Grey, the global banking platform empowering digital nomads and businesses with borderless financial solutions, today announced the winners of its 2025 UpGreyed Her initiative. The equity-free grant program awarded $9,500 to four women-led businesses, marking the initiative’s successful expansion from its African roots to a global platform for women’s entrepreneurship.
“Financial inclusion isn’t just about access to banking, it’s about providing the resources entrepreneurs need to scale their impact,” said Femi Aghedo, co-founder of Grey. “By taking UpGreyed Her global, we’re reinforcing our commitment to building a financial ecosystem where women founders can thrive across borders, just like our banking solutions.”
Launched on International Women’s Day (March 8), the 2025 edition attracted almost 2,000 applications from women-led businesses across multiple continents, a substantial increase from last year’s Africa-focused program. The initiative specifically targeted growth-stage companies in diverse sectors, including traditionally male-dominated fields and innovation-driven industries such as agritech, climatetech, and femtech.
Following a rigorous selection process, including virtual pitch presentations from finalists, Grey awarded grants to four exceptional women-led businesses:
- Grand Prize ($4,000): Patricia Zanella, EcoCiclo (Brazil)- Creating Brazil’s first 100% biodegradable sanitary pads from locally sourced materials to address menstrual poverty in indigenous and rural communities.
- First Runner-Up ($2,000): Sarah Olagoke, Tersley Foods Ltd (Nigeria)- Empowering women to manage reproductive health challenges like PCOS through functional foods and community support.
- Second Runner-Up ($2,000): Arinola Okeowo, Ultra Farms Ltd (Nigeria)- Improving food access by tackling post-harvest losses and connecting smallholder farmers to better market opportunities.
- Third Runner-Up ($1,500): Elizabeth Oladepo, 07 Foods Ltd (Nigeria) – Driving food security through sustainable processing while equipping women and youth with practical agribusiness skills.
Patricia Zanella, who previously worked in human rights before founding EcoCiclo, expressed her gratitude: “This grant validates our vision for sustainable menstrual products that create both environmental and social impact. With Grey’s support, we’ll scale our production and expand to reach more vulnerable communities across Brazil. I’m proud to be part of this global network of women who are building, scaling, and breaking barriers.”
Applications were evaluated by an accomplished panel of women leaders based on innovation, scalability, social impact, leadership strength, revenue potential, and business viability. This year’s judges were Tinu Phillips Odufuye, Head of Business Development at FCMB Asset Management [Nigeria], Sarah Achebe, Head of Finance at Grey [Nigeria], Natasha Mahtani, Relational Intelligence Coach and Women’s Advancement Advocate [India], Maite Lourenço, General Partner at YA Ventures and Founder of Black Rocks Startups [Brazil] and **Anmol Bharti, Senior AML Analyst at Grey [India].
“Funding women isn’t just charity, it’s smart economics,” said Tinu Phillips Odufuye during her keynote address at the awards ceremony. “UpGreyed Her empowers women-led businesses not just to dream, but to scale and shape the world. Because upgrading her is, in fact, upgrading the world.”
UpGreyed Her 2025 was executed in partnership with WIMBIZ, a leading organization committed to elevating women through professional development and entrepreneurship.
Grey will begin accepting applications for the UpGreyed Her 2026 in March next year, with plans to increase both funding amounts and the number of recipients.
For more information about Grey’s services, visit www.Grey.co
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Grey.
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About Grey:
Grey is at the forefront of providing secure and convenient global banking solutions to meet the needs of customers and businesses. Grey holds a Money Service Business license from FINTRAC in Canada and FinCEN in the USA, and our primary focus is emerging markets. Our range of services enables individuals and businesses to easily own and manage multi-currency accounts. This includes currency exchange, sending and receiving payments to and from over 170 countries, as well as access to virtual cards.