Union Bank Supports LEAD Camp, Empower 50 Girls

Union Bank of Nigeria has indicated its commitment to the Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN) initiate tagged Leadership, Empowerment, Achievement, and Development Camp (LEAD Camp). At least 50 girls are expected to participate in the 6th edition and 2016 programme in Nigeria.

The 50 girls drawn across various regions of Nigeria in public and private schools will be given the opportunity to learn from seasoned industry practitioners in leadership, media and economy amongst other segment of the life.
This year programme kicked off this week in Lagos and will last till tomorrow.

According to the Director of in-school Programmes, Adaeze Oputa, the mission pf LEAD Camp is to empower and inspire young girls to becoming high-achieving women leaders. This addresses social development goal (SDG) 5, which talks about gender equality and empowerment of women and girls.

The participants are taken through series of activities administered by HOD Consulting and supported by leading women from the private and public sectors in Nigeria serving as mentors.

Oputa said, the majority of participants, who come various parts of the country are public school students who may never get this kind of opportunity in their lives. “We are grateful to Union Bank and HOD Consulting for making this possible and to our list of inspiring speakers who have been generous with their time.”

On the 6th edition of the programme, the Chief Executive Officer of HOD Consulting/Founding Executive Director of JAN, Mrs. Simi Sanni Nwogugu said. “I developed LEAD Camp back in 2001 because, after two years of running JAN, I noticed that some of the girls who were shy or timid at the beginning of the company programme, were more confident by the end and needed just a little more encouragement to secure their new found leadership skills.”

According to her, now 15 years later, “I am proud to support LEAD Camp again with some of our best leadership development workshops at HOD Consulting”

Speaking on the Bank support of the initiative, the Managing Director of Union Bank Plc, Emeka Emuwa stated that developing and grooming young talent is a key focus area for the Bank. “The LEAD programme provides an opportunity for us to nurture and encourage an entrepreneurial mindset in these 50 young women who we hope will be the corporate leaders of tomorrow” he added.

Corroborating the Union Bank’s MD position, the Bank Head of Group Corporate Strategy, Mrs. Lola Cardoso who will also be providing first hand training for these giorls camp said, “this programme was particularly attractive to us because Union Bank recently launched WeHub, our internal women’s network, to do precisely what LEAD programme does for these young women for our women within the Bank.

With this synergy and alignment of purpose, we felt that we were well positioned to support the programme, not only financially but also through direct mentorship and personal development. We plan to be involved and active in the community change projects, which the girls will undertake after the LEAD camp is over, with our women employees across the country supporting the girls in their local communities,” she add.