Access Bank Plc has opened applications for the eighth season of its Womenpreneur Pitch-A-Ton programme, increasing the top grant to N7 million and selecting 120 women entrepreneurs across Africa to undergo an intensive three-week Mini-MBA beginning in November 2026.
The programme, delivered in partnership with the International Finance Corporation, has become one of the most established bank-run entrepreneurship pipelines for women-owned businesses on the continent.
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A programme with a track record
Since the Womenpreneur Pitch-A-Ton launched in 2019, it has trained more than 1,141 women entrepreneurs across 10 African countries and disbursed grants exceeding $200,000 to participants. The programme combines classroom business training with direct financial support, mentorship, market access, and networking, a combination that reflects the bank’s assessment that capital alone is insufficient to build sustainable women-led businesses.
Head of Women Banking at Access Bank, Nene Kunle-Ogunlusi, said the programme’s success is ultimately reflected in what beneficiaries have achieved with the support provided. Former participants have won the Nigeria MSME Awards in consecutive years, a signal that the business-building outcomes extend beyond the programme window and into sustained commercial performance.
For Season 8, the top grant has been raised from the previous season’s amount to N7 million, a meaningful increase that reflects Access Bank’s stated commitment to providing the scale of capital support that can genuinely accelerate the growth of promising women-owned businesses. An additional 19 beneficiaries beyond the top winner will also receive grants, extending the programme’s financial reach across a broader group of participants.
A N7 million grant to a women-owned business at the right stage of development can fund the equipment purchase, the inventory build, or the market entry that converts a promising enterprise into a viable and growing one. Programmes that deliver capital at that scale, alongside the skills and networks to deploy it well, are the ones that produce durable outcomes.
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The broader women finance picture
Access Bank has extended more than N246.46 billion in financing to 3,145,319 women over 17 years through its W Initiative, a figure that frames the Womenpreneur programme as part of a sustained, multi-channel commitment to women’s financial inclusion rather than a standalone event.
The bank has also secured a €50 million EIB Global financing facility and a $100 million development finance loan led by Germany’s DEG, both of which earmark at least 30 per cent for women-led businesses, creating dedicated institutional capital to back the commercial commitments the Womenpreneur programme represents.
To qualify for Season 8, applicants must be women with at least 50 per cent ownership of their business and must hold an Access Bank account. Applications are open on the bank’s official platform.
