*Say over 41% of women lacks access to financial facility
A group of female entrepreneurs under the umbrella name of WEConnect International Women, has lamented poor access to financial services as the major problem affecting the growth of their business.
The women who spoke in Abuja, during the 2023 African Regional Conference with the theme, “Impact Through Connection”, said that more than 41 per cent of women doing micro-businesses in Nigeria have no access to any form of financial facility to support their enterprise.
Speaking during the conference, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, said that women’s participation in business enterprises has attracted much attention from policy makers and researchers.
Mrs. Ahmed, who was represented by a Director in the Ministry, Olushola Dada, added that overlooking women owned businesses, many organizations are missing opportunities to expand their global markets, diversify and upgrade their supply chain, grow the economy and increase the purchasing power of women consumers, while simultaneously improving the lives of women and girls around the world.
She said: “This conference is indeed timely and would offer a very unique platform, to cross fertilize ideas with relevant stakeholders and build synergies to foster a regime of corporate procurement that would address gender gap in procurement, by integrating gender consideration into procurement policies, processes, and practices that would enhance more business opportunities for women entrepreneurs.”
In his remarks, Country Director, WEConnect International, Yeshua Russel, noted that the WEConnect aimed at educating women business owners on accessing new markets and growing their companies, and also buyers on how to identify and source from women-owned businesses.
He said: “Those companies that buy products and services from women owned businesses tend out to be more successful, more creative, more diversified, and actually have wide goods of products and services to buy from.
“So, if you are not buying products women owned businesses, you are ignoring half of the creativity and opportunities for your supply chain. So, if a woman has a business she buys from women,
“What we are trying to do is to have multiple a programs that we are launching and running which is designed to encourage women to buy from others women aggregation. So, aggregation is not just an agricultural product, you can aggregate services.”
In her address, the Executive Director, Fidelity Bank Plc, Mrs. Pamela Shodipo, said that over 23 million female entrepreneurs were operating in segment.
Shodipo said: “Nigerian women are less likely than Nigerian men to use formal regulated financial services such as bank accounts, even when factors such as income, education, and trust in financial service providers are held equal.
“Another World Bank report on women in Sub-Saharan Africa stated that women’s access to economic opportunities is undermined by their lower access to production inputs. Female farmers have less access to information as agricultural extension networks are dominated by men. Throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, women are disproportionately limited in their land ownership and transfer rights.
“Surprisingly, despite myriad of challenges faced by women across the world, they continue to play a significant role in driving the economic, social and cultural development of local communities.”
