Category: Women In Business

The second African Women in Media Award is set to recognise women journalists who support women entrepreneurship in Africa.

The award, which is on the behest of APO Group, a pan-African communications and business consultancy, will be bestowed to the winner at the Sixth Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum’s (AWIEF) Virtual Conference and Awards.

The awards will be hosted on December 2 and 3,  with the theme “Reimagining business & rebuilding better.”

The winner will get $2,500 prize, and online courses from one of the most respected international universities.

AWIEF’s yearly event is a platform that sees global thought leaders, industry experts, policymakers, academics, development organisations and investors gather to dialogue, connect, network, share, collaborate and transact in a combined effort to boost Africa’s entrepreneurship ecosystem for women.

APO Group Chairman and founder Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard said: “The launch of our inaugural award in 2019 was successful in putting a spotlight on the work of female journalists sharing the stories of women entrepreneurs in Africa.

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“We are proud to continue the APO Group African Women in Media Award as part of our commitment to supporting the development of journalism on the continent. We look forward to presenting this award with AWIEF in Johannesburg, South Africa as we celebrate women in journalism and entrepreneurship.

”Entries for APO Group African Women in Media Award must offer valuable insights into African female entrepreneurs, while appealing to a global audience.The award is open to African woman journalists and bloggers, whether directly employed or freelancers, working in the continent of Africa who have produced a story that has been broadcast or published in English, French, Portuguese or Arabic in the form of a printed publication, a television feature, a radio story, a website or a blog whose primary audience is based in Africa.

Stories must have been broadcast or published between January 1 and October 31.

Stories are judged on content, writing, analysis, creativity, human interest and community impact.

All stories must be submitted in electronic format. The deadline for entries is October 31, 2020. And finalists will be announced on November 20, 2020, while the winner will be announced on Thursday, December 3, 2020.

Social entrepreneur Chidi Koldsweat has adopted an innovative approach to poverty reduction and rural empowerment. Through Donors for Africa Foundation, a grant management organisation, which she started, she has taken capacity building for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to a new level, training them on how to raise funds to carry out developmental activities, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

For social entrepreneur Chidi Koldsweat, strengthening the capacity of social innovators, non-profit organisations, and social enterprises to access funds via training, is key to building sustainable organisations and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) enunciated by the United Nations (UN).

Accordingly, Koldsweat has, in the past 12 years, been demonstrating her conviction that this is the way to go to empower and unleash the potential of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to contribute immensely to socio-economic development. This is by riding on the back of Donors for Africa Foundation, a grant management organisation, which, which she started.

Through the foundation, which works with governments, funding institutions, the private sector, philanthropy organisations, NGOs and social impact leaders to break the poverty cycle, she has been training and funding lifelines to NGOs across Nigeria and beyond.

The results of her interventions have been visible. For instance, over 500 non-profit organisations have been trained. The foundation, she told The Nation, has also raised over $750,000 in funding. She also reaches over 22,000 unique accounts weekly on her learning platform where she provides knowledge to her nonprofit community.

As proof of Koldsweat’s growing popularity and acceptability of her approach to poverty reduction, her organisation received the ‘Social Media for Social Good Award’ under the NGO category.

She was also recently drafted into the African Youth Front on COVID-19, launched by the African Union (AU) Office of the Youth Envoy with the support of Africa Center for Disease Control & Prevention (Africa CDC) where she represents the Moremi Initiative’s Leadership and Empowerment Development (MILEAD) Network, Africa.

Founded in 2004, MILEAD is a pan-African non-profit organisation with a vision for society “where African women and girls thrive and participate fully in the transformation of the continent.”

The initiative strives to engage, inspire and equip young women and girls to become the next generation of leading politicians, activists, social entrepreneurs and change agents.

Donors for Africa also recently launched the premiere digital Social Innovators Bootcamp and has recorded tremendous impact over a short time.

Koldsweat earned a Master’s degree in Public Administration and International Affairs from the University of Lagos, Nigeria. She is currently pursuing a leadership certificate in International Organisational Management at the University of Geneva.

With over 12 years experience in the development space, working across sectors such as health, gender (women and girls in leadership, business, and politics), organisational management and sustainability strategy, a string of awards and recognitions attest to Koldsweat’s prowess in her chosen field.

