The law firm of Charles Anthony LLP has partnered a non-governmental organisation to break the barriers that hold women back in the export business, report JOSEPH JIBUEZE and ROBERT EGBE.
In March 2001, Mr. Charles Adeogun-Phillips was appointed Senior Trial Attorney and Lead Counsel at the United Nations International Tribunal for Rwanda.
For over a decade, he led teams of international lawyers in the prosecution of those responsible for the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, in which an estimated 800 civilians were killed, most of them men.
His interaction with widows, most of who lost their husbands in the genocide, shaped his view about women.
He realised that given the right opportunities and if empowered, less-privileged women could be agents of social change, economic growth and development.
When the opportunity came to empower women, his firm, Charles Anthony LLP, did just that as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR).
Adeogun-Phillips chairs the Board of Trustees of the New Faces New Voices (NFNV), a pan-African organisation of women in finance and business.
It was founded in 2009 as part of the Graca Machel Trust, an initiative of wife of former South African President the late Nelson Mandela, Mrs. Graca Machel.
“Basically, this was a natural choice for me to be involved in an organisation that seeks to empower women and alleviate poverty,” he said.
NFNV-Nigeria has partnered with world’s largest logistics company, UPS, to boost West African cross-border trade and enhance the export capacity of women producers in Nigeria. The NGO’s board members met with UPS leadership in Lagos to explore areas of collaboration and strategies.
On the essence of the partnership, Adeogun-Phillips said: “It’s a corporate social responsibility of the firm, to assist New Faces New Voices, which is part of the Graca Machel Trust. The focus is on empowerment of women and access to finance in particular.
“This particular project is to enhance the power of women in the informal sector to enhance their capacity to overcome the barriers of documentation, access to credit, and more importantly, access to international trade.
“That’s why we’ve partnered UPS to help many of the women, such as shea butter farmers and cashew nut farmers, to be able to export their products beyond the borders of Nigeria, initially to other neighbouring African countries.
“As UPS themselves said, they’re more interested in international trade. What they want us to do is to leverage our partnership with them to reach markets that are way beyond reach of the average shea butter, cashew nut farmers.”
Tackling impediments
NFNV National Secretary Eniola Dada said women in cross border trading face constraints such as sexual harassment, insensitive gender blind immigration officials, poor transportation network, customs fees and other unofficial payments and lack of financial services.
Tackling such constraints, she said, would go a long in reducing poverty on the continent, creating employment and boosting income opportunities.
NFNV Country Director, Aishatu Aminu, said the aim was to move more women from the informal sector to the formal sector.
According to her, women involved in cross border trade contribute to market/product diversification and increased outlet for goods produced in the sub-region.
She urged the UPS Foundation to help with the establishment of incubation centres to give more women access to information and help.
Aminu identified other challenges faced by women, such as lack of visibility, harassment, lack of recognition of their economic contribution, lack of data on their number and sectors, as well as security and safety challenges.
She called for more institutional support, implementation of regional trading agreements and protocols, training of law enforcement agents at the borders on the role of women cross border traders and how to handle them, as well as conversion of such traders to small exporters.
UPS pledges support
UPS President, Indian Subcontinent, Middle East and Africa, Jean Francois Condamine, pledged to support NFNV towards achieving its objectives.
He said his organisation would not only support cross border traders, but would help women engage in what he called “long export”.
“We can help you link with those in Europe,” he said.
Condamine said UPS would also facilitate training and capacity for women through the NGO. “Knowledge transfer on import/export is very key,” he said.
According to him, the partnership’s aim was to enable NFNV achieve its objectives. “The idea is to expand this concept to make you even stronger,” he said.
Condamine offered the NGO the use of its Lagos office as an incubation centre, where women, who are interested in export, can obtain information and get advice.
UPS Vice President, Public Affairs, Esther Ndichu, disclosed that the organisation would launch a “100,000 Women Exporters Initiative” next year.
She urged NFNV to take advantage of the programme in its bid to help more women achieve their trade goals and expand their businesses.
“Our pillar in public affairs is opening up international trade,” Ndichu said.
Both organisations promised to meet again towards strengthening the partnership.
