Digital payment platform PalmPay has awarded six-month internship placements to 10 outstanding participants in its Purple Woman 3.0 initiative, selecting from 100 young women who completed a three-day Digital Financial and Technology Masterclass designed to bridge the gender gap in Nigeria’s fintech sector.
The programme, which ran from March 5 to 7, attracted more than 1,000 applications from across Nigeria, reflecting a surge in demand among young women for access to practical tech training and career pathways in a fintech industry where women represent just 17% of the workforce.
Over the past three years, the Purple Woman initiative has empowered more than 250 women, equipping them with job-ready skills in Data Analysis, Software Engineering, Product Management, and other high-demand fields.
The internships, which span six months, offer hands-on experience across departments including marketing, human resources, admin, product, sales, and business intelligence.
Each intern will be paired with a mentor who guides them through on-the-job training, with the explicit goal of converting strong performers into full-time employees.
Head of Human Resources Anthony Iweala emphasised that the programme operates on rigorous, transparent selection criteria. “From Purple Woman 1.0 to 3.0, we believe in equity, equality, and following the right process. Candidates go through classes, complete tests, and are ranked; only the top 10 are selected,” he said.
The model has delivered tangible employment outcomes. All 10 women trained through Purple Woman 2.0 were offered full-time roles at PalmPay and remain with the company today. “Our aim is not just to train, but to employ them,” Iweala said.
The three-day programme provided intensive sessions covering critical career areas, including human resources, data analysis, digital marketing, personal financial management, UX/UI design, software engineering, and product management.
Sessions were facilitated by experienced industry professionals who shared practical knowledge, career guidance, and insights into navigating the evolving tech and fintech landscape.
PalmPay Managing Director Chika Nwosu framed the initiative as part of a broader corporate strategy to advance women’s leadership in technology. “At PalmPay, we don’t just imagine a future where women are leading in tech; we are actively building it,” he said, noting that empowering women delivers broader societal benefits, from increasing education access for children to fostering economic development.
Women currently make up only about 17% of Nigeria’s fintech workforce, despite the sector’s rapid growth and strategic importance to financial inclusion. Structural barriers, including limited access to technical training, gaps in mentorship, and industry networks dominated by men, continue to constrain women’s participation at every level of the fintech value chain.
Programmes like Purple Woman aim to disrupt these patterns by providing both technical skills and direct access to employment pathways. The initiative reflects this year’s International Women’s Day theme, “Give to Gain,” by directly investing in female talent rather than making symbolic gestures.
Since its launch in 2024, the Purple Woman initiative has steadily expanded. The first cohort impacted 150 women across specialised fields. This year’s edition selected 100 participants from a pool of over 1,000 applicants, with the competitive process involving class participation, performance assessments, and ranking to determine the top 10 finalists for internship placements.
The programme’s design, combining classroom learning, practical assessment, internship placement, and mentorship, has created a replicable model for corporate-led gender inclusion in fintech.
It also positions PalmPay’s Purple Woman as one of the more substantive industry initiatives addressing the gender gap by focusing on measurable employment outcomes rather than awareness campaigns alone.
The 10 selected interns will now rotate across departments within PalmPay over the next six months, gaining exposure to real-world fintech operations, project management, customer experience, and business development. Based on performance evaluations at the end of the internship period, participants could join the company’s full-time workforce, following the precedent set by Purple Woman 2.0.
For the broader Nigerian fintech ecosystem, the initiative underscores a growing recognition that closing the gender gap is not just a diversity imperative but a business strategy, one that expands talent pipelines, improves product design for underserved markets, and strengthens companies’ ability to compete in an increasingly crowded digital payments sector.
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