Sterling Bank Plc recently partnered Pearls African Youth Foundation to organise an annual event designed to celebrate the contribution of African women/girls in technology.
The bank said in a statement that it had sponsored 30 students from the Makoko/Yaba axis in Lagos to take part in the Girls in Tech Festival, which would hold at the Girls Coding School built by Pearls Africa and a graduation ceremony would take place three months after the induction ceremony.
The bank’s Executive Director, Operations and Services, Mr Raheem Owodeyi, while addressing the girls at the recent induction ceremony in Lagos, urged the inductees to pay attention to their lessons during the training in order to improve on their potential to achieve greatness in life.
Owodeyi urged the girls to take the training seriously and not allow the environment in which they grew up to limit their ambitions in life.
According to him, the training aligns with Sterling Bank’s vision to enrich lives of the people in its immediate community.
The Chief Human Resources Officer, Sterling Bank, Ms Temi Dalley, said the plight of the girl-child had always been a source of concern for her.
According to her, the girl-child is like diamond in the mud which can only glitter after the mud is removed.
She said, “Never give up easily to men but be yourself, guide your potential jealously and be authentic.”
Dalley also urged mothers to see their daughters as princesses and make them feel as such while also believing in them.
The Head of Operations, PAYF, Mrs Lillian Idowu, described the opportunity Sterling Bank gave the girls to learn computer coding as a rare one and thanked the bank for the gesture.
She, however, asked for the continued support of the bank and urged the girls not to allow their backgrounds to limit them.