Wema Bank, Nigeria’s most innovative bank and pioneer of Africa’s first fully digital bank, ALAT, has commemorated International Women’s Day 2025 in style, hosting a grand event on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, at its Head Office Facility in Lagos.
The Wema Bank International Women’s Day 2025 Event convened iconic women from diverse fields and industries to dissect the topic “Harnessing Innovation & Technology To Accelerate Financial Inclusion for Women”. Deriving from the global IWD 2025 theme “Accelerate Action”, the Wema Bank International Women’s Day 2025 event highlighted the need for implementing an innovative approach to promoting financial inclusion for all women and forging long term sustainability for women empowerment.

Among the major highlights of the Wema Bank International Women’s Day 2025 event were the Women Network’s graduation ceremony of the Big Sister Programme Cohort 2; special performances across music and poetry; the HeForShe 2025 Awards where outstanding male employees of Wema Bank who have made outstanding strides in accelerating action towards women empowerment, were awarded to encourage more men to become pro-women; and a panel session featuring distinguished women who have been instrumental in accelerating action for women empowerment.
Moderated by Media Personality and TV Presenter, Olive Emodi, the session featured three panelists including Dr. Nneka Okekearu, the Director of the Entreprise Development Centre of Pan-Atlantic University, Solape Akinpelu, CEO of Harvest and Tochi Ginigeme, Lead Deal Matchmaking at Impact Investors Foundation; all of whom provided invaluable insights and visionary contributions to the perceptive discussion on addressing roadblocks and leveraging innovation for women empowerment. This grand event panned out excellently, receiving commendation from women across Nigeria.
Attesting to Wema Bank’s commitment to women empowerment Chairman, Dr. Mrs. Oluwayemisi Olorunshola, the Chairman of Wema Bank, highlighted the Bank’s role in promoting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) towards the global advancement of gender equality. According to her, ““The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is “Accelerate Action”, and as the first female Chairman of Wema Bank, my career is a testament to the impact that can be generated and the change that can be achieved, when individuals and corporations take decisive steps to accelerate action for women empowerment. The goal of the 5th Sustainable Development Goal, ‘Gender Equality’, is to build a world where woman can thrive without discrimination and oppression, and we must all do the work to contribute to the achievement of this goal”.
Emphasising the deep-rooted nature of Wema Bank’s commitment to empowerment, Mr. Moruf Oseni (FCIB), Wema Bank’s MD/CEO commented, “This mission of empowering lives is one that is deeply rooted in our identity as Wema Bank. From inception in 1945 to present, we have carried on the mission of empowering our people. A lot has changed in the last 8 decades but one thing that has remained constant is our commitment to inclusion, empowerment and support for women. As a Bank, we recognise the gender equality gap that exists globally, and we understand the need for a tailored approach to addressing this challenge. This is why we launched our women-focused proposition, SARA by Wema, in 2019, and why we continue to take intentional steps towards empowering women”.
“Since the launch of SARA, we have banked over 400,000 unbanked women, disbursed over N75 billion in low-interest loans and over $20,000 in grants, created over 900 jobs for women, provided market access for 3,000 women, connecting them with over 135,000 customers and generating over $4 million in sales; and these are just to mention a few. Why have we been so intentional in the gender space? Because “Accelerating Action”, for us at Wema Bank, is beyond lip service. We walk the talk when it comes to women empowerment and today, we are gathered here to not only celebrate the exceptional impact we have made in empowering women for 8 decades, but more importantly, raising the right conversations and driving the right actions as we look ahead to a future of much greater possibilities. Wema Bank has supported women since 1945 and we celebrate our 80 years anniversary come May 2nd, 2025, we are more driven than ever to continue empowering women and building a future where women thrive, where equity is the norm, and where equality and empowerment are not just ideals but realities”.
Wema Bank has proven itself to be a gender inclusion and equality driven organisation, going above and beyond to empower women from all walks of life to thrive, and contributing to the advancement of the global movement for gender equality.
As Wema Bank counts down to 80 years, the world joins in to celebrate Nigeria’s oldest indigenous and most resilient bank, pioneering innovative impact in the African banking industry since 1945 and beyond 2025.

