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Access Bank Cameroon has officially inaugurated the country’s first-ever Womenpreneur Pitch-A-Ton, a landmark program dedicated to empowering women entrepreneurs and strengthening Cameroon’s economic ecosystem. The launch event, held in Douala, marks a transformative moment as women-led businesses in Cameroon gain access to advanced training, expert mentorship, and financial grants—support of a kind never before offered at this scale in the country.
The initiative forms part of Access Bank’s renowned W Initiative, a flagship women-focused program that has been transforming female entrepreneurship across Africa since 2019. Now introduced in Cameroon, the program equips participants with essential tools, networks, and growth opportunities to build sustainable businesses. This inaugural edition brings together 150 women entrepreneurs, selected to undergo targeted capacity-building sessions delivered by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), with support from the African Guarantee Fund (AGF).
Access Bank Cameroon’s Managing Director, Ellis Nzo Asu, emphasized the program’s significance, noting that African women play a pivotal role in driving economic activity yet often lack adequate access to investment and structured support. He affirmed that the W Initiative and Pitch-A-Ton seek to close this gap by offering comprehensive training, mentorship, and direct financing to help women scale their ventures and contribute to national development. Participants will benefit from IFC’s practical Mini-MBA curriculum, featuring six intensive modules on profitability, cash flow management, record keeping, working capital optimization, credit management, and investor pitching. The program also provides direct seed funding, with awards of 3 million FCFA for the winner, 2 million FCFA for the first runner-up, and 1 million FCFA for the second runner-up.
Charlotte Ndaw Sako, IFC Country Manager for Cameroon, Gabon, CAR, and São Tomé and Príncipe, underscored IFC’s commitment to strengthening Cameroonian enterprises by helping women transition from informal to structured business operations through training in financial management and access to finance. This, she noted, enhances competitiveness and supports job creation and innovation.The W Initiative’s impact across Africa, pointing to thousands of women who have benefited from financial education, mentorship, and expanded visibility. Extending this support to Cameroon, she said, will help build a pipeline of confident and investment-ready women entrepreneurs. The Pitch-A-Ton serves as more than a competition—it is a gateway to a broader ecosystem of investors, mentors, and business partners.
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By providing training, funding, and visibility, the program tackles persistent challenges faced by women entrepreneurs, including limited access to financing, weaker business networks, and lower market exposure. Participants come from high-impact sectors such as technology, green innovation, beauty and fashion, and agriculture, with eligibility requiring a minimum 3 million FCFA in annual turnover or capital.
Access Bank Cameroon Plc is a subsidiary of Access Bank Group, a leading full-service commercial bank present across 24 countries on three continents, serving more than 52 million customers and maintaining additional representative offices in China, Lebanon, India, and Hong Kong.