For instance, she flew the Nigerian flag at the launch of the Arab-African Youth Platform in 2019, where she pitched her organisation’s work at the World Bank Youth Summit. Also, in 2014, CEO Global gave her an award as ‘Africa’s Most Influential Woman in Management, Business & Public Service (civil society category).

In the same year, Koldsweat was nominated by the Chinese Embassy to participate in the three-week cultural exchange programme under the Chinese Association for International Understanding. In 2011, she was selected among Africa’s 25 most outstanding emerging women leaders under the MILEAD.

Again, in 2013, she became a ‘Vital Voices Lead Fellow’ and was also nominated amongst the 100 unseen women changing her world.

On the strength of the awards and recognitions, Koldsweat continues to focus on creating long-term solutions that improve the lives of Africans at the grassroots, through policy formulation, strategy and implementation.

Rotary Club of Yaba Courteville has empowered over 500 women in Panke Community in Makoko, Lagos State.

They were empowered with various skills.

The gesture was in line with the club’s Economic & Community Development Programme, as well as the drive to alleviate poverty for women in impacted communities.

Its President Alaka Olufemi said the intervention was to improve the capacity of the women. He said the club was propelled to embark on the intervention as part of its mandate to improve the lot of women in need.

According to Olufemi, the challenges facing women in such environments attracted the attention of the humanitarian organisation.

The club, Alaka said, resolved to intervene in the plight of women in the community after an assessment test conducted revealed there was need to improve their economic and social conditions.

This, he said, motivated the club to design skills acquisition programmes that would enhance the welfare of women.

Olufemi said besides assisting them with skills, the club has also donated food items, which it considered vital to the nourishment of their families especially widows and others in need.

He spoke of plans by the club to embark on community outreach health programmes for residents of Panke Community and affirmed that the Club has concluded plans to sponsor the education of indigent women in the community in addition to providing them with boreholes for clean water.

Olufemi said: “As we embark on social and economic intervention programmes, which have become imperative following the COVID – 19 pandemic, we emphasise that reaching out to women communities remains a critical pillar in our engagement.

“We are convinced that giving out assistance to women should be sustained in the drive to push for a well-rounded society. As we continue our assistance programmes, we call on the government to look at ways of ameliorating the plight of women in very poor communities such as Panke in Makoko.’ Access roads, health facilities, schools remain the least that the government could provide.”

The President-elect of the club, Ezinwa Iwelu, said the club was worried about the economic empowerment of Panke Community, hence, the decision to expand its intervention net in business empowerment.

She said the club would continue to provide training for indigent women in Panke Community to boost their self-confidence and contribution to the society.

Iwelu said: “As a club, issues affecting women remain critical in our community intervention drive. This explains why we continue to push for economic empowerment through skills acquisition initiatives for women in neglected and impoverished communities.

“As we embark on other humanitarian ventures such as donation of food and other items to impacted communities, we emphasize the message that women must improve their lot, imbibe the culture of saving so that they could sustain their lives in times of emergency and contribute significantly to community development.”

Iwele said the club holds training in soap and bead making for over 500 women in Panke Community yearly, noting that there was the need to bridge the poverty gap through economic empowerment of women because they have a huge role to play in community development.

The disproportionate representation of women in the oil and gas industry is glaring. Women make up just 15 per cent of the world’s oil and gas workforce. The level of gender diversity in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector is even lower. Education, gender bias and access to capital are key inhibitors to proportionate women representation in the industry. But, at a recent Women in energy webinar, women energy leaders brainstormed on how to remove the hurdles to women’s participation. Assistant Editor CHIKODI OKEREOCHA reports.

The global oil, gas and energy sector, including Nigeria’s, still has a long way to go to achieve gender diversity. While women make up 22 per cent of employees in the oil and gas industry worldwide, according to research firm Catalyst, this gender diversity increases with seniority. For instance, entry-level positions comprised 27 per cent women, 17 per cent are at senior and executive-level positions and just one per cent of oil and gas chief executive officers are women.

According to experts, the lack of female representation at the top levels of oil and gas is because of lack of women in technical and field roles, as these roles are often stepping stones to advancement. Women are more likely to hold positions in support functions such as human resources, information technology and legal, with less representation across manufacturing, engineering and research.

The Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Simbi Wabote, admitted that there are fewer women in oil and gas jobs.

He stated that the level of gender diversity in the oil and gas sector is low, stressing that more women should be encouraged to aspire to higher positions of leadership and authority in the industry.

Quoting a study by the Global Energy Talent Index Report, which indicated that there is a chronic shortage of women in the oil and gas industry, Wabote said: “It is estimated that women occupy about 50 per cent of non-technical positions at entry-level compared to only 15 per cent of technical and field role positions.

“Gender diversity decreases with seniority with only a tiny proportion of women in executive positions. The percentage of women in the industry drops over time from 36 per cent to 24 per cent between the middle and executive level.”

He, however, said NCDMB was working on policies that would ease the participation of women in business in the oil and gas industry.

Speaking at the close of a workshop organised for women in the industry in Lagos, Wabote, who recently got President Muhammadu Buhari’s nod for a second term at NCDMB, said some of the planned policies to achieve gender diversity in the industry include access to funding, the award of contracts, and support for research and development.

He said, for instance, that the Board would review its strategy on the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund (NCI Fund), saying: “Access to finance is very important and we will look at our policy to see how we can support women who are serious to do business.”

Incidentally, the ‘Women in Energy’ webinar co-hosted by Africa Oil & Power (AOP) and the African Energy Chamber identified access to capital, education, and gender bias as key inhibitors to proportionate female representation in the oil and gas industry.

While AOP is the continent’s leading investment platform for the energy sector, the African Energy Chamber works with indigenous companies throughout the continent in optimising their reach and network.

Their position on female representation in the oil and gas industry was underscored by a  study by United States-based management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, which said women make up just 15 per cent of the world’s oil and gas workforce.

The consulting firm also placed female industry participation in the power and utilities sector at 17 per cent, while women make up 32 per cent of the renewable energy workforce.

However, the ‘Women in Energy’ webinar held on Thursday, last week brought together Africa’s female energy leaders to brainstorm on how women can help bridge the talent gap, break the glass ceiling and overcome obstacles to equal participation in oil and gas.

The webinar served as part of the ‘Women in energy’ series and #EqualBy30 initiative, which centers on driving female participation in the global transition to clean energy future.

The webinar panel comprised Principal Reservoir Engineer, Oando Energy Resources, Oluseun Solanke; Head, Exploration, Azinam, Selma Usiku; Executive Chairman, Der Mond Oil & Gas, Khadijah A Ba; and Managing Director, MT Energy Resources, Mirelle Toulekima.

The panel noted that in Africa and the Middle East, women make up just nine per cent of senior management positions in the energy sector, with gender diversity decreasing with seniority.

Women also make up less than eight per cent of technical jobs in the sector, and just nine per cent of management positions in the utility sector.

The panel identified one of the primary inhibitors to active female participation within the industry as access to education, specifically in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM).

“Boston Consulting Group (BCG) published a study on gender parity in the oil and gas industry that found that 54 per cent of post-secondary scholars are female, yet only 27 per cent are in the STEM subjects,” Solanke said. “Why is this? One of the reasons put forth by the study is that traditional ideas about the oil and gas industry are quite macho-centric,” he stated.

In some cases, limited and unequal access to education has come as a relic of former government regimes that denied indigenous populations the opportunity to take ownership over natural resources and related employment.

“There is a social-political motivation behind it. For example, Namibia’s political history pre-independence was extremely difficult – the regime not only focused on racial segregation, but also the types of employment that were available to Namibians who were black,” says Usiku.

The General Manager, Amber Energy Drinks Limited, makers of energy drink Amber, Ms. Titiola Adedeji, has taken the company’s empowerment campaign to radio stations in Lagos.

This followed the launch of the company’s scheme tagged Amber Empowerment Scheme (AES), to improve the standard of living of Nigerians, especially at this critical period of COVID-19.

The Amber team was at Nigeria Info, Wazobia FM, Cool FM (members of the AIM group), Traffic Radio, and City FM to sensitise Nigerians on the empowerment.

Adedeji, who spoke on the rationale for the empowerment programme, said with the economic situation, Amber Drinks deemed it necessary to alleviate the pains of average Nigerians by providing them the opportunity to own and grow their businesses through soft loans and business support initiatives.

