Chevening Alumni & DO Take Action to Train 600 Women in Business Skills

• Nigerian Chevening Alumni Association of Nigeria (CAAN) and civil society group DO Take Action have partnered for a capacity-building program
• The project aims to empower women with tools, networks, and skills to access and excel in Nigeria's public procurement system
• It is designed to support women's economic empowerment and involvement in government procurement opportunities

The Chevening Alumni Association of Nigeria (CAAN) has collaborated with DO Take Action, a civil society organization, to roll out a capacity development program for 600 women-owned enterprises in Kano and Rivers states. The program will train women entrepreneurs in public procurement to enable them to succeed in Nigeria's procurement environment.

The programme, called Scaling Women's Economic Empowerment through Affirmative Procurement (SWEEAP), is also funded by the Chevening Alumni Programme Fund (CAPF)—a UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) initiative that enables Chevening Alumni to lead impactful projects in their home nation.

Chevening is a government-funded programme of the UK that provides scholarships and fellowships for individuals of high ability to study in the United Kingdom.

In Nigeria, there are increasing calls for gender-responsive procurement (GRP), which seeks to provide women entrepreneurs with a level playing field in government contracting. With SWEEAP, the organisers envision ramping up gender-responsive policies and facilitating improved access to opportunities in public procurement for women with a view to contributing to national development.

DO Take Action, which is spearheading this initiative, is a civic group dedicated to activating more than a billion individuals towards sustainable development. The organisation has partnered with global institutions such as the UN Women and the World Bank over the past two years to develop the procurement capabilities of close to 2,700 women across West Africa and Nigeria.

Now, through SWEEAP, the group is expanding its impact. At the launch, Precious Chinonso, CEO of DO Take Action and a Chevening Alumna, stressed the importance of dismantling the barriers that have excluded women from public procurement for too long.

“We’re using training, advocacy, and engagement to not only include women in procurement—but to make them a priority,” she said.

Kester Osahenye, CAAN President, further added, "This is not about training. It's about mindset change to enable women to visualize themselves as tough, competitive players in the world of procurement. In addition to empowering 600 women-owned businesses, we also hope to drive state-level policy."

Oluwafunmilayo Ladepo, Programme Officer, Chevening Awards, commended the project, which she said was a solid demonstration of the value of alumni-led action to build UK–Nigeria development partnerships.

Registration is currently open for the inaugural cohort of the SWEEAP programme, and women-owned or women-led businesses registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) of Kano and Rivers states are invited to participate.