By Peju Kukoyi
I recently came across a National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report released two years ago that highlighted some interesting facts about women-owned businesses in Nigeria. The NBS release was based on research conducted by Small Firm Diaries, a global research initiative providing insight into the financial lives of small firms in developing economies, particularly. The report and further investigations into women-led enterprises in Nigeria necessitated the above question.
Women as key drivers of economic growth
The NBS report, tagged Country Data Overview, showed that 40% of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country were established and run by women and contributed 37% to the GDP. Co-owned businesses accounted for 12% while men-owned businesses amounted to 48%. With the country said to have circa 40 million MSMEs, 16 million MSMEs were owned by women. Put differently, for every 100 businesses in the country two years ago, 40 were female-owned. And, the report indicated, women-owned businesses were on the increase. Based on the report, it is safe to say that the current figure will be closer to 50% of women-owned enterprises.
SMEs are critical to national development
SMEs globally, and in Nigeria in particular, continue to be the engine of economic activities, growth, and development in every economy. In Nigeria, for instance, SMEs make up over 90% of existing companies and account for over 85% of total employment generated in the country. What this suggests is that women are responsible for about half of the economic activities in the country. Women’s entrepreneurship development remains critical to sustainable economic growth and social advancement. They have enormous potential to contribute to national development. However, they continue to face numerous challenges even as they strive to contribute to the economic advancement of society.
Challenges faced by SMEs
To be sure, SMEs in Nigeria face numerous challenges, including limited access to finance, infrastructure deficit, access to market difficulties, limited entrepreneurial training, policy challenges, dearth of quality manpower, multiple taxation, poor business environment, poor adoption of technology, and many more. However, women-led businesses seem to suffer these challenges more than their male counterparts due largely to socio-cultural biases. According to the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), the government agency charged with fostering the growth and development of micro, small and medium enterprises in the country, women-owned businesses face “numerous cultural, societal, financial, educational, and business development service constraints, including care roles and domestic responsibilities, decent work deficits and a less conducive business and regulatory environment that continues hindering them from formalizing and developing their businesses.” Despite these challenges, women have consistently shown a resolve to take the risk and succeed at entrepreneurship.
In recognition of these challenges and the demonstrated resilience of women, the government and private sector players, including financial institutions, NGOs, development agencies, and other key stakeholders are working individually and collaboratively to evolve initiatives that will support and empower women entrepreneurs to take advantage of available opportunities.
Financial institutions give a helping hand.
Financial institutions in the country have continued to develop products and initiatives targeted at women-owned SMEs. For instance, Access Bank introduced an initiative it tagged W Initiative, a proposition to promote womens empowerment through the introduction of bespoke facilities for businesses owned by women, the establishment of an e-commerce platform to boost their online presence and open new markets, the creation of W Webinar series for knowledge sharing and mentorship. Keystone Bank introduced the Pink community, which provides networking and knowledge-sharing opportunities for women business owners, and free medical checks for members. First Bank introduced a single-digit loan for women-owned businesses, First City Monument Bank (FCMB) established what it called SheVentures for women-owned SMEs, which targets business and leadership training, mentorship support, and concessionary funding for members businesses. HerFidelity by Fidelity Bank extends financial support, business education, and health & wellness programmes to Nigerian women, including the entrepreneur minded.
Economic development partners pitched in too
Economic development partners like the African Development Bank (ADB), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (we-fi) have also regularly lent support to women entrepreneurs through access to cheap facilities, training, and other activities that encourage mentorship and idea sharing. Last year, the African Development Bank Groups Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA), in collaboration with the Bank of Industry (BOI) and African Guarantee Fund (AGF) announced a $50 million financing agreement to provide financial and business support to Nigerias women-led enterprises. Before that, IFC had provided $25 million to Union Bank to enable the bank to offer additional products and services to women-owned businesses.
Government efforts to empower women
The government is also desirous to see women-owned businesses thrive and has continued to introduce policies and reforms that will stimulate the sector. The government introduced the National Womens Economic Empowerment (NWEEP) Policy and Action Plan about three years ago to effect structural reforms in the SME space with sector-specific high-impact interventions that would help promote women’s enterprises to ensure their success. Before NWEEP, the government had introduced the National Gender Policy targeted at promoting gender equality and social inclusion of women for accelerated economic growth.
Perhaps of critical importance to women-led businesses was the establishment of a National Roadmap. The Roadmap, which had input from the government, the private sector, and development partners, according to SMEDAN, sets out a vision for a targeted set of reforms and interventions across the business landscape to ensure that it meets the needs of women entrepreneurs in an integrated and holistic way.
The Roadmap is envisaged to stimulate a friendlier business environment where women entrepreneurs have better access to finance, information technology, and other resources to manage successful businesses. The Roadmap is a comprehensive document that takes a holistic approach to support women-led businesses in terms of policy thrusts, enlightenment, training, provision of opportunities, access to market, access to financing, and most importantly, collective responsibility in implementing the document.
Limited impact of these initiatives/resources
While these initiatives and resources are laudable, they have largely been ineffective as women-owned businesses continue to suffer from poor funding, poor infrastructure, poor business development skills, poor distribution, and difficulty in accessing markets, among other difficulties. The reason is simple. Many women entrepreneurs are unaware these initiatives exist or are ignorant of how to access or utilise them.
Need for constant engagement
For any appreciable impact, women’s groups in cooperative societies, market unions, or professional associations must be regularly engaged through workshops and training, and some of these initiatives showcased and highlighted at such meetings. The mass media should be exploited as a tool for the sustained enlightenment of these women. There should also be a mechanism to monitor participation in or utilisation of these available programmes or products/services and where lapses are noted they are immediately fixed.
Empowering women-owned businesses to thrive and scale has gone beyond gender equality considerations; it is an economic and social imperative that is capable of transforming lives and the economy.