NECA’s entrepreneurial women network expands to South South

The women entrepreneurial network, under the aegis of the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), is opening a new chapter in Port Harcourt, South-South zone, this week.

According to Edobong Akpabio, the public relations officer of this network called NECA Network of Entrepreneurial Women (NNEW), the keynote speaker of this event holding at Vee Hotel is Josephine A. Diete-Spiff, managing director/CEO, Titare Microfinance Bank, who is also proprietress, Bereton Academy.

The keynote topic is ‘Making A Success of My Business As A Woman Entrepreneur.’ The Network already has two chapters in the South West and North Central.

Akpabio said, “the enlightenment programme will be geared towards building generations of successful women entrepreneurs and to empower women to embrace entrepreneurship and prosper in business for the general good of the society. It will also give a new face to entrepreneurship in the region.”

Lola Okanlawon, NNEW president, stated that SMEs were believed to be the engine room for the development of any economy because they form the bulk of business activities in a growing economy like that of Nigeria, and “this is one reason why we are passionate in driving this course and have several success stories.”

The network has created strong platforms for job employment through members’ businesses, Okanlawon said, saying “our members are tax compliant hereby contributing to the country’s economy. We train teenagers to become entrepreneurs. Through our co-operative scheme, we give out loans to members to support their businesses. NECA NNEW is a member of the task force of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)/International Labour Organisation (ILO) Financial Inclusiveness project for Women Entrepreneurs.”

She also disclosed that the network had signed a MoU with the National Economic Reconstruction Fund (NERFUND) to finance its members and had trained almost 40 trainers using the ILO Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) modules to build the managerial skills of entrepreneurs.

She also said the network which is opened to all women in business and aspiring ones has trained 10 certified trainers out of which four have become certified Master Trainers, to train other trainers.

Speaking further, Akpabio said, “NNEW has an interactive website that allows us to engage our members anywhere in the world. We have built the managerial capacity of over 300 women through our certified ILO Trainers and Master Trainers. We have organised sector-based activities where members can learn from each other.

“Our network meetings provide opportunity for members to access business linkages and gain knowledge from experts on numerous issues such as taxation, SME funding, exports and so on. One of the ongoing ways members can solve their business problems is the Business Clinics we organise from time to time, where members have free consultancy from veteran business owners and consultants.”