Lagos to facilitate AfDB’s $300m for women entrepreneurs
In what is expected to boost entrepreneurship and business innovation, Lagos State, partnering African Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF), a Cape Town-based non-governmental organisation, is gunning for $300 million African Development Bank (AfDB) affirmative financing for women in business.
Both partners (Lagos and AWIEF) signed a deal on Tuesday to access the loan, with Akinyemi Ashade, the state commissioner for economic planning and budget, disclosing that women to access the fund would be nominating from among the over 2 million Lagos Women Economic Empowerment Initiative (LAGOS-WEEIN), designed in line with the objectives of AWIEF.
The Lagos-WEEIN, which according to Ashade, has the mandate to generate awareness for about 2 million women, has so far registered 500,000 and will be helping about 5,000 women to access the fund. He said 50 percent success of N5 million for at least 2,500 of the women entrepreneurs would in turn inject about N12.4 billion into the state economy.
While AWIEF is working on their part of the agreement, which includes but not limited to training, business coaching and technology transfer of women through a detailed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), Lagos on its part will pay as and when due invoices presented by AWIEF based on the mutually agreed budget, Ashade said.
The commissioner explained that accessing the fund would attract foreign investment into the country and boost the economy through increased Gross Domestic Product, especially this period that the Nigerian economy was in recession.
Irene Ochem, founder of the NGO, said women in all the business sectors, especially the medium and small businesses were eligible to apply, but identified lack of access to funds as a major hindrance to the growth of businesses run by women entrepreneurs, adding that Zambia had already accessed the AfDB fund to empower their women.