In a landmark move to bridge the digital gender gap and stimulate national productivity, the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, has officially launched the ‘Happy Woman’ digital platform.

Hosted by Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, the honourable minister of Women Affairs, the private launch was held at the Delborough hotel in commemoration of International Women’s Day 2026 under the theme, “Empowering Women, Transforming Economies”.

The aim of the platform is to provide a robust ecosystem for skills acquisition, market visibility, and financial inclusion for millions of Nigerian women.

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The event drew a high-powered audience from the public and private sectors, signaling strong institutional support for the project. Among the distinguished guests were Hon. Kafilat Ogbara, chairman, House Committee on Women Affairs, Alhaji Dr, Umaru Kwairanga, chairman of the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX), Dr. Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, managing director and Chief Executive Officer of Fidelity Bank Plc, Adobi Nwapa, executive director Zenith Bank, and other senior executives from financial services, FMCG, and oil & gas sectors, alongside organisations such as WIMBIZ and the Bank of Industry.

A vision for economic transformation

The platform is designed as a private-sector-led, government-backed intervention to move beyond traditional training models toward direct economic results.

The minister highlighted the necessity of the project, noting that the “women’s space” required a more coordinated, data-driven approach to track and measure government impact.

Reflecting on the platform’s journey, Sulaiman-Ibrahim remarked,

“This means we can work together to create prosperity. This vision is bigger than any one person. If we achieve this scale for the Nigerian woman, Nigeria will never be the same again.”

She further emphasised the urgency of the mission, noting that in a country playing “catch-up,” every citizen must act as a “main striker” to drive development.

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The 100,000 jobs goal

Central to the launch is the Creator Economy Program, a flagship initiative aimed at training one million women in digital marketing, video editing, and social media management. Kunle Erinle, lead technology developer of the app, and CEO of The Intelligent Innovations company, explained that the objective is to create 100,000 immediate jobs within the first five years.

“The digital economy is the fastest-growing sector anywhere in the world,” Erinle asserted. He noted that while Nigeria has approximately 40 to 60 million unique smartphone users, many women lack the bridge to monetisation.

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“In weeks, you can literally train a woman and give her the skills to open what we call a micro-agency. Our goal is to create 100,000 jobs, not just 100,000 trained people. We want to turn Nigeria into a global hub for the digital economy.”

These services will target both local and global businesses, positioning Nigerian women as a scalable digital workforce.

Bridging the ‘market access’ gap

The platform addresses a critical bottleneck identified through extensive research, which Dr. Sara Benjamin, special assistant to the Minister on Digital Inclusion, emphasised that while many women initially ask for capital, their underlying need is often a marketplace.

“We thought the biggest challenge was money, but we quickly realised that women are saying, ‘We need access to markets; we want to sell more”, Benjamin noted.

The platform, therefore, provides a digital showcase where women from Lagos to Borno can export their services and products to a global audience, including the Nigerian diaspora.

Similarly, Umaru Kwairanga noted, “For Nigeria to achieve inclusive growth, we must create intentional pathways for women to participate in the economy at scale”.

Call for social impact champions

The event also introduced the Social Impact Champion Initiative, inviting private sector leaders to partner with the ministry. Partners will be granted access to a transparent dashboard to monitor the progress of the women they sponsor.

As the era of the “Happy Woman” begins, the initiative promises more than just digital literacy; it offers a pathway to what Aisha Ndidigwe, a specialist on the team, described as “simple happiness.”

“Happiness is not just about luxury items,” she said. “It is the simple things like waking up to healthy children, being able to afford bills, and putting food on the table. This platform is about access, support, community, and hope.”

The app will be available on all platforms and applications will open from April 3, 2026.

 

 

 

Ngozi Ekugo is a Senior Correspondent at BusinessDay. She holds a Masters in management from the University of Lagos, an undergraduate from University of Lagos, and is in an alumni of Queen's College. Shes currently an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM). She has a brief experience at Goldman sachs, London in its Human Capital Management division. She is interested in human capital development and is leveraging her varied experience across sectors to report labour and global mobility trends for stakeholders to make informed decisions.

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