Zenith Bank Plc, in partnership with the Ford Foundation, has honoured 19 girls throughout Nigeria for his or her distinctive contributions to neighborhood growth, management, and financial empowerment.
The popularity fashioned the spotlight of the bank’s month-long actions to commemorate girls’s month, culminating in an awards ceremony held on Saturday, March 28, 2026, at The Civic Centre, Lagos.
The occasion adopted an earlier Worldwide Girls’s Day seminar held on March 9, 2026, on the similar venue, reinforcing the bank’s sustained dedication to selling gender inclusion and celebrating feminine excellence throughout a number of sectors.
Themed “Celebrating Resilience, Management, and Generosity,” the awards recognised girls chosen from Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones, spanning sectors similar to commerce, petty manufacturing, training, and agriculture.
The awardees have been recognized for demonstrating resilience, innovation, and measurable influence inside their communities regardless of prevailing financial challenges.
Organisers mentioned the initiative was designed to highlight “unsung Sheroes”, girls whose contributions usually go unnoticed however stay crucial to grassroots financial and social growth. The honourees included market girls, educators, small-scale enterprise operators, healthcare employees, and neighborhood leaders.
Every recipient was evaluated based mostly on outlined standards, together with management and initiative, neighborhood influence, innovativeness, perseverance, integrity, and philanthropy.
Amongst these honoured have been Mrs. Regina Amankulor, a retired nurse empowering youths in Abia State; Mary Matanmi, Coordinator of the Nigeria Affiliation of Hairdressers, Barbers and Cosmetologists, Lagos State chapter; and Ifeanyi P. Ugwueze, a visually impaired steering counsellor and life coach presently pursuing a doctorate diploma.
Others recognised embrace Amina Musa, a commerce educator based mostly in Abuja; Adenike A. Lambo, the Iyaloja of Ilorin; Sadiya Abubakar, an educator within the Federal Capital Territory; Erikan Idem Andrew, a market chief in Port Harcourt; Ngozi B.
Nwankpa, a trend entrepreneur in Aba; Hadiza Umar, a growth specialist in Kaduna; Pleasure C. Ezenwa, a dealer in Kano; and Shola Esther Babalola, founding father of the Mama Sho Honey model in Lagos.
Additionally honoured was Josephine Ugwu, a employees member of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, recognised for her integrity after returning hundreds of thousands of naira mistakenly left behind by passengers at Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.
In her keynote tackle, the Group Managing Director of Zenith Bank, Adaora Umeoji, represented by Government Director Adobi Nwapa, reaffirmed the bank’s dedication to gender inclusion, stating that the establishment maintains a balanced gender construction with girls occupying strategic management roles, together with the place of Group Managing Director.
She famous that the bank’s strategy to gender inclusion is embedded in its company tradition and operational technique, quite than being a symbolic initiative.
Additionally talking on the occasion, the Regional Director of the Ford Foundation, Chichi Aniagolu, described the Girl of Energy Award initiative as an essential platform for uncovering and celebrating missed expertise throughout Nigeria.
She famous that subject assessments carried out by the inspiration revealed important untapped potential amongst girls working in difficult environments.
Each Zenith Bank and the Ford Foundation reiterated their dedication to sustaining and increasing the initiative within the coming years as a part of broader efforts to help inclusive financial progress.
Zenith Bank additionally used the platform to focus on its women-focused monetary merchandise and initiatives, together with the Z-Girl programme, in addition to its long-standing sponsorship of the NBBF Girls’s Basketball League.
The bank famous that these initiatives are a part of its technique to boost monetary inclusion, help feminine entrepreneurship, and promote sustainable financial participation amongst girls nationwide.
The awards occasion additional reinforces Zenith Bank’s positioning as a number one monetary establishment driving gender inclusion and neighborhood growth by structured interventions and strategic partnerships.
