Hope rises for female owned business that suffered losses during the COVID-19 pandemic

This year came with a lot of unexpected happenings. First was COVID-19 (still on) and the then the hijackers of the intended peaceful protests by concerned Nigerian citizens to #ENDSARS.

This has affected a lot of businesses, many are still trying to recoup while many have suffered great losses. Nevertheless, there is hope as organisations came together to proffer solution for those businesses that are in dire need of resuscitation. In celebration of this year’s Women Entrepreneurship Day, SME.NG , Bank Of Industry (BOI) and African Venture Philanthropy Alliance (AVPA) organised a virtual town hall meeting moderated by Businessday, to address the needs of women whose businesses suffered losses in the challenging times we are in. Women’s Ent repreneurship Day (WED) occurs every 19th of November. It is a day in which the works of women entrepreneurs are observed and discussed.

WED was started by social entrepreneur and humanitarian Wendy Diamond, to empower, celebrate, and support women in business worldwide

The theme for the town hall meeting was: ‘Getting Our Businesses On Their Feet’, a Q&A session for Nigerian Women Entrepreneurs. Panelists included: Thelma Ekiyor, Managing Partner, SME.NG; Adebisi Ajayi, Group Head, Gender Matters, Bank Of Industry; Toyin AdegbiteMoore, Executive Director, West Africa, AVPA; Osa Amadasun , Deputy Director, Development Finance, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); Sola Adesakin, Founder and Lead Coach, Smart Steward, and it was moderated by Kemi Ajumobi, Associate Editor, Businessday Media Ltd.

Below are summeries from the responses by each panelist.

THELMA EKIYOR

SME.NG is an impact investment platform that invests in Nigerian SMES to realize measurable environmental, social and financial returns.

The platform’s approach to SME financing is through a “blended financing” model, which will leverage private capital, public sector investments and philanthropic giving.

Our objective is to support bottom and top-of-the-pyramid women and youth- owned SMES and to transform them into formalised and sustainable businesses that support employment and create a lasting impact.

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Women Entrepreneurship Day is a day to celebrate women in business. Any business that made it through the lockdown deserves a standing ovation. That is why we came together to create a platform for women to ask questions, have an honest interaction, be stirred, and let our voices be heard.

The event was for women to share their stories, and encourage each other.

For us at SMENG, we’re an impact investment platform. So, 2020 COVID-19 hit and everyone’s agenda had to change. Our main impact was that our own investors changed their priorities. They started thinking about their own needs.

We have designed a bridge facility that will help women keep the light on. We have our own Accelerator programme to enable us reach out to women. COVID-19 was a tragedy to a lot of the people, but it has highlighted areas we need to make our businesses resilient.

ADEBISI AJAYI

Group Head, Gender Matters, Bank Of Industry

Our mandate covers every sector. We do quite a lot on the women space.

Women find it difficult to access finance and for that reason, the gender desk was set up. Generally, we started in 2015, that’s when we were energised to do more. Women are disadvantaged when it comes to the financial sector.

COVID- 19 affected business all over the world. But in Nigeria, the bank took it upon itself to call them to encourage women and we got approval to reduce their interest rate and we also created a platform for virtual meetings.

We listened to their challenges. We support logistics to help them continue with their business. There are disadvantages from the pandemic, but it has also created opportunities.

This is an eye opener, the intention of Women Entrepreneurship Day is to celebrate women, we should remove the barrier to women empowerment. Women will do better if we work together. There is an urgent need to look at the positive side of COVID-19 to move your business forward.

TOYIN ADEGBITEMOORE

Executive Director, West Africa, AVPA

We want to promote the importance of partnerships. In terms of COVID-19 and the tragic event of 20/10/2020, there are so many gaps in our country that got exacerbated during the COVID-19, we tried to look for ways to support different organisations, and vulnerable communities. We set up a Whatsapp platform where people found different ways to support each other. The work and partnerships on these platforms continued. The goal is to have collaborations where we can help impact investors’ businesses who are looking for support. Investing in women is good business. Women are integral to the work we do.

Looking at and supporting organisations from a gender lens is very important. AVPA has been working to bring people together around gender, to support women in health and safety, and economic empowerment and livelihood.

The impact of COVID and the event of 20/10/20 are of importance, it shows how vulnerable all businesses are. So, coming together and providing a safety net is the work that AVPA engages in.

It is about how we can provide an opportunity for women across different spectrum, to access finance. That is what AVPA is looking to support.

The other issue is issuing a challenge to other speakers in terms of what to do to provide assistance in the gender space. Women need to be supported. Women are great money managers. We have many opportunities that