More women are fast becoming the main breadwinners for their households, yet the society and investment space have not recognized the contribution of these women, by deliberately increasing investment into their endeavors. In the low-income bracket in Africa, over 80% of women are the sole breadwinners for their families through trading, farming, and micro and quasi-small businesses. A 2016 survey by the National Bureau of Statistics revealed that in Nigeria, 21.1% of households are female-led.
The challenges of single female breadwinners are unique, most of these women require adequate knowledge, microloans, and investments to expand their businesses and careers, and most importantly a community to support and enable them to thrive. Wevvo Nigeria, launched in October 2019 by Weyinmi Eribo, has grown its community base to over 300 women in over one year with an ambitious goal to support 1 million single female breadwinners in 5 years.
Wevvo Nigeria was founded to cater to 4 different groups of women: single mothers who were never married, mothers who are divorced, widows, and sibling breadwinners. The organization is taking a three thronged approach in its bid to support women who are responsible for their households through its community support, the Academy, and its marketplace.
Wevvo in the last year has created a community of single female breadwinners spread across several states here in Nigeria and through a series of events, webinars, podcasts, blogs, and more, Wevvo is starting conversations towards changing the narratives of stereotypes and addressing the stigmatization that single female breadwinners face. The intention is to create a safe space for these women to share, heal, grow and connect.
The Wevvo academy provides enterprise development training and support for women entrepreneurs within the community through partnerships with training organizations and in-house webinars. There is currently the Wevvo Speed program, which is a free acceleration program for entrepreneurs who have run businesses for between 1 and 3 years. At the end of the training, the beneficiaries are provided with single-digit interest growth loans to boost the capacity of their businesses. The pilot program in 2019/2020 was self-funded but for the current cycle, which is the second, Wevvo Nigeria has partnered with She included, a woman-centered company focused on providing access to financial growth services to provide loans for the beneficiaries. The Academy has also partnered with Techytrain, which is an online tech training company in its Academy.
Access to financial products and services is a major hurdle for single female breadwinners, with the marketplace, Wevvo Nigeria provides access to microloans, investments, microinsurance, and other support services to the women in the community.
Wevvo recently partnered with Lapo Microfinance Bank, Nigeria’s largest microfinance bank, to provide loans for business and personal needs at 5% reducing balance interest to the Wevvo women. This partnership is open to all Wevvo community members spread across Nigeria. Also, for investment opportunities, Wevvo partnered with ARM financial advisors, Nigeria’s foremost investment advisory company, through its Money market mutual funds. Under this partnership, women can invest N2000, N5000, and N10,000 monthly into the community fund account.
Wevvo has also partnered with Micro Investment Support Services (MISS) which provides equipment leasing opportunities for Wevvo community members in Lagos, Ibadan, and Port-Harcourt. Several women have through this partnership, obtained deep freezers and other equipment to boost the capacity of their businesses.
Furthermore, Wevvo also has a partnership agreement with GOXI Micro Insurance company to provide microinsurance for small business owners within the community. Under this partnership, women can pay a premium as little as N300 monthly. In the case of a fire, special perils, theft, and burglary of contents of a business, a subscriber can access up to N300,000 cover. Other monthly premium options are also available through this partnership.
Women struggle in so many ways but for women responsible for their households it is worse. It is a full circle of negligence and lack of appreciation for the struggles they experience. The narrative of single mothers continues to stigmatize women, creating gaps in business support, career growth, life generally and even opportunities for their children. It remains a top priority at Wevvo Nigeria to continue to provide opportunities for single female breadwinners to thrive.
