CREDICORP has officially expanded the Queen Riders programme under its S.C.A.L.E initiative in Port Harcourt, empowering women with 3,700 tricycles across Nigeria, through structured and affordable credit.
The initiative, through a strategic partnership between CREDICORP, Gamma Mobility, Accion Microfinance Bank, and the beneficiaries, aimed at driving industrial growth and championing women’s empowerment.
Uzoma Nwagba, Managing Director of CREDICORP, while speaking at the event held at the Yakubu Gowon Stadium in Port Harcourt, said the tricycles locally assembled in Nigeria by Simba TVS, represent autonomy, ownership, and economic opportunity for women.
“By driving up demand for domestically assembled vehicles, the programme supports Nigeria’s broader industrial policy goals, ensuring that every loan taken strengthens a local factory and feeds a local family.
“The Queen Rider initiative is part of CREDICORP’s wider effort to enable half of Nigeria’s working population by 2030 with consumer credit tools that directly enhance quality of life, whether through vehicle ownership, clean energy adoption, or youth enterprise,” he added.
The CrediCorp boss said other programmes like YouthCRED (for young people and NYSC members) and C.A.L.M (for solar and CNG access) reflect this same philosophy, adding that CREDICORP works closely with financial institutions and the Central Bank of Nigeria.
He further said the initiative was part of President Bola Tinubu’s mandate that everybody should have access to better living through responsible businesses.
“He (Tinubu) is a man who has been very passionate about consumer credit for many decades, and it is the idea that people should be able to have access to goods and services that better their lives and pay for it over time.
“So, we should have a credit system that works for all. Civil servants don’t have to wait to retire till they build their homes and live in houses of their own, or have a car after they retire, they should be able to get at the beginning of their service and pay overtime.
“The same with non-civil servants, salary workers, entrepreneurs and artisans should be able to have a good life,” Nwagba added.
The Co-Founder of Gamma Mobility, Sam Esiri, said it was poised to ignite dignity, purpose and prosperity for thousands of Nigerian women.
Esiri averred that the Queen Riders Programme was not just a product launch, but a resolute proclamation that Nigerian women deserved unhindered access to the tools of economic empowerment.
He commended the efforts of CREDICORP and other partners in the scheme.
One of the beneficiaries, Mrs Elizabeth John, praised CREDICORP and their partners for putting smiles on their faces.
She assured that they (beneficiaries) would make good use of the opportunity given to them to change their stories.
