Women, youths well-positioned to drive cross-border trade — participants at NFNV-Nigeria

Women are “the new emerging market” and are poised to drive the post-recession world economy, as most new income growth in the post-recession world will come from women who represent an estimated $5 trillion in new female earning power in the coming years.

Women are now said to control $12 trillion of the overall $18.4 trillion in global consumer spending, and they will have their hands on an even bigger share in the coming years.

These submissions were the major takeaways from a webinar discussion organised by New Faces, New Voices (NFNV)-Nigeria, in partnership with West African Women Cross-Border Traders Association (AFOACT), held Thursday, 23rd January 2025.

The discussion was said to have been organised as a way of finding workable solutions to the numerous challenges and policy as well as regulatory issues hampering cross-border trade among the peoples of West Africa, is believed to be private initiative designed to promote inter-Africa trade.

The one-day webinar themed ‘Empower & Elevate to Advance Women and Youth Cross-Border Traders in West Africa’, organized with the support of Ellevate by Ecobank Tranisnational Incorporated, brought together 118 participants from Nigeria, Gambia, Ghana, Niger, Senegal, and, Mali, among other countries in the sub-region i.e Mozambique and Cameroon.

The discussion was opened by Hon Fatoumata Jahumpa-Ceesay, the High Commissioner, Republic of Gambia to South Africa, who said the event was a wakeup call for women and youth in the region to advantages of trading among themselves.

Setting the tone for the discussion in her Welcome Address, Aishatu Debola Aminu, Nigeria’s Country Director, NFNV and President (Interim) AFOACT, said that the discussion was primarily designed to identify and proffer solution to the challenges obstructing the effective participation of women and youths in the economic development of the sub-region.

According to her, women are a powerful driver of economic development as evidenced by economic analyses of the World Bank, United Nations, Goldman Sachs, McKinsey and other organisations.

She noted that there was a significant positive correlation between the meaningful participation of women within financial institutions and their access to and usage of financial services, with economic growth and competitiveness.

Aminu pointed that in Africa, the potential contribution of women to growth is still un-tapped. Companies with women at the highest echelons of management deliver better bottom-line results, adding that the McKinsey data in 2007 show that companies around the world where a third or more of their executive team are women score higher than those companies with no women on nine criteria of organisational excellence.

“Further data shows that companies with more women directors on Boards outperform those with the least by 83% in terms of return on equity, 73% in terms of sales and 112% in terms of return on investment (Study on Fortune 500 companies in the USA by Catalyst Inc) If the value of the unpaid, invisible work done by women, approximately US$11 trillion per year – were included, global output would be almost 50 percent greater.

“In Africa’s agriculture sector, women receive less than 10% of the credit to small farmers and less than l% of the total credit to agriculture. Africa is continent where women are responsible for 90% of food production. (Fukuda-Parr 2009) Women command less than 10% of the capital available for investment in new enterprises.

“This occurs even where women can demonstrate that they are a better credit risk than men, Female-run entrepreneurial businesses have a higher likelihood of making the transition from start-up to an established business.

“Inability to secure start-up capital remains a significant barrier for African women business owners. So, businesses and financial institutions that are successful in creating product and service offerings designed to meet the specific needs of women will be the ones to reap the rewards.

“Financial sector stakeholders and companies that create the right environment for women to thrive stand a better chance of being competitive and being leaders within their spheres of activity. Grooming women into senior leadership roles throughout the financial sector will be vital in finding solutions to the current economic crisis, and ensuring that such financial and economic crisis does not reoccur in the future,” she stated.

Anthony Luka Elumelu,  Director Private Sector ECOWAS Commission, recounts the various contributions of women, in particular, to trade in the sub-region.

Elumelu hinted that available accounts indicates that women currently contribute over N350 billion through cross -border trade to the economies of countries in Africa, despite the several constraints that surrounds doing business along border corridors in Africa.

After the opening presentations, the webinar which was moderated by Rayo Omotoso, a communication expertise, then broke into the first plenary session which was anchored by Tolulope Babajide, Gender Network Manager, FSD, Africa, Kenya.

The plenary featured four discussants namely: Chinasa Collins-Ogbuo, Advocacy and Commication Lead, EFinA, Adegboyega Adebajo, Lead Adviser, AMETHHYST & ASHLAR, Uche Uzoebo, Chief Distribution and Stakeholders Engagement, SANEF, Owureku Asare, Head of Digital Solutions at Ecobank Tranisnational Incorporated, drawn from some of the participating Financial Service Providers in Nigeria, x-rayed some of the major issues that have to do with digital financial inclusion, as well as its affordability to women and youths doing trading along the corridors in countries within ECOWAS.

The panelists suggested various measures which include the need for women and youths involved in cross-border trade to form themselves into co-operative groups, in addition to appropriate policies, legal and regulatory instrument that should be put in place to guide cross-border trade.

The second plenary discussion which has to do with overcoming challenges of cross border trade was anchored by Chidinma Eleeze, Assistant National Secretary NFNV NIGERIA and the session featured Deborah Freeman-Dangauh from Ghana, Ndeye Awa Ceesay from Gambia,  Mme. Doh Rachel Sogoba from Mali, and Saudatu Haruna Illo from Nigeria.