TheCable

Nigeria’s No 1 female polo player, Neku Atawodi-Edun, was on Wednesday in Lagos unveiled as W Ambassador by Access Bank Plc.

Coordinator of Access Bank’s Women Banking Initiative, Ayona Aguele-Trimnell, who spoke at the event, described Atawodi-Edun as a “polo player, entrepreneur, philanthropist and investor”.

Access Bank;s group head, corporate communications, Amaechi Okobi, also described the W Ambassador as a consummate brand who championed healthy lifestyle and promoted women polo in Nigeria and beyond.

In her acceptance speech,  Atawodi-Edun expressed delight at the opportunity offered by Access Bank to further her passion for promotion of women empowerment and encouraging women polo in Nigeria to international level.

“I hope to be playing more in the European season that recently galloped off after the climax of the US season in April,” she said, listing some of the countries she would be competing in on Access Bank’s banner to include United Kingdom, France, Spain and Germany,” she said.

L-R: Access Bank’s Head, Events and Sponsorships, Oge Kasie-Nwachukwu; Bank W Initiative Coordinator, Ayona Aguele-Trimnell; Polo star and W Ambassador, Neku Atawodi-Edun; and Group Head, Corporate Communications, Amaechi Okobi, after Atawodi-Edun was unveiled by the bank in Lagos on Wednesday

“I also look forward to playing more in Africa, especially at the 2019 Access Bank/UNICEF Charity Shield in Kaduna in June.”

Respected as one of the few black female polo players in the world and the first to play professionally, the equine sports scientist grew up in Kaduna and her childhood revolved around a local polo club in the northern Nigeria city while she was 16 years old.

She is the founder of Ride to Shine – a self-funded NGO that teaches African orphans about equestrian sports, and is an Associate Fellow of the Royal Commonwealth society as well as a Clinton Global Initiative lead mentor.

In 2018, Neku was named the face of Africa Polo Open, an offshoot of the 110-year old Prince of Wales Polo Cup, Africa’s oldest polo tournament.