Sterling Bank, PAYF Partner to Empower Rural Girls

Sterling Bank, PAYF Partner to Empower Rural Girls

Olaoluwakitan Babatunde

Sterling Bank Plc, has collaborated with Pearls African Youth Foundation (PAYF) to organize the Girls in Tech Festival; an annual event designed to celebrate the contribution of African Women/Girls in Technology.

The leading commercial bank has sponsored 30 students from the Makoko/Yaba axis in Lagos to take part in the festival which will hold at the Girls Coding school built by Pearls Africa and a graduation ceremony will take place three months after the induction ceremony.

Addressing the girls at the induction ceremony in Lagos recently, Mr. Raheem Owodeyi, Sterling Bank’s Executive Director of Operations & Servicesurged the inductees to pay attention to their lessons during the training so that they can improve on their potential to achieve greatness in life.

Owodeyi urged the young girls to take the training seriously and not allow the environment in which they grew up limit their ambition in life. He added that the training aligns with Sterling Bank’s vision to enrich lives of the people in its immediate community.

Also speaking at the ceremony, Ms. Temi Dalley, Chief Human Resources Officer, Sterling Bank, remarked that one of the things that always keep her awake at night is the plight of the girl-child. She likened girls to diamonds in the mud which can only glitter after the mud is removed. She told the girls to open their eyes so that they will be able to see the potential inherent in them.

“Never give up yourselves easily to men but be yourselves, guide your potential jealously. Be authentic and continue to push yourselves to be better and better. Be a stronger woman to raise a strong woman to bless her generation and impact her world,” she said.

Addressing the mothers, Dalley urged them to see their daughters as princesses and to make them feel as such while also believing in them.

Mr. Ebenezer Ahisu;representing the Chief Digital Officer of Sterling Bank, who spoke on “Transforming Your World Through Technology” at the ceremony, noted that the bank is keen to change the narrative ofhaving few ladies in the information technology terrain.

According to him, there is a need to change the ratio of female to male graduates in information technology because most times, it is not unusual to see only one female out of 10 graduating students in information technology in schools.

Saying the only thing that is constant in life is change, Ahisu noted that the total number of data that has been generated in the last three years is more than that which was generated about a decade ago. “We want you to generate data to improve our lives and we are using data to improve the health and transportation sectors of the economy.” He promised the girls that Sterling Bank will expose them to the possibilities that exist in the information technology space.

Mrs. Lillian Idowu, Head of Operations, PAYF, acknowledged that the opportunity Sterling Bank gave to the girls to learn computer coding was a rare one and thanked the bank for the gesture.

She, however, asked for the continued support of the bank by looking at what is possible. She told the girls not to allow their backgrounds limitthem, saying that beauty is in the mind and not on the face.  

Idowu asked each of the girls to see themselves as “the next big thing.”

A five-woman panel made up of Oluchi Enebeli, Block chain and Software Developer; Linda Chiawa, Business Relationship Manager, Technology Group; Gbemisola Abijo, Product Designer; Emmanuella Oruche, Executive Assistant to the CEO and Foyin Olajide-Bello, Technical Project Manager (all of Sterling Bank), discussed how they were able to make it to the top in information technology despite the odds stacked against them initially.

Pearls Africa Foundation is a social enterprise, founded by Abisoye Ajayi-Akinfolarin to promote the cause and advancement of young girls and women with more focus on vulnerable young girls living in under-served communities through training in technology, skills acquisition, entrepreneurship, mentorship and internship placements.

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