This year’s International Women’s Day celebration, themed “Breaking the Bias,” aims to promote gender equity across many sectors and domains by honouring women who have emerged as pioneers in their respective industries.

In honour of this day, SLCB, the country’s leading financial institution, has canvassed the active participation of its female employees in a bid to promote gender equality in the workplace, which would help illuminate and transform the lives of other women in the country.

For the first time in the bank’s history, a panel discussion primarily comprised of female staff members shared their achievements, limits, and biases encountered in the workplace and other daily routine interactions.

In collaboration with Timeless Magazine, Yusufu Abdul Silla, the company’s youthful and people-focused MD, organized an internal pre-recorded panel discussion program with representatives of the female staff on Friday, March 4, 2022, to commemorate that day.

In a brief statement to the staff before the panel discussions, Mr Silla remarked that: “We have to believe in our women because they play a key role in the economic, social, and cultural growth of our communities. Platforms like this allow us to lead the discourse about creating a society free of gender bias and discrimination; a world where women are allowed to live, grow and achieve their full potential while also contributing positively to national and global development.

At the 2022 International Women’s Day panel discussion, eminent staff of SLCB, which included Fatmata Samai, Head of Corporate Banking; Olayinka Phillips, Director of Internal Audit; Vera N. Orji, Head of Women’s Banking; and Catherine M. Kamara, Organization and Talent Development Manager, all spoke inter alia that SLCB’s participation in the celebration of Women’s Day illustrates the values of a bank that gives exclusive attention to women’s empowerment that would translate into the soon to be launched first Women’s banking system in the country.

This panel discussion will be streamed across multiple online platforms and aired on television stations on the 8th day of March 2022.