Union Bank’s Alpher Empowers 98 Women Entrepreneurs with Skills, Mentorship, Funding

Union Bank of Nigeria, through its women-focused proposition, alpher, has empowered 98 female entrepreneurs with business development skills, mentorship and access to funding under the Fearless Female Founders (FFF) 2.0 Accelerator Programme.

The initiative, implemented in partnership with Zuri Circle Network (ZCN), was designed to address some of the key barriers confronting women-owned businesses in Nigeria, particularly limited access to finance, business knowledge, mentorship and networks required to achieve sustainable growth.

The programme attracted 2,810 applications from female entrepreneurs across Nigeria, demonstrating the growing interest among women in entrepreneurship and the demand for structured support to build and scale businesses.

Following a rigorous selection process, 98 founders were chosen to participate in the accelerator. The screening included business verification and compliance checks, with applicants assessed on factors including business registration, operational viability and financial record-keeping.

The selection process was intended to ensure that participating businesses had demonstrated potential for sustainable growth and were sufficiently prepared to benefit from investment and structured business support.

At the conclusion of the programme, Union Bank also awarded grants to five women-led businesses that emerged as winners of the final pitch presentation.

The Fearless Female Founders 2.0 Accelerator was established to identify promising women-owned businesses and provide them with practical tools to strengthen their operations, improve their financial management systems, enhance competitiveness and prepare for expansion.

The participating businesses reflected the breadth of Nigeria’s entrepreneurial landscape, with founders operating across sectors including agriculture, fashion, food production, technology, manufacturing, retail and professional services.

Throughout the programme, the entrepreneurs received structured capacity-building and mentorship designed to address practical challenges associated with running and expanding a business.

The support focused on strengthening participants’ business capabilities, improving their understanding of financial management and accountability, and helping them develop enterprises capable of attracting investment and sustaining long-term growth.

Speaking on the partnership, Head of Retail Banking at Union Bank of Nigeria, Vivian Imoh-Itah, said the bank remained committed to creating opportunities for women to achieve greater personal, professional and financial success.

She said the collaboration with Zuri Circle Network was part of alpher’s deliberate strategy to provide women entrepreneurs with more than conventional financial services.

“Through alpher, Union Bank remains committed to creating meaningful opportunities for women to thrive personally, professionally, and financially. Our partnership with Zuri Circle Network on the Fearless Female Founders 2.0 Accelerator reflects our deliberate focus on supporting women entrepreneurs with the tools, networks, knowledge, and financial access they require to build sustainable businesses,” Imoh-Itah said.

She added that supporting women-owned enterprises could have wider implications for Nigeria’s economy through increased employment, enterprise development and financial inclusion.

“By investing in enterprises owned by women, we are not only empowering individual founders but also contributing to economic growth, job creation, and greater financial inclusion across Nigeria,” she said.

The initiative comes against the backdrop of persistent challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in accessing formal finance and business expansion opportunities.

Although women play a significant role in Nigeria’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, many female business owners continue to encounter obstacles when seeking capital, developing formal financial records, accessing business networks and transitioning from small-scale operations to more structured enterprises.

For many women-owned businesses, limited access to affordable capital can constrain their ability to purchase equipment, increase production, hire workers, develop new products or enter new markets.

The alpher-Zuri Circle Network partnership is therefore aimed at addressing some of these constraints by combining capacity building and mentorship with access to funding opportunities.

Beyond providing grants to the five pitch winners, the accelerator sought to make the wider cohort more investment-ready by equipping founders with the knowledge and structures needed to engage potential financiers and grow their businesses.

The emphasis on business registration and financial record keeping also highlights the importance of formalisation in improving the ability of small businesses to access institutional finance.

For Union Bank, the programme forms part of its broader efforts to use financial services, strategic partnerships and entrepreneurship programmes to support women at different stages of their personal and business journeys.

Through alpher, the bank has positioned its women-focused offering around financial empowerment and enterprise development, seeking to provide solutions that extend beyond access to banking products.

The latest accelerator also underscores the increasing importance of targeted interventions for women-led businesses as Nigeria seeks to deepen financial inclusion, encourage entrepreneurship and strengthen the contribution of small and growing businesses to economic development.

With 2,810 applications received for the latest programme, the level of participation also points to substantial demand among women entrepreneurs for initiatives that combine practical business education, mentorship, networking and access to capital.

Union Bank said its continued investment in programmes such as Fearless Female Founders reflected its commitment to empowering women to achieve greater financial independence while building businesses capable of contributing to job creation and economic growth.

Through the partnership with Zuri Circle Network, alpher is seeking to further close the gap between promising women-owned businesses and the resources required to move from survival and early-stage operations to sustainable and scalable enterprises.