On the Stanbic IBTC Bloom Weekend 2025 which was themed: “Bloom into Extra”, 1000’s of feminine entrepreneurs, professionals, and leaders gathered to forge connections, sharpen their enterprise and management abilities, and unlock new alternatives for development and success.
Day-one kicked off with an lively media parley at Harbour Level, Victoria Island, Lagos, on Friday, 20 June 2025 and was then adopted by a sturdy Entrepreneurial Seminar hosted by the Enterprise Knowledge Centre of Pan Atlantic College. The SME coaching was properly attended with over 1000 individuals becoming a member of each bodily and on-line, throughout numerous enterprise sectors. This system modules included ‘Introduction to Entrepreneurship’, ‘Constructing a Scalable Enterprise Mannequin’, ‘Entry to Finance and Funding Readiness’, and ‘Digital Advertising and Promoting Expertise’.
Day-two commenced with a Yoga-session led by Morolake Yasmin Olomu adopted by Girls At The Desk Empowerment Sequence (LATTES), a hybrid occasion hosted by Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers. this featured a robust keynote message by Endurance Torlowei, founding father of Torlowei, a Nigerian trend home identified for its luxurious ready-to-wear clothes and the creator of the “Esther Gown, at the moment owned by the Nationwide Museum of African Artwork (NMAA) in Washington, D.C.
A carefully-selected and achieved line-up of girls leaders and creators then got here collectively on a panel to debate the subject “Seasons of Progress: Navigating Function, Prosperity, and Private Energy at Each Stage of life”. The panelists had been Eunice Showunmi-Adeyemi, Chief Inventive Director, Q21 Options Restricted, Oler Oladele, Chartered {Financial} Analyst, Dr. Adrienne Tikolo, Director of Dyslexia Nigeria, Aderinsola Adeyemi “DictionwithDerin”, Diction Teacher and Content material Creator, and Edidiong Akan, Head, Compliance, Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers.
One other notable spotlight had been the Bloom weekend Masterclasses. Ore Lawani, Founder Arami Necessities, took the stage to talk on “Constructing a enterprise in Nigeria from the Floor up” whereas Aderinsola Adeyemi, “DictionwithDerin”, delivered a session on “Command the Room: Constructing Govt Presence By Communication”. This yr’s Bloom Weekend was certainly full of insights and instructive steering for each lady in each season, whether or not in provider or enterprise.
The Bloom Weekend Hub, a buzzing market, featured a surprising array of actions from the ‘Commerce Honest’ showcasing exhibitions from female-owned enterprise homeowners in meals; female care merchandise reminiscent of make-up, skincare, haircare, trend; youngsters’s items and so forth, to the ‘Village Market’ that includes exhibitions of uncooked meals stuff by feminine enterprise homeowners, to the ‘Wellness and Rest’ area for girls to get massages, henna, pedicures and so forth.
This yr’s occasion was all-inclusive with a ‘Blue child’s nook’ crammed with video games and actions the place mother and father might drop off their youngsters to be minded whereas they loved the curated Bloom Weekend actions. In the meantime, Stanbic IBTC’s on-site advisory cubicles provided personalised {financial} consultations, serving to ladies chart clearer paths towards {financial} independence.
In her remarks through the opening media parley, Bunmi Dayo-Olagunju, Deputy Chief Govt, Stanbic IBTC Bank, reaffirmed Stanbic IBTC’s long-term dedication to gender fairness, expressed openness to continued dialogue and collaboration with the media. She mentioned, “Right now, I encourage the journalists current right here to discover the tales behind the numbers. Please use your platforms to highlight female-led companies and encourage a ripple impact of development and growth”.
Equally, whereas delivering her speech Olajumoke Bello, Head Enterprise, Stanbic IBTC Bank, shared the imaginative and prescient behind Bloom Weekend as a celebration and platform for empowering ladies in enterprise which aligns with Stanbic IBTC’s broader dedication to inclusive development and {economic} empowerment. she mentioned, “Bloom Weekend 2025 showcases our dedication to empowering ladies as a result of we imagine that whenever you give ladies the suitable instruments, networks, and platforms, they don’t simply bloom, they modify the world round them.”
Omolara Osunsoko, Govt Director Operations, Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers, emphasised in her introductory speech on LATTES, that “by way of LATTES 1.0 to 4.0, we’ve got listened, discovered, and grown with 1000’s of girls throughout Nigeria. We not solely demystified pensions, we provided a protected area for girls to have actual conversations about cash, ambition, motherhood and identification”.
Suggestions from attendees was overwhelmingly constructive. Many described Bloom Weekend as “life-changing”, “transformative”, and “the enhance they wanted to push and Bloom into Extra.”
By highly effective storytelling, actionable mentorship, and intentional community-building, Bloom Weekend 2025 has firmly established itself as an occasion and a cornerstone motion for girls’s management, profession constructing, and entrepreneurial development in Nigeria.