Zenith Bank sponsored the last event of their month-long celebration of March as Women’s Month on Saturday, March 28, 2026. The Civic Centre hosted the event, which was the second of its kind there. The first was the International Women’s Day Seminar on March 9, 2026.
The purpose of the event was to honor and offer awards to outstanding women who have showed strength in their communities and made a lasting difference in people’s lives via their work.
People praised Zenith Bank for its focus on people and thanked the Ford Foundation for choosing the Bank as a partner in its efforts to help women in their unique cultural and economic situations around the world.
The award, which had the theme “Celebrating Resilience, Leadership, and Generosity,” honored 19 women from the six geo-political zones who worked in commerce, small-scale manufacturing, education, and agriculture. Even though the country’s economy is in bad shape, these ladies showed incredible fortitude, leadership, and effect.
The organizers said that the event gave people a chance to honor “Sheroes,” or everyday women who are doing important work in their communities and fields. These people include market women, small business owners, community leaders, teachers, healthcare professionals, and many more whose important labor sometimes goes unappreciated.
The event’s sponsors said that each winner showed excellence in several important areas, such as leadership and initiative, making a difference in the community, being creative and resourceful, sticking with it, being honest, earning the trust of the community, and giving back.
Some of the people who were honored were:
Mrs. Regina Amankulor is a retired nurse who helps young people in the Umuode-Nsulu community in Isiala Ngwa North LGA, Abia State. Mary Matanmi is the head of the Nigeria Association of Hairdressers, Barbers, and Cosmetologists in Lagos State. Ifeanyi P. Ugwueze is a guidance counselor and life coach who is still doing well despite being blind and is working on his doctorate degree.
Some more are:
Amina Musa is a trade teacher in Karonmajiji, AMAC, Abuja; Adenike A. Lambo is the Iyaloja of Ilorin; Sadiya Abubakar is a teacher in Jibi (Deidei), Bwari Area Council, FCT; Edikan Idem Andrew is a market woman who has a big impact on her community in Port Harcourt; Ngozi B. Nwankpa is a fashion designer based in Aba;
Hadiza Umar is a development specialist who works in Kaduna, Kaduna State. Joy C. Ezenwa, also known as Mama Amala, is a trader at Sabon Gari Market in Kano. Shola Esther Babalola, also known as Mama Sho, is the founder of the Mama Sho Honey brand in Lagos and promotes natural honey. Josephine Ugwu, who works for the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), was honored for her honesty in recovering and returning millions of naira that passengers accidentally left behind at Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos. And a lot more.
Dame Dr. Adaora Umeoji, OON, the Group Managing Director of Zenith Bank, spoke at the event and commended the winners. She was represented by Executive Director Adobi Nwapa. She also underlined the bank’s strong commitment to empowering women.
She said, “Zenith Bank’s commitment to gender inclusion is not just talk; it’s one of the bank’s core values.”
She also noted, “Zenith Bank has a 50-50 gender ratio, with women holding important roles in the bank’s management and Board. The current Group Managing Director is the first woman to hold that position.”
Dr. Chichi Aniagolu, the Regional Director of the Ford Foundation, said that the Woman of Power Award was an eye-opener. She said that her team’s travel around the country showed her the many and often neglected aspects of Nigerian women’s potential.
In the next few years, both the Ford Foundation and Zenith Bank Plc have promised to keep the project going and help it grow.
Zenith Bank used the forum to tell the women about their different products and programs for women, such as the Z-Woman initiative and the Bank’s 19-year sole sponsorship of the NBBF Women’s Basketball League. This showed that the Bank is at the forefront of empowering women and including them in the economy across the country.
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