Nigeria’s top female polo player, Neku Atawodi-Edun has been named by Access Bank as its brand ambassador for its W-Access banking package. At her unveiling in Lagos on Wednesday, Access Bank Corporate Communication Group Head, Amaechi Okobi, disclosed that the package will see the A-tier banking institution sponsor the zero-handicap player to some European countries for the next one year starting with the English Polo season which got underway last weekend.
An England-trained equestrian, the Kogi-born polo player, who grew up in Kaduna, has been playing polo since she was thirteen and has been one of the most popular female polo players in Africa.
She was a +1 handicap before she becomes a mother few years ago and she represented Nigeria at the Africa Challenge which took place in Johannesburg, South Africa last year.
Atawodi-Edun, in her response, expressed gratitude to Access Bank stressing that though she has mostly played in Spain while in Europe, the chance to play in England, France, Germany and other countries has spurred her to develop further as a polo player.
She also hinted that she would be taking a short break from the European season next month to participate in the Access Bank Charity Shield Polo Tournament billed for the Fitfh Chukker Country Resort in Kaduna.
Earlier in her remarks, Access Bank’s Head of Women Banking, Ayona Aguene-Trimnell, disclosed that Atawodi-Edun fits in the W-Access which is tailored to help women achieve great goals noting that the polo player fits in to drive the product having carved a niche for herself not just as a professional polo player but being a scientist and a philanthropist who have impact immensely on the society through her training programmes for capacity building for women.
“Neku was labeled a global shaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. She was recently named by Forbes as one of Africa’s top 30 promising entrepreneurs. So when we were thinking of the face or the figure to drive the W Access, it was very easy for us to look her way,” Aguene-Trimnell said