“We decided to give trade loans in the form of N100, 000 worth of products to start-up beneficiaries and watch them grow. Every quarter, we want to empower 400 applicants in the start-up loan programme and 200 applicants in the business support loan program,” she explained.

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Adedeji said with a below-market interest rate of five per cent flat, the start-up loan offers the beneficiaries N100, 000 and a four-month repayment plan with the first 30 days interest-free.

The business support features rent-to-own recharge spots, which will cater to individuals small-time beverage retailers that need support to grow.

Applicants will be given branded recharge spots on payment by instalments. More so, the company would open an account for beneficiaries and each person will be credited with N100, 000 only.

This will, then, be debited with 20 cartons of Amber Energy Drink, which would be traded in for repayment by the beneficiaries.

On the modalities and qualifications for the scheme, Amber Energy Drinks Head of Sales, Mrs. Temitope Adetiba, said the company has  arranged to make the exercise seamless for applicants.“The application process is very simple and seamless. Applicants are required to provide two guarantors and provide basic identification means for documentation. They are then taken through some training before the products are given to them,” Mrs Adetiba explained.

The ‘World Bank’s Global Gender Gap Index 2020’ ranked Nigeria 128th of 153 countries and 27th of 53 countries in Africa. This, according to experts, implies that the country still has a long way to go to attain gender equality and equal representation for women. However, while Nigeria is said to have done well in bridging the gender gap in economic participation and opportunity, her performance in political empowerment has been very low. Assistant Editor CHIKODI OKEREOCHA reports.

The strong entrepreneurial spirit of Nigerian women has never been in doubt. The Chief Economist & Partner, West Africa Financial Services Leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC Nigeria), Dr. Andrew S. Nevin, confirmed this much when he said Nigerian women account for 41 per cent ownership of micro-businesses in Nigeria, with 23 million female entrepreneurs operating within this segment.

Nevin in PwC’s report entitled: “Impact of women on Nigeria’s economy”, said this places Nigeria among the highest entrepreneurship rates globally. He noted that the high-level participation of female entrepreneurs is, however, often driven mainly by necessity, which is the norm in emerging markets like Nigeria where there is insufficient formal employment.

Necessity-driven entrepreneurs are those who are pushed into starting businesses because they have no other source of income. Consequently, despite the high-level of female entrepreneurs relative to most countries, Nevin said there were challenges in the country that limit women from scaling-up their businesses.

The PwC’s report, which was made available to The Nation, assessed the impact of women on Nigeria’s economic development through analysis of women’s participation and representation in the private and public sectors. It was the first of two reports by PwC highlighting the impact of women on Nigeria’s economic development.

Noting that there are barriers that limit women from scaling-up their businesses, Nevin said in the formal sector, very important results are emerging. For instance, at the lower levels in formal employment there is almost an even 50-50 split in the workplace between men and women.

However, as both sexes climb up the corporate ladder, women begin to decline in representation on the senior leadership teams and at the board level. “As a result, women own only 20 per cent of enterprises in the formal sector in Nigeria.

“Furthermore, only about 12 per cent of directors on corporate boards of directors are women,” Nevin, who was the report’s lead author, said, adding, depressingly: “Taken all together, at the rate Nigeria is changing on these critical dimensions, the Nigerian gender gap in the economy will only close in about 100 years.”

According to the report, which was co-authored by PwC’s Economist/Manager Omomia Omosomi, Nigeria remained within the 100th and 130th position out of 153 countries, over the last 10 years (2010-2019), reflecting low level of gender equality compared to peers. By last year, the country ranked 128th in the world and 27th in Africa out of 153 countries (and 53 in Africa) surveyed.

On average, the country has not improved in closing the gender equality gap and has remained within the 60 to 63 per cent score-line for the last decade. Furthermore, the country ranked below peers such as Brazil (69 per cent), India (66 per cent), China (67 per cent) and Mexico (75 per cent).

However, Nigeria has had varied performance across the various sub-indexes: education, economic opportunity, politics and health. While Nigeria has done well in bridging the gender gap in economic participation and opportunity, its performance in political empowerment has been very low – only three per cent of the gender gap has been closed in this area. .

For instance, Nigeria ranked 11th in Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) and 38th globally on the economic participation and opportunity sub-index of the global gender gap index. According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), Nigerian women represent 65 per cent of skilled professionals, but account for only 30 per cent of senior corporate leadership positions.

