BOI, MTN Foundation Launch N1bn Fund for Womenpreneurs

• Bank of Industry and MTN Foundation launch a matching fund worth N1bn to support female entrepreneurs
• The matching fund is targeting 200 women through equipment finance
• The initiative is targeting women who want to grow their business

The Bank of Industry and the MTN Foundation launched the N1 billion matching fund, targeting female entrepreneurs, focusing on equipment finance to enable 200 women to expand their businesses.

The matching fund was unveiled during the launch of the BOI-MTN Foundation Y’ellopreneur 3.0 Matching Fund in Lagos. During the launch, the MTN Foundation Chairman, Dr. Mosun Belo-Olusoga, said that the initiative has the objective of ensuring that it achieves tangible economic outcomes through the support of women-owned businesses in scaling up their businesses.

She said that the foundation recognizes the importance of women’s economic participation in the development of the country, as it also has positive impacts on the household and community levels.

She also said that the matching fund has the objective of ensuring that women entrepreneurs are able to access equipment finance, enabling them to move from small-scale businesses to larger businesses that are more sustainable, and that there needs to be more awareness created around the program to reach women entrepreneurs across the country.

The Bank of Industry's Managing Director designees - Executive Director msme Enterprises Oluwatoyin Edu - indicated that this partnership will deepen the cooperation of the two institutions and create access for female entrepreneurs to financing and business assistance.

The program will provide capacity development, finance and advising for long-term sustainability of the entrepreneurs.

The program will train approximately 1,000 women entrepreneurs through structured training programs; 200 women-owned MSMEs will have access to loans of up to N5 million.

The program will focus on sectors such as agro-processing, light manufacturing, fashion, energy, waste management, digital services, job creation, local production enhancement and increased competitiveness.

MTN Foundation Executive Director Odunayo Sanya indicated that the initiative builds on the foundation's previous support to female entrepreneurs by addressing both funding and skill gaps.

She stated that the foundation has trained many thousands of female entrepreneurs and also provided funding to female entrepreneurs in the past, and the foundation believes that the partnership with the Bank of Industry will increase their impact.

Odunayo indicated that the foundation plans to build capacity for 30,000 women and support 10,000 women-owned businesses over the next 5 years.