Wema Bank, Nigeria’s most innovative bank and pioneer of Africa’s first fully digital bank, ALAT, has announced the launch of Hackaholics 6.0, themed Beyond Algorithms: Engineering Disruptive Innovation, at a press conference held in Lagos.
The 6th edition of Hackaholics  has been expanded to integrate both hackathon and ideathon formats, creating a dynamic platform where developers, designers, business strategists, and problem solvers can collaborate to tackle real-world challenges. With a strong focus on harnessing cutting-edge technology, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), Hackaholics 6.0 aims to drive transformative change across key industries such as education, healthcare, sustainable agriculture, and financial inclusion.
A key highlight of this edition is the introduction of the Wema Bank Accelerator Program, designed to address a critical gap in startup development—funding without strategic support. The program will serve as a launchpad for transformative ideas, providing mentorship, funding, and access to strategic networks to help startups scale successfully. In line with Wema Bank’s vision for continental growth, Hackaholics 6.0 will extend beyond Nigeria, with activations in key African tech hubs. This expansion supports the bank’s goal of fostering a pan-African innovation ecosystem, connecting talent to accelerate ideas, and positioning Wema Bank as a leader in shaping Africa’s digital future.
Moruf Oseni, Managing Director and CEO of Wema Bank, shared his vision for Hackaholics 6.0: “Hackaholics was created to empower Nigeria’s brightest minds to solve real-world problems and drive technological advancements. This year, as we celebrate our 80th anniversary, we are taking it a step further with Hackaholics 6.0. This edition is not just about solving problems; it’s about engineering disruptive innovation that will reshape industries and transform lives. To support this vision, we are introducing the Wema Bank Accelerator Program, a strategic initiative designed to provide startups with the tools, mentorship, and resources they need to scale and thrive. Hackaholics 6.0 is more than an event; it is a movement to empower the next generation of problem solvers and shape the future of Nigeria and Africa.”
Oseni also emphasized how innovators can participate: “We invite developers, designers, business strategists, and problem solvers from across Africa to join this transformative journey. Whether you are at the ideation stage or already have a market-ready solution, Hackaholics 6.0 and the accelerator program are designed to support you. Visit hackaholics.wemabank.com to apply and be part of this movement to engineer disruptive innovation that addresses real-world challenges and creates lasting impact.”
Ugonna Ginigeme, Co-Founder and CEO of Feegor and grand prize winner of Hackaholics 5.0, expressed his gratitude and excitement at the press conference: “We emerged the winner, The Meta Lord at Hackaholics 5.0. It was a very exciting moment. It still is a very exciting moment for us. At Feegor, we are not just building a Nigerian startup. We are building for the African market. We believe we will be number one. And we are super, super excited to have Wema Bank as a trusted partner for us. I would like to encourage everybody, every startup, every developer, and everybody who is focused and interested in building an amazing startup to apply. And I assure you that if you have Wema Bank as a partner, success is guaranteed.”
Since 2019, Hackaholics has empowered Nigeria’s brightest minds to solve real-world problems, driving technological advancements and supporting groundbreaking startups. As Hackaholics 6.0 kicks off, Wema Bank reaffirms its commitment to fostering problem solvers who will reshape Nigeria’s future and drive transformative change across Africa.

In anticipation of its 80th anniversary, Wema Bank, Nigeria’s foremost innovative bank and pioneer of Africa’s first fully digital bank, ALAT, will be rewarding 80 customers with cash prizes in its Wema Bank 5 for 5 Promo Season 4 80th daily draw, set to hold virtually at 4 p.m. on Monday, February 24, 2024.

Wema Bank launched its 5 for 5 Promo in 2019 as an avenue to reward its customers for their active loyalty to the brand and its products. Since its launch, the Promo has disbursed over N150,000,000 to thousands of customers across Nigeria, across three seasons. Season 4 of the Wema Bank 5 for 5 Promo kicked off on October 1, 2024 with a whopping N135,000,000 cash prize set for disbursement across daily, weekly, monthly and a special grand prize draw where one Wema Bank customer will win N5,000,000. So far, over 2,000 Wema Bank customers have emerged winners, receiving cash prizes ranging from N5,000 to N1,000,000 each.

Scheduled to hold on Monday, February 24, 2025, the Wema Bank 5 for 5 Promo Season 4 80th daily draw will, through a duly regulated and transparent electronic draw, select 80 winners randomly from Wema Bank’s pool of active and transacting customers who have made transactions using the ALAT App, *945# or the Wema/ALAT debit card. Both new and existing Wema Bank customers can participate in the special 80th draw, regardless of their location in Nigeria; provided they meet the eligibility criteria of making at least one transaction via the three valid channels.

Customers and prospects who are interested in becoming one of the lucky 80 winners are advised to sign up on the ALAT App if they haven’t already, request a debit card on the App or get one instantly at any Wema Bank branch or transact offline using *945#, Wema Bank’s USSD code.

The Wema Bank 5 for 5 Promo Season 4 80th daily draw has been curated specially in celebration of Wema Bank’s upcoming 80th anniversary.