Determined to create an empowerment platform for women in Nigeria, Qnet, a global e-commerce company, has committed to providing training and mentorship opportunities to help women cultivate valuable skills required for direct selling businesses.
To achieve this, the company amplified this year’s International Women’s Day theme of ‘Break the Bias’ by stressing the importance of equipping women with the right tools that will enable them to thrive in entrepreneurship.
Speaking in an event to mark the International Women’s Day, Biram Fall, QNET Regional General Manager for sub-Saharan Africa, who advised women to take the opportunities in direct selling, said direct selling is providing Nigerian women with the opportunity to balance professional and personal lives on their own terms.
According to Fall, it also enables women to overcome barriers that often keep them from entrepreneurship – such as a lack of capital, time and skills.
Fall said that direct selling provides opportunities for women empowerment in Africa and the world, as majority of women- compared to men- take up the model to boost their income generation.
“Direct selling allows one to become an entrepreneur with little to no investment made and allows for flexibility in time and space, and a simplified work process. The model provides equitable access for women across different ages, education and social backgrounds, and requires honest and hard work to thrive,” Fall said.
Fall added that the training enables women to contribute to their households and the economy while serving as a viable platform for upskilling and reskilling.
Giving insight on the flexible working hours offered through the direct selling model, Fall said: “The direct selling business model provides women with the freedom to choose where they work from and when they work.
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It provides flexibility of working hours, unlike nine to five corporate jobs, and this has enabled women in the direct selling industry to work as desired – thus allowing them to balance work and personal life.”
The World Federation of Direct Selling Associations (WFDSA) indicates that an estimated 74.4 percent of direct selling representatives across the globe are women.
Direct selling is an innovative income-generating solution that contributes to removing some of the barriers faced by women in other entrepreneurship platforms.
A report by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) shows that women play a critical role in the global economy as entrepreneurs. They help create jobs, generate income, and boost revenue-driving economies while reducing inequalities between women and men.
“Despite the fact that women face greater obstacles in almost all spheres of economic activity including access to finance, access to technology and peer-to-peer network, about three-fourths of the legal rights of women are afforded to men, according to the World Bank Group’s Women, Business and the Law report of 2021.
In some countries, women cannot register a business, sign a contract, or open a bank account.
But with direct selling, anyone can become an entrepreneur if the right mindset is adopted because success is tied to discipline and dedication.
