PalmPay equips women with fintech skills

PalmPay Nigeria has reaffirmed its commitment to increasing women’s participation in the financial technology sector through its Purple Women initiative, a programme designed to equip young women with digital, business and leadership skills needed to succeed in the evolving digital economy.

The digital bank made the commitment during the third edition of its Global Women’s Masterclass, organised in collaboration with the Global Women’s International Campaign Nigeria to commemorate International Women’s Day.

Speaking at the event, the Managing Director of PalmPay Nigeria, Chika Nwosu, said the initiative was launched to address the low representation of women in fintech and the broader technology ecosystem.

According to him, the company aims to build a pipeline of female professionals who can take up leadership roles across the industry.

“This initiative is because we noticed that there are not so many women in fintech and in the tech industry, and we intend to bridge that gap. We want to see a whole lot of women in leadership positions in fintech”, Nwosu said.

He added that empowering women creates long-term economic and social impact, noting that financial inclusion for women often translates into stronger families and improved opportunities for future generations.

The Purple Women programme, now in its third edition, focuses on economic and professional empowerment through mentorship, skills development and access to career opportunities. Although hosted physically in Lagos, participation is open to women across Nigeria through an online registration platform.

Nwosu said the initiative also provides internship opportunities aimed at transitioning participants from training into employment.

“At PalmPay, we want to be part of organisations ensuring that more women are empowered to succeed in their careers and occupy leadership positions across boards,” he said.

At the end of the masterclass, 10 participants were selected for a six-month internship programme at PalmPay, where they will gain practical experience across departments including marketing, human resources, administration, product development, sales and business intelligence.

The Head of Human Resources at PalmPay, Anthony Iwuala, said the selection process followed a merit-based system designed to identify the most qualified candidates.

“For us at PalmPay, we believe in equity and equality and in following the right process. Participants went through classes and wrote tests for each session. Many passed, but we had to rank them and select the top ten,” he said.

Iwuala explained that each intern would be assigned mentors who would provide hands-on training throughout the six-month period, adding that the programme is structured to create employment opportunities rather than short-term training alone.

“We are not just training them; we train them to employ them,” he said, noting that participants from the previous Purple Women 2.0 edition were offered full employment and remain with the company.

Industry leaders at the event also encouraged women to take more active roles in technology development and leadership.

The Chief Executive Officer of Hydrogen, Kemi Okusanya, urged women to pursue careers in product development and technology, stressing the importance of female perspectives in designing digital solutions.

“The only thing that can stop you is yourself. From a product perspective, the world needs us more. We cannot keep having men develop products that women use because there will always be gaps,” she said, encouraging women to build solutions locally with the ambition to scale globally.

In her presentation on personal branding and self-development, the Director of the Enterprise Development Centre at Pan-Atlantic University, Dr Nneka Okekearu, highlighted the role of confidence and self-awareness in career advancement.

She noted that many women are constrained by unconscious biases formed from childhood, which often affect their career choices and progression.

“A lot of women have so much to give, but they are shackled by unconscious bias. Self-worth is about building awareness and confidence to recognise that you know it and should own it,” Okekearu said.

While acknowledging progress in gender inclusion, she observed that more than 30 per cent of commercial banks in Nigeria now have female chief executives, signalling improvement in female representation at leadership levels.

However, she identified what she described as the “missing middle” challenge, where many women leave the workforce during key life stages such as marriage and childbirth, calling for systems that allow them to return without losing career momentum.

Nwosu said PalmPay plans to expand the initiative in future editions as part of its broader goal of building a more inclusive digital economy.

“The fourth edition will definitely come, and we are going to make it bigger and better,” he said, adding that the long-term vision is to see Nigerian women take on leadership roles across multiple sectors driven by technology and innovation.