There are concerted efforts to support the growth of women entrepreneurs as a strategy for poverty reduction, social well-being and sustainable economic growth. One of these is anchored by a Lagos-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), Metro Women, in partnership with Creditpro Limited. They held a Female Founders Accelerators Conference in Lagos, in commemoration of Women Entrepreneurs Day. DANIEL ESSIET writes.
Women’s entrepreneurship is an invaluable tool for boosting economies and empowering women. In recent years, Nigeria has made significant progress on its socio-economic status, yet women are estimated to own a little percentage of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) and face various barriers to entrepreneurship, which include, among others, limited access to finance, infrastructure, lack of business knowledge and discriminatory social norms.
The case for investing in women’s economic empowerment is compelling.
Speaking at a Female Founders Accelerators Conference in Lagos, in commemoration of Women Entrepreneurs Day organised by Metro Women, in partnership with Creditpro Limited, the founder, Mrs. Chinenye Nnoli, said women were true agents of change whose innovations can lift communities and the nation.
Mrs. Nnoli said getting involved in business would help women gain valuable knowledge and experience to escape the poverty trap. She said with this in mind, government and the private sector should focus on giving business training and aid to women interested in entrepreneurship.
She said the country needs a business environment that enhances women entrepreneurs’ access to capital through innovative financing mechanisms, saying tackling the unique challenges faced by women entrepreneurs would require innovative approaches, including innovative financing mechanisms. To this end, she said her organisation, in partnership with Creditpro Business Support Services Limited, Soar & Heritage and Stage Africa Foundation, established a female founder’s accelerator to provide women-owned enterprises with the resources, skills and enabling environment to grow their businesses and generate sustainable and inclusive economic growth.
She said the accelerator initiative was important because it has proven to be a tool to promote economic development, stating that it would help businesses run by women entrepreneurs to scale up into successful enterprises so as to reach their full potential by providing them with 12 months of training, mentorship and advisory services at no cost.
Mrs. Nnoli said its Business Accelerator for women-led small and growing businesses and invited applications for its inaugural batch of 30 ventures, saying 30 startups were carefully chosen from over 500 applications to undergo training. Training activities will include self-assessment of business, case-study based approach to covering business basics including growth, and expansion of business and fine-tuning business plans.
During the training period, she said mentors would assist and help business owners to broadly identify the problems their ventures are facing and counter them, stating that the hub for the accelerator was provided by Access Bank and that small businesses can access up to N2 million as start-up capital.
The Chief Executive, Creditpro Business Support Services Limited, Mr. Sola Adeyiga, said his organisation was delighted to have the opportunity to champion the capacity-building of women entrepreneurs .The diversity of enterprises, he pointed out offers great scope to encourage some unique ventures, enabling women’s empowerment and their ability to support their families and add value to their neighborhoods.
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Adeyiga said the partnership was focused on strengthening women entrepreneurship, best practices, use of innovation in improving women entrepreneurs’ role in economic development and financial constraints in entrepreneurship.
The Lead Partner, Soar& Heritage, Jennifer Daniel, said her organisation was happy to be part of the Entrepreneurship Accelerator, designed to inspire, educate, and empower women.
The Accelerator, according to her, supports efforts to encourage women-owned businesses.
A major highlight of the programme was a session which banker-turned hairstylist, Bruno Oaikhinan, told the audience how he spotted a hair business opportunity in Ikeja Mall.
Oaikhinan said he decided to set up a hair salon in a Lagos mall after realising that no matter how the economy is faring, people are always prepared to spend money on their hair. At weekends it is packed with women, men and children being groomed.
He said he was always interested in hair and during his 12 years in the financial industry, took lessons and apprenticeships on the side to learn the trade. Then he spotted an opening and began saving. He noticed there was no salon in a mall and he wanted to be the first – though it was a big risk.
Eventually, he opened the hair salon which has turned to a business success.
He believes the secret of his success is having a business model that suits all budgets.
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