Foundation partners telco to support women entrepreneurs

In line with its commitment to support women towards developing the skills need to grow Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), Cherie Blair Foundation for Women (CBFW) has partnered with Nigeria’s telecoms services provider, 9mobile, to promote the foundation’s business skills app, HerVenture, to women entrepreneurs in Nigeria.

The collaboration was in commemoration of year 2020 Global Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, which took place on Thursday November 19, 2020.

Based on the partnership, 9mobile will harness its technology and networks to successfully run the app by leveraging a combination of its technology and technical expertise with the foundation’s products and programmes. This will enable the upscale provision of integrated mobile business support services for women entrepreneurs in Nigeria.

In addition to its tech and network support, the mobile telecommunication company will also launch innovative online banking facilities for women entrepreneurs, Payment Service Bank (9PSB), for added value.

Given the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the imperative to fast-track the world into a digital economy and create more women entrepreneurs, there is an urgent need to support women to develop the business skills needed to succeed now and post-pandemic, hence, the need for the foundation to enhance HerVenture app to offer new opportunities in the digital space, including e-commerce and digital marketing.

CEO of the CBFW, Helen McEachern said: “We are thrilled to be working with 9mobile to help bring HerVenture to even more women in Nigeria. Mobile companies have a powerful role in steering women to the support, products, and services they need to grow their businesses and support economic recovery. Through working with the Foundation, 9mobile is helping to level the playing field for women entrepreneurs with the essential skills they need to make their businesses resilient and grow.

“So far, over 20,000 women entrepreneurs have been supported through HerVenture in Nigeria, with 99 per cent finding the training delivered on the app to be very useful. Users found that, on average, their profits increased by 38 per cent, and 88 per cent of users increased their customer numbers. Also, 89 per cent of the Nigerian women using the app also reported that the networks they had developed in the app had been helpful.

Building on this success, the partnership aims to help thousands more women-owned MSMEs to survive the pandemic by facilitating the uptake of the app’s COVID-adapted offer to women entrepreneurs.

CEO of 9mobile, Alan Sinfield, said: “9mobile recognises the importance of leveraging its technology to support women, who are a very important segment of the society, to build and grow resilient businesses through this pandemic and beyond. We’re delighted to be working with the CBFW to support their efforts to advance women’s entrepreneurship potential in Nigeria.”