AWEP seeks non-collateralised loans, holds conference today

Preparatory to the yearly conference of the African Women Entrepreneurship Program (AWEP) Nigeria Chapter, its President, Hajia Zainab Jaji has urged the senate to pass laws that would ensure banks grant loans to women entrepreneurs without collaterals.

Jaji noted that the prayer is being made considering that the nation’s extant laws do not allow women to inherit landed property which then makes it difficult for women to collaterise loans.

Speaking ahead of the Global Entrepreneurship Week conference themed, “Women Entrepreneurship as a vehicle for Nigeria’s industrialisation”, Jaji said this year’s conference emphasizes the role of women in employment creation.

She maintained that the nation does not have any reason to have many unemployed youths considering the size of small businesses that abound in the nation, thus urging the government to tap into the women entrepreneurship network to expand foreign exchange earnings for the country through export.

The AWEP President noted that she was surprised by the trade volume of Nigeria through the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) during her recent trip for a forum in Abuja.

She also enjoined the Nigerian Export Promotion Council to commence a trade mission where they make market linkages for Nigerian SMEs and their buyers adding that there efforts from other African countries who were at the AGOA conference in getting support from their country to ensure their women and their products gained visibility and access to market.

She said access to market through product visibility a sub-theme of this year’s AWEP conference holding in Abuja tomorrow.

The Secretary-General, Abimbola Alawode maintained that most of the businesses have new innovations in beauty, personal care, food and agro-allied technology which require support to enable regulatory agencies such as NAFDAC and SON to enumerate such products.

“The challenge therefore, is that we have a lot of SMEs who have developed products which do not have access to market or visibility to enter the export market”, she added.