The New Faces New Voices (NFNV) Nigeria recently held the first leg of its Women Leadership and Financial Inclusion (WLFI) workshop series with a focus on enhancing financial inclusion of women in Nano Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (NMSMES) in Kano.
The hybrid NFNV-WLFI workshop, which drew experts and stakeholders in finance and business, delved into diverse financing opportunities women entrepreneurs across formal and informal sectors could take advantage of, to boost their post-COVID-19 enterprises; in a bid to economically empower them and amplify women’s contribution to Nigeria’s economy.
The NFNV-Nigeria Country Director, Ms Aishatu Debola Aminu in her welcome address, said women entrepreneurs constitute up to 50% of MSMEs’ ownership in Nigeria, which means they contribute a large quota to employment, economic growth and foreign exchange earnings in the country.
She said the WLFI workshop series was aimed at ensuring women’s financial inclusion not only in Nigeria but across Africa, as similar workshops were being held across the continent.
“Women entrepreneurs are confronted with a myriad of challenges such as lack of inclusive access to financial products, business structures, access to the market, and socio-cultural bias, amongst others.
“This workshop seeks to create a synergistic, collaborative and mutually beneficial platform on which northern women entrepreneurs can engage effectively for profitability and productivity in the region,” she said.
Sarkin Shanu of Kano and NFNV-Nigeria patron, Alhaji Shehu Muhammed, in his goodwill message, said for women’s financial inclusion to be enhanced in Nigeria, they must seek to occupy key decision and policymaking positions in the country, in which capacity they can effectively promote women’s financial empowerment, since currently men have dominated such positions at the determinant of women’s financial empowerment.
“I encourage women to become actively involved in politics so as to bridge the gender gap in decision making in the country; gender-related financial inclusion will be greatly enhanced,” Muhammed said.
Source : From the Web