The Head of Digital and Innovation at Stanbic Bank Ghana, Estelle Asare, has advised young women to take advantage of technology to grow their businesses.

She said this at the Women in Business 2023 Roundtable event held at the SBIncubator, one of the bank’s 2023 IWD activities.

Speaking on the importance of digitization to business growth, Estelle Asare said "as women, let’s look beyond the challenges our businesses may be going through and have a solution-mindset to enhance our digital competencies. We need to take advantage of the available technologies to grow our businesses".

"Customers want a frictionless experience in accessing your service and you can leverage a world of untapped resources through digital. This will allow you to grow your business and give you a needed advantage in your industry", she added.

Mrs. Asare also shared that the event formed part of the bank’s commitment to fostering national growth through women empowerment. 

She mentioned “at Stanbic Bank, we say Ghana is our home and we drive her growth.  That growth is possible when we as women harness the power of digital. That is why at Stanbic Bank we are constantly investing in projects that provide young girls and women across the nation with access to the skills and training they need in the area of digitalization".

"There are a lot of women who are SME owners and we believe that if SMEs succeed, the economy succeeds, since they are the backbone of the economy. Therefore in order to successfully drive national growth we must invest in ensuring that there is equal access to innovation and technology across both genders", Estelle Asare added.

Held in partnership with Ashesi Entrepreneurship Center, the Women in Business Roundtable was under the theme ‘DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality’.

The panelists for the discussion were Renee Q. Boateng, Personal Branding Consultant; Amanda D. Akushie, Lead Consultant and Founder of Nilee Consult and Jemila Abdulai, Head, Digital and eCommerce, Stanbic Bank Ghana. They were joined by Odelia Ofori, CEO, SNB Group and Mabel Simpson, CEO mSimps.

The session was held to equip young female entrepreneurs with the tools and skills they need to succeed in the world of business.

Ben Mensah, Head, Consumer High Net Worth at Stanbic Bank took the opportunity to congratulate the leaders and female staff of Stanbic Bank for their contribution to the growth of the bank.

He said “Stanbic Bank is a bank that champions diversity in every area. We are proud to have strong women as leaders who work daily to ensure that our business goes on smoothly. At Stanbic we are committed to actually supporting women and not paying lip service rather we put in the actual work to empowering women to reach for their dreams.”

Stanbic Bank Ghana has partnered many academic institutions and FinTechs to deliver a number of STEM-related projects.

Last year, the bank partnered with WiSTEM (Women in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) to organize a 5-day training camp for young girls from secondary schools across in STEM.

It also partnered with Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA) to launch the Women Entrepreneurship Workshop at the Stanbic Business Incubator in Accra. The two-day workshop was designed to provide female owners of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) with the necessary tools and knowledge to grow their businesses.