Women polo sensation, Neku Atawodi-Edun now Access Bank W brand ambassador

Face of Africa’s women polo, Neku Atawodi-Edun, was yesterday in Lagos unveiled as Access Bank’s W brand ambassador. The position confers on Neku the honour of representing the bank in social events, including girl-child mentorship initiatives.

Access Bank Coordinator, Women Banking Initiative, Ayona Aguele-Trimnell, who unveiled the new ambassador, described Neku as a Nigerian polo player, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and an investor.

Access Bank Group Head, Corporate Communications, Amaechi Okobi, described the W Ambassador as a consummate brand who champions healthy lifestyle and promotes the development of women polo in Nigeria and beyond.
Neku Atawodi-Edun, who accepted the endorsement, said she is thrilled at the opportunity offered by Access Bank to carry through her passion for promotion of women empowerment and encouraging women polo in Nigeria to an acceptable international level.

She explained that as Access Bank ambassador, she hoped to feature more in the European season that recently galloped off after the climax of the U.S. season in April. Neku listed some of the countries she would be flying Access Bank’s flag to include United Kingdom, France, Spain and Germany, adding that she also hopes to play more in Africa, with the forthcoming 2019 Access Bank UNICEF Charity Shield tournament billed for Kaduna in June.

Highly revered as one of the few black female polo players in the world, and the first to play professionally, Neku Atawodi-Edun is an equine sports scientist, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and investor.

Neku grew up in Kaduna, where her childhood revolved around a local polo club in the northern Nigerian city. At age 16, Neku told her parents she wanted to play polo professionally, at a time when the “sport of kings” was only synonymous with men and royalty.Her parents tried to deter her and at a point, stopped paying for the upkeep of her horses but she was able to convince a polo club in England to give her a job basically to protect her passion for the noble game.

A decade later, Neku followed up her passion and today, she had played polo professionally in 14 cities professionally, bagged a degree in Equine Sport Science, an MA in International Business, and the first woman of colour to play the game of polo professionally.

Neku is also the founder of Ride to shine – a self-funded non-profit organization that teaches African Orphans about Equestrian Sports. She is an Associate fellow of the Royal Commonwealth society and was a Clinton Global Initiative Lead mentor.In 2016, Neku was named in Forbes Africa’s 30 under 30: Africa’s Most Promising Entrepreneurs list. She is also a Global Shaper for the World Economic Forum and has represented Nigeria at the WEF in Davos.

Neku is also the Nigeria Country Director of MEST, where she’s overseeing incubator operations and strategy, startup support, stakeholder engagement, business development and fundraising efforts. Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) is a year-long entrepreneurial training program, seed fund and incubator for African tech startups.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.