According to Pricewaterhouse Cooper (PwC), women in Nigeria account for 41 percent of the ownership of micro-businesses in the country. Women entrepreneurs are boosting industries, fostering innovation, and creating jobs all across the world. However, they are frequently limited by systemic challenges including limited access to finance or capacity-building opportunities, and they also encounter severe legal, cultural, and societal difficulties in many low-income nations

Women participate in the economy primarily through entrepreneurial businesses, most of which are Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME).  MSMEs employ 84% of Nigeria’s labor force and contribute 48.47% to Nigeria’s GDP.  However, in Nigeria, 54% fewer MSMEs have female ownership than in sub-Saharan Africa as a whole.  Only 16.8% of small enterprises and 12.2% of medium enterprises are owned by females in Nigeria, compared to 35% and 29% in sub-Saharan Africa (Mastercard)

Access to Finance is often cited as one of the major factors impeding the growth of women-owned businesses in developing countries. The key barriers include lack of ownership of collateral – as tradition would seldom cede property rights to women; coupled with the absence of credit histories – owing to the fact that most women businesses are informally organized.

A recent World Bank report on the “Investment Climate in Nigeria” showed that capital rather than productivity narrows the range of activities in which women engage. The report also showed that most women (76 percent) rely mostly on internal funds and retained earnings and that only about 1 percent obtain capital from the formal financial sector. The report substantiates that formal financial institutions, especially banks, have not supported women, entrepreneurs, as much as they could have (Halkias et al., 2011).

Small and medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in market economies are the engine of growth and development. SMEs contribute to sustainable growth and employment generation in a significant manner and Increasing access to finance for women-owned or operated businesses is a sound strategy for financial institutions if they are to establish a foothold in the SME space.

Therefore, supporting women’s entrepreneurship by means of training and granting financial support is a crucial step to take towards guaranteeing the contribution of women to national economic development.

Having been involved in capacity building and business training for women entrepreneurs for over 4 years through the prestigious African Women Summit, Built to Last series, and other projects, Engage Empower Educate Initiative highlighting the various challenges faced by women entrepreneurs present; The Access to Finance Summit for Women-led MSMEs In Nigeria.

The Access to finance summit will unlock financial opportunities available to women-led Medium scale medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria. It will provide a shared platform for diverse stakeholders, and financial institutions to expose opportunities for women businesses to secure funding and boost economic growth in Nigeria.

It will also create an opportunity for women-led businesses to be trained appropriately in structuring, creating organizational systems, and positioning their businesses to access finance.

This conference will bring together over 500 female business owners, financial institutions, and investors to exchange candid views on ways to overcome challenges to unlock financing opportunities and enable women businesses to secure funding. we will also stream online to our database of over 10,000 women.