According to Hon. Stella Okotete, the NEXIM Bank Executive Director for Business Development, the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) launched the SheTrades initiative targeted at empowering Three Million women entrepreneurs by 2021 in Nigeria along with the International Trade Centre to unlock markets for women, but little has been felt especially by women who run micro enterprises or informal businesses.
Whilst asserting that women are the biggest players in the nation’s non-oil sector but they are the least benefiting group, she affirmed that there is a need for an awakening amongst women to take charge of what rightfully belongs to them and the need for them to support each other in climbing the ladder of success.
Okotete who made this call during the #Herconomy Conference and the third edition of #AGSTribe Annual Enterprise Challenge where Africa’s first socio-economic empowerment mobile application for women was unveiled, also shared case studies of women who had taken advantage of the Federal Government’s policy reforms on exports, and counselled participants at the event about how to get enlisted and registered with the Nigeria Export Import Bank (NEXIM) for resource opportunities.
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Nneka Ogboi, CEO, Mash Baby Foods emerged winner and clinched the grand prize of 1,500,000 NGN, while Ejiro Ogunmor, CEO, Anaborhi Nigeria came second with a prize of 1,000,000 NGN. The third position was tied as Adetoun Yusuf of Eve Signature and Stella Ndekile, CEO, Nuban Beauty, both went home with 500,000 NGN (with donation support from Olumide Soyombo) to encourage the efforts of the women. One of the finalists, Mary Asanga, CEO, Kutama Enterprise, also went home with a special prize of a 250,000 NGN grant presented by Mr. Ponmile Osibo on behalf of FP Capital. The pitch session for the 2020 AGSTribe Enterprise Challenge which was designed to support micro enterprises with grants and resource opportunities to scale their businesses, featured 12 Finalists selected from a pool of over 200 entries of female entrepreneurs across the country.
The AGS mobile application which is Africa’s first socio-economic empowerment platform for women is a networking platform that provides opportunities for women and young people, particularly within Africa via Grants, Scholarships, mentorships, jobs and other unique opportunities for them to benefit from. There are also various groups on the app that cater to the different interest categories of the tribe members.
The app features three easy, and flexible subscription options such as; the Bronze or free version mode for free subscriptions, the Silver a monthly subscription option, and the Gold for an annual subscription access that comes with a Visa card and discount rates on tons of businesses across the country and potentially around the world.
Hosted at the Landmark Towers, Oniru, Lagos; the Governor of Lagos, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, lauded the efforts of the AGS Tribe in empowering women and expressed his commitment to support the initiatives of the community. He hinted at the efforts of his administration to empower women in the state through a Four Billion Naira fund set to scale up over 200 women entrepreneurs and concluded his goodwill message by pledging to support 6 of the finalists in ways that will guarantee a big boost to their businesses.
The #HERconomy conference featured a panel session on Women Empowerment titled “When Women ‘mean business’ the world grows in leaps”, where the panelists unanimously agreed that proper mentorship is needed to empower women to take up roles in entrepreneurship and thrive in them, and another session titled ‘He for She’ and themed, ‘Advocates For a Future, Women-Led Economy’, panelist, who were mostly male, advocate for enforcement of policies that ensure women are involved in the political and economic space.
The event also attracted many leaders from the public and private sectors such as HE Mrs. Bamidele Abiodun, wife of the Ogun State Governor; Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, on Ease of Doing Business; Kehinde Durosinmi-Etti, CEO of Variant Advisory; Ian Walker, Manager, Jobs, World Bank Group; amongst many others. While Osayi Alile, CEO, ACT Foundation; Olumide Soyombo, Co-founder, Bluechip Technologies LTD; Ponmile Osibo, Partner, Platform Capital; and Tosin Faniro-Dada, Director, Programmes & Coordination, Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF), were the judges that evaluated the entries and keenly contested pitch session.
According to the 2020 PwC, Impact of Women on Nigeria’s Economy, Nigerian women account for 41% ownership of micro-businesses in Nigeria with 23 million female entrepreneurs operating within this segment. This places Nigeria among the highest entrepreneurship rates globally. Although the high-level participation of female entrepreneurs in the country is positive, it is however often driven mainly by necessity, which is the norm in emerging markets where there is insufficient formal employment.
Whilst most of the reforms by the current and past administrations are yet to fully take effect, it is expected that many more women will be empowered across the country through interventions and initiatives such as the AGSTribe.
The event was supported by BellaNaija, Ynaija, Amstel Malta, TechCabal, Bluechip Technologies LTD, Platform Capital, NEXIM, FP Capital, DND Travels, UK Nigeria Tech HUB, Trendy Beevents, e-technologies Nigeria, and BusinessDay.
The Founder of the AGS Tribe and Entrepreneur, Ifedayo Durosinmi-Etti, since 2018, has championed a support system for young women through a virtual community of female professionals and entrepreneurs. Through this community, Ifedayo leads a growing movement of women who now easily access grants, training opportunities, mentoring and access to business leaders across various sectors of the economy. After being inspired to write a book, Accessing Grants for Startups; she found a staggering dearth in resources for young people especially women and decided to build a community of women who reached out at first with more questions about her book.