Nigeria also ranked first on the professional and technical workers sub-index, having more women than men with a ratio of 1.83 to 1.

Political empowerment for women, however, remain very low. For instance, Nigeria ranked 146th and scored only three per cent on the political empowerment index – with only 11 per cent representation on the presidential cabinet and less than six per cent in Parliament.

The report said political empowerment for women is very low in Nigeria, with the country significantly behind its counterparts, including Rwanda, South Africa, Ethiopia and Ghana. Benchmarking Nigeria against these four countries, the report said Nigeria has the lowest representation of women in the Lower House.

For instance, in Nigeria, the House of Representatives comprises 359 seats, with women accounting for only six per cent of the total number of elected representatives, but in Rwanda, the Lower House comprises 80 seats, with women representing 61 per cent of the total elected representatives.

Similarly, South Africa’s House of Representatives holds 393 seats, with women accounting for about 43 per cent. Also, Ethiopia accounts for 547 seats in the Lower House with 39 per cent of elected female representatives. And in Sudan, the Lower House comprises 488 seats, with 28 per cent of women represented.

The upper chamber, the Senate, is no less depressing for women. For instance, women account for roughly six per cent of the Senators in the National Assembly in Nigeria, while women represent 38 per cent of the Senators in Sudan’s National Assembly.

In South Africa, women represent 35 per cent of the Senate, while the Sudan Upper House has about 27 per cent of female Senators.

Why political empowerment for women matters

Quoting María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, the President, United Nations General Assembly for the 73rd session, the PwC report said underrepresentation of women in political life contributes to exacerbating inequality.

“If half of the population is excluded, sustainable development is just a thought. If elected, women are more likely to speak, advocate, symbolise, and act on behalf of women and children compared to their male counterparts,” it quoted Garcés as saying.

It follows that female politicians are better equipped to represent the interests of female voters because they, at least to some extent, share the same experiences. Women in the government are also committed to a more equal distribution of valuable societal resources (e.g. income, education, and wealth).

Research has shown that women in government tend to work in more collaborative and bipartisan ways and employ a more democratic leadership style compared to men’s more autocratic style.

Women are also more effective at building coalitions and reaching consensus. According to the World Economic Forum, electing more women in government not only promotes gender equality and strengthens democratic institutions, but also makes real and substantive contributions to government spending and population health.

Will Nigerian women throw their hats to the political ring? Will they translate their successes in the business and entrepreneurial space to engage their male counterparts for political offices? Time, they say, will tell.

Financial services provider FirstBank of Nigeria Limited has appointed Mrs. Oluwande Muoyo asa non-executive director.

Mrs. Muoyo joined the board of FirstBank from FBN Holdings Plc, the parent company of FirstBank of Nigeria Limited.

Announcing the appointment, FirstBank CEO Dr. Adesola Adeduntan said: “We are excited to welcome Mrs. Oluwande Muoyo to the FirstBank board.

“She brings to the board her depth of experience which spans over three decades in various leadership and strategic positions across the private and public sectors.

“I am assured that these rich experiences will have an immediate impact in the board which will transcend the activities of the Bank as a whole.”

“On behalf of the board, management and staff of FirstBank, I congratulate Mrs. Muoyo and look forward to working with her.”

Mrs. Muoyo is a chartered accountant, banker and former Commissioner for Budget and Planning in Ogun State.

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Prior to her appointment as commissioner, Oluwande worked with Stanbic IBTC Bank for over 22 years in various departments, including Financial Control, Treasury and Financial Services, Trade Finance and Corporate Banking.

The new Non-Executive Director holds a BSc degree in Accounting from the University of Lagos. She started her career with the international firm Price Waterhouse (now PriceWaterhouseCoopers).

Mrs. Muoyo is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria.

She has, over the years, acquired competencies and skills in public financial management, policy formulation, business development, banking, budgeting, planning, auditing and taxation.

Mrs. Muoyo’s past directorships included the Governing Board of the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics and FBN Holdings Plc.

She has attended many training programmes including Strategic Marketing Management at Harvard Business School, Advanced Strategy at INSEAD and Advanced Management Programme at the Lagos Business School.

Muoyo is married with children and enjoys reading and swimming.