate.

“We understand the power of the duo. We understand that helping these SMEs with the skills to attract more customers will be a faster means to empower them.

“We see that they have amazing products and services, but they need to understand how to attract value for themselves by attracting the right customers, and you will agree with me that virtually all customer segments are online in one way or another today,” he added.

 He added that with the empowerment, the firm was helping SMEs to find and attract customers.